An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Mulan(2020)-They give Mulan superpowers which is not only lame it goes against the message of the original about equality and struggle,plus they removes Shang because apparently having Mulan date her superior was "problematic" even though Shang genuienely respected Mulan and their rank was never brought up

I am Legend(2007)-You know why the story is called "I am legend"? SPOILER ALERT the protagonist is the actual monster,humanity is gone and the vampires have a actual society and the protagonist kills and terrorize them

Animal Farm(2026)-On the very slim chance that Andy Serkis ever sees this,here's the thing Andy,Animal Farm was not a children work it was not supposed to have a happy ending,you never heard of cautionary tales before?

[u/3d1thF1nch]

I read I am Legend when the movie was first advertised, just getting a vibe for what the movie would be like. Not only did it have clever concepts about a post-apocalypse I had never thought about, that last chapter and that last line goes hard AF! The last line just completely flips the concept of protagonist and antagonist, and completely changes your perspective on the character you have grown with and empathized with for hundreds of pages. Blew my mind to punch a reader in the gut like that on the very last line.

Then the movie happened, and I did not feel those feelings. Decent infected movie with some cool scenes, meh ending, but did not have the punch (or even the same plot or themes but whatever) of the book.

[u/jayhof52 → u/3d1thF1nch]

I also love that, in the book, Robert is just a guy. Just a dude from LA who survived and tried to make what he thought was the best of things to try and survive.

It sort of made his experiments both more meaningful and more chilling in context of the final line. Having him be a doctor in the most recent adaptation killed that.

[u/3d1thF1nch → u/jayhof52]

Right?! He was an Everyman survivor that decides to improve himself in the apocalypse. Not just survive, but learn and hypothesize, for no one, why things are the way they are. He taught himself the skills to do so. I forgot about how that stuck out when I read it, so thanks for reminding me!

[u/rumade → u/3d1thF1nch]

He literally spends the first half or so of the book avoiding the problem locked in his house drinking the night away. It was very relatable.

I only read the book because the projector at our screening broke halfway through and I didn't want to wait for the next showing. So glad I did though. It's a great read.

[u/jayhof52 → u/rumade]

And it makes him more terrifying in the mythology of that new society - it’s like the later villains in the Human Centipede series not being trained doctors and just people obsessed with attaching people to other people, which is more horrifying than a man designing a complex medical procedure to do it.

[u/BoiFrosty → u/jayhof52]

Bro solved the question behind the vampire plague with a library card.