10 Kids Movies That Were Better Than the Book
Think the book is always better? Shrek and Bambi say, think again.
by Jeanne Sager
July 7, 2009
Another Harry Potter movie opens soon, and so begins another round of criticism about how the film does or doesn't live up to the book.
But for all that griping about the books done wrong by Hollywood, what happens when the movie is really better than the book?
Check out these kiddie flicks that rocked the books. — Jeanne Sager
1. Shrek
Didn't know this was based on a book, did you? You're not missing much. The 1990 version written by William Steig is crudely drawn, and its ogre is missing the sweet inner onion layers of everyone's favorite curmudgeon. Shrek onscreen makes a good show of being a beast, his gruffness aided and abetted by Mike Myers' spot-on Scottish brogue. Shrek on the page is simply beastly, and proud of it. Stuck in the palace hall of mirrors, Steig's ogre is shocked by the hideous creatures all around him — until he realizes they're all him. "He faced himself, full of rabid self-esteem, happier than ever to be exactly what he was," Steig writes. Bring back our self-effacing swamp settler and give us a double dose of donkey.
2. Bambi
If you thought mama deer getting blown away in the movie was harsh, try reading Bambi as told by Felix Salten. While Mom's busy dying, Bambi is scrambling to get away and meets "a dying pheasant, with its neck twisted," as well as Friend Hare's wife, whose "hind leg dangled lifelessly in the snow, dyeing it red and melting it with warm, oozing blood. . . In the middle of her words, she rolled over on her side and died." True to nature? Yes. Child appropriate? If you're a fan of the "give my kids nightmares for a month" canon, then yes. Something stinks about this book, and it isn't Flower.
3. Cinderella
The poor little orphan girl in the Disney movie has it rough there for awhile, but try being the Cinderella in the original Grimm's Fairy Tale. Her dad was very much alive and totally blind to his witch of a second wife. When dad asks his daughter and stepdaughters what they want from one of his trips, he takes Cinderella's wishes at face value and brings the stepmonsters pearls and jewels while the little cinder girl gets the branch from a hazel bush. Gee, thanks Dad, but the mice made better benefactors.
©2009 Jeanne Sager & Babble Media Inc.
About the Author |
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Jeanne Sager is a freelance writer and photographer living in upstate New York with her husband and daughter, Jillian. She maintains a blog of her award-winning columns at jeannesager.blogspot.com. |
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