|
More than half of the movies released in a year are based on books and for each only a small fractionof the audience will have ever read the book. I've never read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (tried, but didn't care for it) but enjoyed both movies quite a bit. I liked the first two Lord of the Rings movies very, very much even though it had been so long since I read the books that I really didn't remember anything from them (the third one is almost incomprehensible without close knowledge of the books). The Exorcist is a great movie though I've never read the book. As is The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Does it require having read the book to enjoy Gone with the Wind or The Wizard of Oz?
No. Because a movie should stand alone from the book. Either that or they should do what you suggest and be upfront in saying "this is simply an annotation of the books."
Anyway, I'm giving my view as a non-reader of the books. Obviously it is a different experience for those who have read the books. But if you haven't, the movie, simply as a movie, is crap.
|