Jurassic Park comes to mind. There are others, but I can't think of them right now. From what I hear, the Bourne trilogy and many books by Chrichton and King qualify.
Also: Garfield TV show, better than the comic.
The Passion Of The Christ. I thought it was marginally better than the Bible.
My opinion always has and always will be that the Fight Club movie offers more to the table than the book does. The biggest issues come through the ending and the car crash scene, in my eyes.
The ending of the book involves trying to blow up a natural history museum to "erase history" and start over. Which is mentally retarded in it's nature. The idea of toppling the credit card companies, though flawed when you think "they can't keep world debt in 9 skyscrapers" it certainly makes more sense as a motive. Also the idea of "Joe/Jack" in heaven being served by Fight Club members is not haunting, pioniant or relevant. It's just abrupt.
The car scene is my bigger beef, though. In the book it's a crazy mechanic asking Joe/Jack all this life defining stuff with a birthday cake on his lap and I don't buy a member of the club being so aggressive or assertive to Tyler Durden or trying to kill him like that. The movie works much better with Tyler as the driver as he's in the position to say and do these things, it hints the ending and shows how crazy Jack is.
Anywho. I just prefer the movie so much more. Palahunik became a better writer in time, but his first novel, despite being amazing, lacked a little. I like to think Phil Ulys screenplay picked up where the book dropped the ball.
.... I wholeheartedly disagree with you, Craig. Fight club was an amazing book, it wasn't perfect, but the screenplay on it wasn't better. I would rate them about the same. Fight club was supposed to be abrupt and jarring. Most of the Charachters weren't supposed to be portrayed as fully coherent people. The screenplay just made the story seem more logical when the story was made to be illogical. If you've read some of Palahunik's other books Like: Rant, Choke, Survivor, Diary, etc.;You'll find that quality in his writing. Anywho, just voicing an opinion here.
If I had to pick one movie that was better then the book, I'd say....Eragon. I found the book to be kind of bland for my tastes but I saw the movie a week ago and It was pretty o.k. Somehow it had more life(lulz) to it (albeit, it may have strayed from the book a bit to much to keep hold of devout fans of the series)
I'd have to say that I like the Lord of the Rings movies a lot better than the books. I mean, sure, they were excessively self indulgent on Jackson's part, but hey--the books were excessively self-indulgent on Tolkien's part as well.
Vec, just a request: Can we broaden this to "adaptations that are better than the source material" thus allowing for novelizations that are better than the original?
Because I liked Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, but I liked Matt Stover's novelization even better.
And Neil Gaiman's novel Neverwhere is better than the TV show it's based on. And I think Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy might be better than the radio plays it's based on. Maybe. But both of those examples are adapted by the original writer, so I'm not sure whether they count.
Oh Brother Where Art Thou? is better than the Odyssey.
I liked 300 the movie better than the graphic novel.
And I have to agree with Tom D regarding Lord of the Rings. It took me six months to trudge my way through the books. Tolkien: great storyteller--not so great a writer.
As far as Crichton goes: Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Timeline, and Congo, I liked the books better. The Andromeda Strain I'm about equal on (haven't seen the newer one yet) and I haven't seen and/or read the others, so I can't really give a comparison.
I also like the Robotech novels better than the animation.
Alien 3 the game is better than the movie it's based on, same for Chronicles of Riddick.
Also Batman TAS, in fact the entirety of the DC Animated Universe was better than most of the comics put out, imo anyway, though some exceptions like The Killing Joke.
That's all I can think of atm.
Trigun Anime >>> Trigun Manga. The former was concise, had the most heart wrenching moments in anime history (Legato's final episode, for instance, will make me cry any and every time) which are all new to the anime only and it had a rather satisfying end.
I'd go as far to say that the anime only got good after the anime overtook the manga.
(Legato's final episode, for instance, will make me cry any and every time)
Anyhow, Lord of the Rings: Movie > Books
Spider-Man: Ultimate Clone Saga > Original Clone Saga
If it carries to varying adaptations of single characters, then...
Joker: Heath Ledger's adaptation trumps Jack Nicholson's...but I have to give the edge to the animated version, voiced by Mark Hamill.
Though I disagree with you on Ultimate Clone Saga, it reminds me of my own contraversial opinion that Spider-Man 2's videogame is far superior to the movie it's based on.
Oh Brother Where Art Thou? is better than the Odyssey.
Hey now let's not say things we can't take back ;p
