Monday, June 6, 2011

Book to Movie Musings

Since I became a father in the early 1990's, it's probably safe to say that I'm intimately familiar with Pixar Studios and their work, as well as the work of other studios who copied their digital approach to filmography.  Even a cursory look at the success of The Lion King, Shrek, and How to Train Your Dragon will show that these artists and their distributors have caught lightning in a bottle.

But almost all of the offerings in computer animation have been kid or family oriented.  The exception, of course, is Avatar.  Let's get over the political and social commentary that this film is supposed to contain, and admit that James Cameron at least had the vision to take the medium that has worked for kids and make it work for an adult audience exclusively.

There are a lot of books in all of the genres that I have read that I think would make a really good movie, but due to problems with either the settings, characters, or story would be difficult to translate from paper to celluloid.  Some attempts have been made, such as Dune or Starship Troopers, with varying levels of success.  Some stories, such as Dune or Starship Troopers have so much commentary and story happening solely in the minds of the characters that no matter the medium, they would be difficult to make and still stay true to the original story, no matter the medium.

So what do you all think?  Are there books that you've enjoyed, and would like to see produced as a movie, especially if Pixar's methods would do a better job than traditional cinema?

10 comments:

Daddy Hawk said...

Now you've gone and done it. Now I need to redo the brain bleaching now that you just had to mention that fiasco Starship Troopers. Robert Heinlein is still spinning in his grave over that one. Casper Van Dien is no Johnny Rico. In fairness to Denise Richards, there's probably not an actress in Hollywood petite enough for my mental image of Carmen. Doogie Howser as Carl?? Okay, maybe that part works. But Dizzy was a woman??? Sacrilege.

I hereby nominate Starship Troopers for a REMAKE by someone who actually read the book. It could easily be done Apocalypse Now style since the book was, you know, written first person narrative to begin with.

Another one I'd love to see done is Ivory by Mike Resnick. Great Story. Could be done "Highlander" style to great effect.

Irish said...

One of the recent books I read that would make a great movie ( if done right) would be "World War Z"

http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Oral-History-Zombie/dp/0307346609

also.. "Unintended Consequeces" "Molon Labe" and " One Second After"

North said...

The entire Butcher / Harry Dresden series.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

I'd like to see the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust done Avatar style. It would be difficult to do since the main character is a human in an empire of elves that average six to seven feet tall, and he has a familiar that looks like a little dragon.

David Weber's Honor Harrington series would be another good one. It could be done live action, but would need good CGI for the character of Nimitz.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

And, now that I'm not commenting from my phone...

That bit about the Vlad Taltos series should have read "It would be difficult to do live"

It could be done, but the director would have to very picky about the actors, and play a lot of games with perspective (a la Lord of the Rings). CGI would work much better.

North said...

Oooh ooh! Ringworld.

Jay G said...

Monster Hunter.

WOULD.

BE.

EPIC.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

North wins. Ringworld would be epic if done properly, and with cutting edge CGI.

Now I have this overwhelming desire see Speaker-to-Animals looming over Louis Wu and Nessus. Somebody needs to make this movie, ASAP.

bluesun said...

Vlad Taltos! Yes!

Or even the Khaavren Romances.

MrGarabaldi said...

Steakleys Armour would be good, lessee....how about the origional dragonlance series done in the LOTR format. I also like the helmsman by bill baldwin. Or Enders game by Orson Scott Card.

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