MovieChat Forums > Hogfather (2007) Discussion > Can a book EVER be translated into film?...

Can a book EVER be translated into film? It was still worth trying!

posted 14 years ago by katentek
3 replies | jump to latest

There seems to have been a big spate of movie versions of popular books over the past decade. I can't think of one that have really succeeded ... I'm sure there may have been some ... but so many fail.

To me books and film are such different mediums that it's nearly like looking at "A Starry Night" (Van Gogh) and trying to write a book to recreate the painting in that different medium.

Anyway this film suffers the same problem. There's nothing really wrong with it but it just doesn't quite capture the wit and satire of Terry Pratchetts supreme series ... A book series like no other ... insightful, witty, consistently funny, clever and beautifully written.

The books are sure to go down as one of the satirical masterpieces of our time.

But as a film, not quite so successful (though "The Colour Of Magic" did work much better than this but still lacked a certain something).

All that said though this is still a great attempt and is still entertaining with plenty of clever insights, amusing moments and touching moments. And a terrific cast of characters. I'm very glad it got made.

It's about real stuff ... real life things like what it is to be a human being, and set in an imaginative and beautifully imagined world.

Thanks cast, crew and writers. Especially TP. Give me this rather than things like Harry Potter any day.

"Everything is safe till it goes wrong" - Joe Simpson, "Touching the Void" - book only.

[–] Samsquanch 13 years ago

...you do realize that books into movies is not a new concept, don't you? Books have been adapted for the screen ever since there's been a screen; and before that, books had been adapted for the stage.

It's nothing new. What's new-ish is comic books & graphic novels into movies, and video games into movies. Neither of which do terribly well, because the movies of the former try desperately to capture the style and animation of the drawings, while the latter tries to take 40+ hours of game play and turn it into 1.5 hours of entertainment.

---at least, that's what the voices told me...

[–] katentek 13 years ago

Well yes of course I realise it's nothing new.

But after years of seeing books being "filmised" (!) I can't think of many/any that really succeed. In realising the book that is. As an idea for a story maybe, but to actually portray a book ... no. They simply are two very different ways of telling a story. A book has for more scope for depth, subtlety and imagination than a film can. The finesse and scope of language is more often than not lost in any translation to a film script.

"In a universe so full of wonders human beings have managed to invent boredom. Quite astonishing."

[–] !!!deleted!!! (4524359) 10 years ago

More films than you'd think were based on books (the majority probably). Many of em have been successful. Probably around half of all successful movies ever have been based on books.