So, you find a book that you really love. You fell in love with the characters, you were engrossed in the story and wanted to move to the same town. Then you get that announcement - the film rights have been purchased. Oh great! I can see my favourite characters on screen now! You sit in the cinema, popcorn on your lap, a drink at your side, and your happiness is off the charts. 

2 hours later, you're angry. You get up from that seat and vow to never see that god awful movie again. Why, you ask? They just butchered your favourite book. No. There's no need to not follow the story that the author has spent months writing it for people to enjoy. (And enjoy they did! Thus the movie adaptation!)


Luckily, you're not the only one who disliked the movie version. So at least the dislike is mutual throughout the fandom. We've decided to compile a list of our least favourites, the ones that Hollywood took from us and changed for their benefit. [Insert remark about the soulless nature of movie production today.] [This is our agreement to your remark.]



1. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief / Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters


I'm a big fan of the Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan wrote an amazing story with some incredibly lovable characters that had not only children but adults loving Percy's exciting adventure.
However, Hollywood grabbed it by the hair and had their way with it. I'm going to be honest, if it wasn't a book series, just movies, I wouldn't be as bothered, since it wasn't a bad movie... it just wasn't adapted well from the novels. First, we have Logan Lerman. Great actor, good looking boy, but... he's not 12. Percy's supposed to be a child, so why did they cast a bunch of actors who are in their 20s? Annabeth has the wrong look, and the story isn't following the plot in the book. Sea of Monsters does have a few changes but they completely changed the end of the movie. They even killed a character and brought them back to life? As well as bringing something that happens in a future book forward way too many books. Deary me..
I can see why they're not doing book three. I say they should re-do it with different actors. Start fresh.





2. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
The movie adaptation of City of Ashes, the sequel to the first installment in The Mortal Instruments series has been postponed until further notice. We were not surprised. Much like the Percy Jackson adaptations before it, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones took "liberal adaptation" a little too... liberally. Not only did the plot diverge from the novel to an extent that left us wondering if it was even the same story, but they introduced scenes which were direct, concrete spoilers for not only the sequel, but also the third book in the series. Given that Cassandra Claire, the author, was involved in the project (and even had a cameo in a scene that was cut afterwards), we are left to wonder why the TMI crew was allowed to drift so very far from the basic premise of the widely successful YA series.





3. Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland


Going to be honest, the movie was quite stunning. It's very colourful and unique but really? It was a bit strange. It seemed like most of the work went into how it looked than anything else. Also, if this creepy gif doesn't convince you on how ridiculous the movie is, I don't know what will. Where did this come from anyway? 





4. The Great Gatsby
Also known as "the only movie ever where Leo wasn't even nominated for an Oscar", this adaptation is only the most recent in a succession of questionable attempts to translate F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece to the big screen without having to sacrifice the very essence of the novel, the essential feel of the jazz era and the messages contained therein.
It failed on all accounts. But if it's any consolation to the movie, so did its predecessors.




5. The Time Traveler's Wife 


This was one of the first 'proper' books that I read when I got into reading. I loved the book so much. It's amazing. When I saw there was a movie, I got so excited! Sadly, a lot of the story had changed and they were quite pivital parts of the book, aswell as some characters being cut out. But I guess most books get the Hollywood treatment. If you haven't read the book, I have to admit, it's a good movie but as a reader of this, it's just not what I expected.





6. Vampire Academy


In an attempt to appeal to the target demographic, the Vampire Academy film crew adopted a satirical approach to the franchise. Or at least we assume that that's what they were attempting. From the juvenile-to-the-point-of-condescending trailers, to inexplicable casting decisions, the movie took hit after hit after hit, until the audience was left in puzzlement and confusion. We could have sworn this was based on a book. We just can't remember which book... Not even the title is the giveaway. It was that far off.





7. Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events


If I'm correct, I actually think three of the Lemoney Snicket books were put into one movie and it was slightly disappointing. For one thing, the books are brilliant. I loved reading these when I was younger and when I saw the movie..well, Jim Carrey wasn't my Count Olaf. He was just Jim Carrey being Jim Carrey. I do like him but not for this role. And the movie felt rushed to squeeze as much in as possible. Please start from the beginning and re-film these!





8. Pride and Prejudice
Much like the aforementioned The Great Gatsby, this is another attempt in a long line of unsuccessful attempts to do justice to a beloved classic on the big screen. Much like the aforementioned The Great Gatsby, it did bad, but not worse than its predecessors. Pride and Prejudice has known both movie adaptations and mini-series attempts, and everything from wrong casting decisions to poor directing and/or screenplay. In this case, the consolation lies in the fact that both Lizzie - the progatonist - and Jane - the author - would have taken delight in the utter ridiculousness of each adaptation in turn.





9. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian


Bleurgh. I really didn't like this movie. The books written by C.S Lewis are magical and exciting, a series you have to get your children to read. They're fantastic! The first movie may not be popular, I don't know, but I really enjoyed it, I guess you can say it's a guilty pleasure of mine. So when I went to London to see Prince Caspian at the premiere, I had high expectations. Why, I don't know. I left in a state of disappointment and anger. I wish I'd stayed home. It wasn't good. Too much had changed and they added romance in there which wasn't necessary, considering what happens in future books. No thanks.





10. My Sister's Keeper


I actually haven't read this yet. My friend really likes this book and when we went to go see the movie, she was so annoyed at the end and she had a lot of problems with it. Turns out, not only had a lot of changes been done to the plot, things being left out and a character or two being cut, but the ending. They changed who died at the end of the film. How can you just change who dies? I think the fact that the end of the book ends the way it did was something people really loved about it, it's not predictable too, and it goes to show that not everyone in her situation ends up dead, people do live. And for that reason, that's being put in this list.