When it Goes Too Far on Film - Hollywood's Worst Book Adaptation Blunders

It is usually a good thing when popular and great books are adapted for release as movies. That usually means that more recognition for the book will follow and that many more people would appreciate the great works of literature from which these movies are based on. And those book lover are guaranteed to be one of the first to get front row seats to those movies, in anticipation of how the movie would turn out. Some movies do well against the barrage of literary critics and book lovers. But there are a lot more misses than hits and be it because of the dialog, the setting, the characters, or the ending, many book lovers are left wanting when viewing their favorite adaptations.

Here are some of the more popular movies that may have done well at the box office but have not done such a good job at endearing themselves to literary fans:

- Stardust: From the genius mind of Neil Gaiman comes this story of fantasy, adventure, other worlds and true love. It achieved fame first as a graphic novel but as a movie it's plot was considerably thinned down. Although you get to see the same magic, wit and charm, that the graphic novel contains, it fails to live up to its literary equivalent.

- The Shining: Although generally considered a good movie, this Stephen King classic is one of those that suffer from unfaithfulness to the original text. Kubrick managed to create a classic horror/thriller with this movie but took so many liberties with the plot that the movie became too much of an independent entity.

- Captain Corelli's Mandolin: Love stories in the mids of war are some of the best things that a story can be based upon. Especially if it's a love story between and Italian soldier and the daughter of a local Greek doctor. The movie version of this story however, deviates too much from the book and the love story was too greatly exaggerated to the utter disregard of such themes as homosexuality. Literary fans usually hate such manipulations to great works of art.

- The Da Vinci Code: This case is exactly the reverse of the other ones before it. It actually becomes too faithful to the novel that it retains even the same pace as that of the novel, On paper it may seem to be a very exciting read, but on screen it becomes a snooze-fest.