Adaptations

Photo of a paperback copy of the book Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.

With the news this week of Sam Neill’s passing, a lot of folks were sharing favorite clips from his movies including Jurassic Park, and I was reminded of watching the movie in the theater with my family when I was a kid. It was the first time I can recall watching a new movie adapted from a book that I already loved.

My paperback copy of Jurassic Park, which looked much like the one pictured above, came to me by way of a school book order. It was either a Troll or Scholastic book flyer that used to get handed out to students in school. If memory serves it was a book order that my sister brought home, as I was already too old to be getting book order forms, though really I would argue that no one is too old for book order forms. So, while most of the books were specifically children’s literature, some wise individual had decided that a grown-up book about a dinosaur theme park just might appeal to kids as well as adults and stuck that title in the flyer. I saw it and the short description, and knew I had to read that book.

When the movie came out several years later, I was excited to see it, but I had some concerns. Would the movie remain faithful to the original source material? Would the actors do a good job of bringing the characters I loved to life? My expectations were high walking into that movie theater, and I’m happy to say that Jurassic Park the movie delivered.

Since then, I’ve watched my share of movies adapted from books that I’ve loved. Some were excellent, and some definitely missed the mark. Probably the worst page to screen adaptation I’ve ever seen was Motherless Brooklyn. It’s a great book. The movie is . . . well, it’s something. Honestly, I don’t know what happened. It’s like somebody had an idea for a movie, but they couldn’t sell it, but when they got a gig adapting Motherless Brooklyn they decided to shoehorn their own story into it. That’s the only way to explain the film which for reasons that aren’t clear decided to set the story decades earlier and introduced a whole storyline and plot point that aren’t in the book at all. It resembles the book only in the vaguest of ways.

Some classics have multiple film versions, to the point that there is a bit of a generational divide when it comes to movie adaptations. I will say on this score, I’m firmly a member of Generation X because when it comes to Pride and Prejudice the absolute best adaptation is the 1995 mini-series version where Colin Firth plays Mr. Darcy.

The most recent movie adaptation I watched was Project Hail Mary, and I went into that with the same reservations I had watching Jurassic Park for the first time. I am happy to report that it was a very satisfying cinematic version of a book that I loved. Sure some stuff had to get omitted, and some things were definitely different in the book, but all in all, it captured the feel of the book.

Anyway, no talk of adaptations, would be complete without referencing one of my favorite movies about writing. I’m talking about Adaptation, which is technically, kind of, sort of an adaptation of The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, but really is something else entirely. Anyway, you should watch it if you get a chance. In fact, if you’re a writer on a deadline, it would be the perfect way to procrastinate.

I do think, watching a movie when you’ve read the book first, gives you a slightly different viewing experience. A few years ago, I remember Ron and I had somehow got onto the topic of 1990s SUVs as one does. Anyway, the Toyota Land Cruiser came up, and I was saying something about how they were the cars they drove around Jurassic Park in. He insisted those were Ford Explorers. I knew he was wrong because I could picture the Land Cruisers in my head, clear as day. Off to the internet we went, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when my Google search turned up a still from the movie of what was clearly a Ford Explorer. It was a real Mandela effect moment for me. So, I did a little more internet sleuthing, and discovered that in the book the vehicles were Land Cruisers. Apparently, when it came time for Hollywood product placement Ford was the one ponying up the big bucks and so in the movie the vehicles were Explorers. I guess Ford didn’t really get their money’s worth with me, since I still remembered the cars the way I had originally pictured them in my head while reading the novel.

—Alissa