- 6 weeks ago
Some stories are just better when they hit the big screen. Join us as we count down our picks for the film adaptations that outshine their literary source material with sharper pacing, iconic performances, unforgettable visuals, and major upgrades to the original material. Which movie made you forget the book ever existed?
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00:00I am the third revelation. I am who the Lord has chosen me.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:06And today we're counting down our picks for those rare films
00:09that markedly improved on the approach of their literary source material.
00:13He's saying you're under arrest, Mr. Decker.
00:16Got the wrong guy, pal.
00:19Number 20. Casino Royale.
00:21This may be too much for a blunt instrument to understand,
00:25but arrogance and self-awareness seldom go hand in hand.
00:29So you want me to be half-monk, half-hitman?
00:31Ian Fleming introduced our favorite fictional spy in the 1953 novel Casino Royale.
00:36Eon Productions' adaptation introduced Daniel Craig as James Bond,
00:4053 years and 23 films later.
00:43By 2006, the Hollywood franchise alone was considered a relic of machismo Cold War fantasy.
00:48He's the man deranged, and where the hell is he?
00:51In the old days, if an agent did something that embarrassing,
00:53he'd have the good sense to defect.
00:56Christ, I miss the Cold War.
00:57This reboot recognized that,
00:59updating the backdrop to the modern global arms trade
01:02with gritty style and consequential espionage.
01:04Even compared to its literary roots,
01:06Bond is more vulnerable to his enemies, personal demons, and love interest.
01:10You've got your armor back on.
01:12How's that?
01:15I have no armor left.
01:19You stripped it from me.
01:20This made the dramatic twists hit harder,
01:23especially amidst spectacular modern action scenes.
01:26The formula was so successful that it spawned four sequels with Craig,
01:30all featuring original stories.
01:32I do hope that wasn't for me.
01:35No, but that is.
01:37After all, Casino Royale showed how much 007 fans wanted to shake things up.
01:42Number 19. A Simple Favor.
01:44You should know my best friend Emily is missing right now.
01:47She asked me a simple favor to pick up her son Nikki from school.
01:51Darcy Bell's 2017 breakout was an unhinged thriller
01:55about a suburban mom dealing with her friend's disappearance.
01:58That does not sound like the usual fare from comedic director Paul Feig.
02:01Everybody has a dark side.
02:04Some of us are better at hiding it than others.
02:06You want to trade confessions?
02:08No, no.
02:09No.
02:09Come on.
02:10Indeed.
02:10His take on A Simple Favor brings a more darkly satirical approach
02:14to the tropes Bell tackled so effectively.
02:16Feig still rises to the occasion on stylized tension,
02:19now with more personality.
02:21I'm in heaven watching over you.
02:24Nice blouse, by the way.
02:28Why are you doing this?
02:30How do you know it's just me doing it?
02:31Take the twist on the book's ending,
02:33which some found too ambiguous and far-fetched.
02:35The way the film resolves the story is very far-fetched,
02:39but kinetic and fitting enough to work.
02:41Granted, the story was revisited with 2025's Another Simple Favor.
02:45Stephanie, where are you?
02:46I've been calling.
02:47I'm under arrest, or I was, or I, well, I escaped, basically.
02:52The mob is sort of after me.
02:53But this original sequel's weaker reviews just confirmed
02:57that the predecessor had the right mix of literary suspense
02:59and cinematic fun.
03:01Number 18, Annihilation.
03:03How long did you think you were inside?
03:07Days.
03:10Maybe weeks.
03:11In 2014, Jeff Vandermeer took readers on a mind-bending journey
03:15through a region mutated by some alien pathogen.
03:18The film Annihilation is more of a thought-provoking journey.
03:21Volunteering for this?
03:23It's not exactly something you do if your life is in perfect harmony.
03:30We're all damaged goods here.
03:32Alex Garland is certainly the right writer-director to realize this cosmic horror
03:35that's both ambitious in scope and claustrophobic in atmosphere.
03:39But he makes a lot of dramatic changes to the material
03:42to elevate its existential threat to existentialist themes on form,
03:46identity, and despair.
03:55As comparatively focused as the storytelling is,
03:59the questions feel bigger than ever.
04:00While it's ultimately hard to compare the two very different versions of Annihilation,
04:04the disturbing DNA they share feels more human in Garland's hands.
04:08What did it want?
04:11I don't think it wanted anything.
04:14But it attacked you.
04:17It mirrored me.
04:19Number 17.
04:20Slumdog Millionaire.
04:21Welcome to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!
04:27Are you ready?
04:29Huh?
04:30The underdog story of an allegedly fraudulent quiz show champion
04:34made Vikas Hwarup's Q&A a great literary crowd pleaser.
04:37It then made Slumdog Millionaire a cinematic triumph.
04:41Just won 16,000 rupees!
04:45Well done, my friend.
04:46The film takes liberties with the source material beyond its title,
04:50combining Western and Bollywood melodrama to produce a pulsating epic.
04:54Many felt that this vision favored stereotypes
04:56while tackling the complexities of modern Indian society.
04:59You really thought you could just walk in and take my prize away?
05:05Latika, come.
05:06Mostly though, Slumdog Millionaire was hailed as more adventurously creative and emotional
05:11than Swaroop's already uplifting opus.
05:13From an unlikely box office smash came seven BAFTAs and six Oscars,
05:18including Best Picture.
05:19And with Swaroop calling himself, quote,
05:21the luckiest novelist in the world,
05:23the movie's phenomenal success must be honest.
05:26Number 16, A Clockwork Orange.
05:29Thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip oil!
05:34Come and get one in the yarbles!
05:37If you have any yarbles!
05:39As scandalous as Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is to this day,
05:43the 1962 original was even more harrowing.
05:46Anthony Burgess nonetheless won enough praise for his use of ultraviolence
05:50to condemn both delinquency and the way violent societies handle it.
05:54Kubrick's relatively tamer take still hits harder for the imagery,
05:57as well as how it's aestheticized.
06:00As we walked along the flat-block marina,
06:02I was calm on the outside, but thinking all the time.
06:07So now it was to be Georgie the General.
06:09The film is full of sophisticated metaphors and surreal art direction
06:13to raise the crass horror to more profound commentary.
06:16Even the tragedy of Alex DeLarge is more sympathetic
06:19for Malcolm McDowell's career-defining performance.
06:22Let me out!
06:23Open the door!
06:25Come on, open the door!
06:30Turn it off!
06:32The controversies surrounding Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange
06:34initially overshadowed the fact that Burgess's went more raw.
06:38Now, the book is overshadowed by the film's legacy as a morbid masterpiece.
06:42Number 15, The Princess Bride.
06:45Hold it, hold it.
06:46What is this?
06:48Are you trying to trick me?
06:49Where's the sports?
06:52Is this a kissing book?
06:54It was wise enough to forego the lengthy subtitle
06:57S. Morgenstern's classic tale of true love and high adventure,
07:00The Good Parts version.
07:01There's no shortage of good parts in William Goldman's ingenious 1973 satire of fairy tale tropes.
07:07He didn't follow?
07:09Inconceivable!
07:10You keep using that word.
07:12I don't think it means what you think it means.
07:14It's just that the film, The Princess Bride,
07:17narrows down the best parts of that satire,
07:19while more sincerely embracing the best tropes.
07:22Goldman himself wrote the script with an original frame story involving a grandfather telling a bedtime story.
07:27You read that wrong.
07:29She doesn't marry Humperdinck, she marries Wesley.
07:32I'm just sure of it.
07:33After all that Wesley did for her,
07:35if she didn't marry him,
07:37it wouldn't be fair.
07:38This places more emphasis on the very naive whimsy and romance that Goldman was cynical about,
07:43without sacrificing the hilarious self-awareness.
07:45But it was Rob Reiner's passionate direction,
07:47and the cast's iconic delivery that truly refined The Princess Bride as a cinematic classic.
07:53Since the invention of the kiss,
07:54there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure.
08:00This one left them all behind.
08:02Number 14, There Will Be Blood.
08:04Ladies and gentlemen, if I say I'm an oil man, you will agree.
08:09Now you have a great chance here.
08:12But bear in mind you can lose it all if you're not careful.
08:15Certainly the adaptation of Upton Sinclair's Oil has a more engaging title.
08:20One of the great American novels of the 1920s was certainly bold in its scope
08:24and overt condemnation of capitalist enterprise.
08:27You can just as easily hunt for quail on another ranch as I can here,
08:30so I'll happily be a supporter of your church for as long as I can.
08:35For the bonus only.
08:37Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is epic enough as an adaptation just of the novel's first quarter.
08:42But Sinclair's commentary is effectively expressed with an oil man's intense rise to power
08:46and fall to evil.
08:48That is, when the themes are not overpowered by Daniel Day-Lewis' Oscar-winning performance.
08:53I've abandoned my child!
08:55I've abandoned my child!
08:58I've abandoned my boy!
09:01You'll beg for the blood!
09:03Anderson favors cohesive and expressive storytelling over the didactic prose of oil.
09:08There Will Be Blood may be too different for a proper comparison,
09:10but it's more readily recognized as one of the great American films of the 21st century.
09:15I drink your milkshake!
09:21I drink it up!
09:23Don't you bully me, Daniel!
09:25Number 13. Jurassic Park
09:27Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Satton, welcome to Jurassic Park.
09:34In 1990, Michael Crichton chilled readers with the resurrection of dinosaurs for a theme park.
09:39When he and David Koepp adapted Jurassic Park,
09:42director Steven Spielberg's take on the horror element did not disappoint.
09:46Turn the light off.
09:48Turn the light off.
09:52Turn the light off!
09:54Framing that, however, was the other extreme of large-scale adventure driven by groundbreaking CGI.
10:00Spielberg celebrates the wonderment of the sci-fi and mighty prehistoric creatures,
10:04making the inevitable cautionary tale extra resonant.
10:07The more relatable characterizations certainly helps.
10:10Don't the monsters come over here!
10:12They're not monsters next, they're just animals.
10:13These are herbivores.
10:15That means they only eat vegetables, but for you I think they make an exception.
10:19Well, I hate the other kind.
10:20Jurassic Park was not only acclaimed as imaginative entertainment,
10:24but an historic commercial success.
10:26This spawned many polarizing sequels,
10:29starting with Spielberg's less compelling interpretation of the book's sequel, The Lost World.
10:33Hang on, this is gonna be bad.
10:35At least we'll always have his Jurassic Park as the standard for suspense and philosophy that also enchants.
10:42Number 12.
10:43Fight Club.
10:43I make and I sell soap.
10:46The yardstick of civilization.
10:49And this is how I met Tyler Durden.
10:52Chuck Palahniuk's breakout novel quickly amassed a cult following
10:55for its beatdown of both modern society and the mentality in fighting it.
10:59David Fincher's Fight Club is remarkably faithful to its source material's deceptively deep satire.
11:04I had it all.
11:06Even the glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections.
11:09Proof that they were crafted by the honest, simple, hardworking, indigenous peoples of...
11:14Please call.
11:15...wherever.
11:15But with the music video director's gritty style and a nuanced script,
11:19the psychodrama's surreal visualization knocks audiences out.
11:23There's a more focused escalation of suspense in a violence guru starting a political movement,
11:28culminating in a different, more high-impact ending for the everyman protagonist.
11:32Marla, look at me.
11:34I'm really okay.
11:37Trust me.
11:39Everything's gonna be fine.
11:40Fincher's flair and the magnetic cast, including Brad Pitt at maximum charisma,
11:45raised Palahniuk's cult curiosity into something iconic.
11:48With what it says about rules being made to be broken,
11:51everybody's now talking about Fight Club.
11:53Welcome to Fight Club.
11:58The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.
12:02Number 11, Blade Runner.
12:04I need you, Dex.
12:05This is a bad one.
12:06The worst yet.
12:08I need the old Blade Runner.
12:10I need your magic.
12:11The change of title would suggest a Hollywood action twist on philosophical literature.
12:16Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep uses a bounty hunter of robots to center existential musings and
12:23a cold vision of future society.
12:25All those moments will be lost in time.
12:31Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is indeed more streamlined to drive the suspense of the chase.
12:36But it also movingly respects Dick's profound themes, with a darkly ethereal aesthetic to perfect the sci-fi noir formula.
12:43Painful living fear, isn't it?
12:51Nothing is worse than having an itch you can never scratch.
12:55Though initially polarizing, the film is now recognized as an important influence on its genre.
13:00Blade Runner 2049 was even cited by some as a rare example of a superior sequel 35 years later.
13:06I'm not here to take you in.
13:08Oh yeah?
13:12I'm one.
13:15I just have some questions.
13:17Surely there's a wider consensus that the original Blade Runner outshines its own source material.
13:23Number 10, The Graduate.
13:25Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.
13:27Charles Webb's first novel survived its transition to the big screen mostly intact.
13:32But Mike Nichols' direction and the charming cast certainly elevated the story.
13:36Populated with directionless characters who rarely have anything of substance to say,
13:41The Graduate is a melancholy drama packed with sexual frustration.
13:44I wouldn't know how much I appreciate this.
13:47Really.
13:48The number.
13:49What?
13:49The room number, Benjamin.
13:51I think you ought to tell me that.
13:52Well, you're absolutely right.
13:54The titular Graduate is far more likable in the film, however.
13:57While Nichols injects just enough humor to lighten some of the tension.
14:01Also, Webb's book doesn't come with a Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack.
14:04So it's automatically less memorable.
14:06Hello darkness, my old friend.
14:10I've come to talk with you again.
14:14Number 9, Jackie Brown.
14:17If I have to tell you to shut up one more time, I'm gonna shut you up.
14:20Quentin Tarantino knows a thing or two about crime dramas.
14:22So, Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch was a prime choice for an adaptation.
14:26Jackie Brown closely follows the original story.
14:29However, while the book is more of an ensemble piece, the film places the focus squarely on Pam Greer's eponymous
14:35character.
14:36Even though Rum Punch delves deeper into the minds of the secondary characters,
14:39Tarantino's tribute to the 1970s blaxploitation genre just oozes charm.
14:45Bolstered by a thrilling soundtrack, Greer's immaculate performance is complemented by fantastic turns from Samuel L. Jackson,
14:51Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, and Michael Keaton.
14:54Oh, oh, oh, oh, you gonna tell me the reason you lost every goddamn thing I got in the world?
15:00Number 8, Die Hard.
15:02Welcome to the party, pal.
15:06Yup, Die Hard is based on a novel.
15:08However, John McClane is a Hollywood original.
15:11Roderick Thorpe's novel Nothing Lasts Forever and the Bruce Willis classic both center around detectives caught in a building with
15:17terrorists.
15:18But the novel's protagonist is a retired officer who specializes in catching explosive baddies.
15:23Die Hard presents McClane as an everyman who's in way over his head,
15:27which is more exciting than Nothing Lasts Forever's action hero protagonist.
15:31Adding a touch of holiday spirit and a bunch of perpetually quotable lines,
15:35Die Hard turned Thorpe's nihilistic novel into the perfect action flick.
15:38Happy trails, Hans.
15:40Number 7, Forrest Gump.
15:42Run, Forrest, run!
15:44Winston Groom's book is pretty good, but suffers due to a distinctly Tom Hanks-shaped hole.
15:50Robert Zemeckis' film adaptation of Forrest Gump tells the life story of an endearing man with a low IQ
15:55who inadvertently gets involved in some of history's biggest moments.
15:59Meanwhile, Book Forrest is a sexually active giant who possesses overwhelming strength and loves to swear.
16:05He lacks Hanks' relatability and likability.
16:08Nowhere near as magical as Zemeckis' adaptation,
16:11Groom's book manages to be simultaneously darker and sillier.
16:14Like, at one point, Forrest and his ape partner, Sue, crash-land a space shuttle on an island of cannibals.
16:22Run! Run! Run! Run!
16:25Oh God! Run!
16:27You stupid son of a bitch! Run!
16:32Number 6, The Shawshank Redemption.
16:35Get busy living.
16:38You get busy dying.
16:39Few adaptations come close to matching the written word's brilliance.
16:43Released in 1994, The Shawshank Redemption is based on a novella
16:47and arguably presides among the greatest films of all time.
16:51Both versions center on Andy Dufresne's time in The Shawshank State Penitentiary.
16:55But the film streamlines the story by combining several characters together.
17:00While King's novella is well worth a read,
17:02The Shawshank Redemption's best moments,
17:04primarily Brooke's time on the outside and the powerful ending,
17:07are only in the film.
17:09Remember, Red, hope is a good thing.
17:13Maybe the best of things.
17:15And no good thing ever dies.
17:18I will be hoping that this letter finds you.
17:20Number 5, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
17:23Drink the drink!
17:24But I don't want the drink!
17:25He doesn't want the drink!
17:26He does!
17:27I don't!
17:27You do!
17:28I don't!
17:28You do!
17:29I don't!
17:29You do!
17:30I don't!
17:30You don't!
17:31I do!
17:32Certain stories are just made for the big screen.
17:35Gary K. Wolfe's Who Censored Roger Rabbit
17:37is a hard-boiled noir novel
17:38that envisions a world where tunes and humans coexist.
17:42Seven years later,
17:43Who Framed Roger Rabbit enchanted audiences with stunning animation,
17:47a touching storyline,
17:48and all of the cameos.
17:50Aside from the basic premise and some character names,
17:52the film diverts heavily from the book
17:54and opts for a more family-friendly experience.
17:57With a premise based on the visual medium of cartoons,
18:00film tops paper here without question.
18:03I'll drive!
18:04But I want to drive!
18:05No!
18:06I'll drive!
18:07I'm the kid!
18:08Out of my way, pencil neck!
18:10Number 4, Dr. Strangelove.
18:13This is preposterous.
18:14I've never approved of anything like that.
18:16Our source was the New York Times.
18:18This adaptation was so good
18:21that the novel's author decided to write his own adaptation of the film.
18:24Peter George's book Red Alert is a serious Cold War thriller
18:28that deals with the pending threat of nuclear war.
18:31On the other hand,
18:32Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove is a hilarious satire film
18:35presented as a serious Cold War thriller
18:37that deals with the pending threat of nuclear war.
18:46Peter Seller's titular doctor is film-only,
18:49and Kubrick's absurdist wit
18:51only further enhances the ridiculousness of the situation.
18:54Rather than publish a reprint of Red Alert,
18:57George novelized an early draft of the film's script,
18:59which, regrettably, involved aliens.
19:03Number 3, Jaws.
19:05You're gonna need a bigger boat.
19:06Peter Benchley's 1974 bestseller about a great white shark
19:10was swallowed whole
19:11by Steven Spielberg's classic summer blockbuster.
19:14In the book version,
19:15Jaws' antagonist is more of a means to an end,
19:18with Benchley regularly halting the story
19:20to comment on the recession
19:21or an uninteresting love affair.
19:23Trimming most of the fad
19:25and due to production problems,
19:26rarely showcasing the shark,
19:28Spielberg's adaptation delivers a thrilling
19:30and suspenseful blockbuster
19:32that's aged far better than the novel.
19:34As icing on the cake,
19:35the Indianapolis monologue is film-only.
19:39So, 1,100 men went into the war.
19:42360 men come out.
19:44The sharks took the rest.
19:46June the 29th, 1945.
19:48Number 2, Psycho.
19:50Do you go out with friends?
19:55Well, a boy's best friend is his mother.
19:58Similar, but completely different.
20:00On paper, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
20:02hits all of the major plot points
20:04in Robert Bloch's novel of the same name.
20:06However, the film one-ups the book
20:08by employing narrative tricks
20:09that enhance the story's sense of mystery.
20:15The novel never pretends that Mary Crane,
20:18or as she's known in the film,
20:19Marion Crane, is the protagonist.
20:22Also, the twist ending is slightly more predictable
20:24due to Norman Bates being presented
20:26as an overt misogynist rather than a mama's boy.
20:29Bloch's novel presents an interesting look
20:31into Bates' broken mind,
20:32but Hitchcock's film adaptation
20:33is a cinematic masterpiece.
20:36They'll see.
20:37They'll see, and they'll know,
20:39and they'll say,
20:40why, she wouldn't even harm a fly.
20:51Before we continue,
20:52check out this single from Sound Mojo's Adia,
20:55Songs from Iran,
20:56reimagining Persian melodies as modern rock,
20:59metal, and pop songs.
21:00Check out the full track and album below.
21:02Where are you, my love, so near?
21:05Say the word, and I'll appear.
21:07I wrote this song just for you
21:09to tell you what I always knew.
21:17Number one, The Godfather.
21:20You said you'd come into my house
21:21on the day my daughter's to be married,
21:23and you asked me to do murder.
21:25Money.
21:26Mario Puzo's expertly written novel
21:28delves deep into the lives and history
21:30of a New York crime family,
21:32and sits among the better pulp novels of the era.
21:34While a great read,
21:36The Godfather's definitive version
21:37has to be Francis Ford Coppola's film,
21:40which is rightfully considered a work of art
21:42that practically transcends cinema.
21:44Leaving Puzo's flashbacks for the sequel,
21:47and cutting any subplots
21:48that don't directly concern the Corleones,
21:51Coppola's adaptation boasts
21:52flawless cinematography,
21:53authentic set design,
21:55an iconic score by Nino Rota,
21:57and a stellar cast.
21:59How's your boy?
22:00He's good.
22:01You know, he looks more like you every day.
22:07He's smarter than I am.
22:09Three years old, he can read the funny papers.
22:11What are some other books
22:12that impressed you more on the screen?
22:14Drop your reading and viewing lists in the comments.
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