Persuasion And Other Films On Famous Novels That Left Viewers Disappointed

One of the hardest things to witness as an ardent reader is a poor cinematic adaptation of your favourite book in an attempt to make it more appealing to the audience. While movie adaptations help gather a larger audience for the book, they sometimes lack the true essence of the story since it is hard to adapt an entire book into a simple two-hour version. Over the years we have seen numerous films on famous novels which were not received well by the audience.

While there have been many great films which have matched the love and adulation received by their source material, like Forrest Gump, Little Women, The Shawshank Redemption and others, some have disappointed their fans beyond repair. The recent OTT release Persuasion became a subject of criticism for ruining Jane Austen's classic novel by the same name. As soon as the trailer dropped, the film received backlash for diminishing the sentiment of Austen's posthumously published work. Persuasion stars Fifty Shades-fame Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliot and Cosmos Jarvis as Captain Frederich Wentworth. The film follows the story of second chances at love. Even after its release, most of the audience was unhappy as the film reduced the classical essence of the Austen novel to mere Instagram-worthy material.

Here are some other films on famous novels which have been a great disappointment for their fans:

The Great Gatsby

Released in 2013, The Great Gatsby is based on American novelist F Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel by the same name. While the film includes a star-studded cast with Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton among others, it could not do justice to the original story. The film is rich in style but lacks the original substance of the book as many adaptations do. The Great Gatsby is directed by Baz Luhrmann.

The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train has been adapted in both, Hollywood and Bollywood. The book is a psychological thriller story about a woman who idealises the life of a happy couple she sees on her train ride everyday. While the book has received enough appraise from its readers, the audience of its film adaptations found them less compelling and engaging. The Hollywood film, which came out in 2016 starring Emily Blunt, Hailey Bennet, Luke Evans among others received a lukewarm responce whereas the Hindi adaptation, which came out in 2021 with actors Parineeti Chopra, Kirti Kulhari, Aditi Rao Hydari and Avinash Tiwari, was panned both by critics and viewers.

Actor Parineeti Chopra in Indian adaptation of “The Girl on the Train”.

The Hobbit

Warner Brothers spilt the JRR Tolkien's 300 or so page novel into three elaborate installments to establish The Hobbit series, which however, was not welcomed by the audience. The film features many additional characters and plotlines which made distorted the original plot, making is difficult to follow and less entertaining than the fantasy novel. The Hobbit is directed by Peter Jackson.

Paper Towns

Adapted from John Green's young adult novel by the same name, Paper Towns explores the love and life of high school children. While other film adaptations of John Green's novels, like The Fault in our Stars and Let It Snow, were huge hits among the audience, Paper Towns could not keep up with the success of the novel and lacked its beauty and charm. The film is directed by Jake Schreier.

Paper Towns

Suggested Reading: Check Out Five Of These Hindi Films Which Are Based On Bengali Books

The Giver

The Giver is adapted from Lois Lowry's 1993 dystopian novel by the same name. The film came out in 2014 and is directed by Phillip Noyce. Despite a People's Choice nomination and a star-studded cast, the film was highly criticised for lacking the original concepts in the story and the sci-fi elements deviates it from the originally moving and emotional journey of self-actualisation.