Books to Movies - Gripes ......

I think it is always dicey when books are converted to movies ....I mean just take the Bourne series .. !!! The movie(s) have not captured the book. They have taken "Bourne Identity" and made it into 3 movies with bits and pieces from the second and third book. The books "Bourne Supremacy" and "Bourne Ultimatum" hardly have anything in common with the movies of the same name. :)

While some adaptation in the storyline is expected; I wonder why glaring mistakes are made while casting .... One would think this area at least can be close to perfection .....

Yet ..... when I think of Lord of the Rings and the role of Galadriel played by Cate Blanchett -

She is supposed to be absolutely beautiful .. in fact so beautiful that the Dwarf and Elf keep arguing on the point - Arwen vs Galadriel. I know beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and all that but she looked terrible in the movie instead of gorgeous. Absolutely disappointing !!! Arwen as Liv Tyler was so much more better and she looks ethereal the way it is in the book. [ For those of you who forgot ; Galadriel is an elf queen and one of the 3 keepers of the rings. She gives Frodo the Star of light ].

Same for Marie in Bourne Movies - I don't think the actress fit the bill for this role ......

Another famous series - Harry Potter just seems to have too many wrongly depicted characters ... think of - Voldemort - He finally completely appears in "Goblet of Fire" and what a disappointment. Honestly as the main villain-of-the-piece in Harry Potter isn't he supposed to be so scary that nobody can mention his name ? Isn't he supposed to look more menacing ? Instead he looks like a caricature of a villain or a comic portrayal gone wrong !! Jeez .. no chills at all... ends up looking silly in fact ..... And then his eyes are supposed to be red slits !!!

Fleur Delacour - She is a Veela and has an ability to entrance and mesmerize men ... well .... she seems to have no appeal at all in the movie !!! :)

And I can go on .... :)

These look like glaring examples to me ... but may be this comparison is something obsessed book-readers observe and like to critique ..... :)

In recent times - the best movie adhering to the book descriptions IMHO is "Twilight". I found no issues with any of the characters - be the main characters or the lesser role characters - they have chosen exceptionally well. Yet how much does this diligence in casting convert to profit for the movie ?

[ Twilight - New Moon - is not very riveting as a book so I think it may not do much at the box office when compared to part one... :) But then that is the storyline .. not the character ..... so I digress .... ]

I did think it was an interesting question as regard casting but I know I do not have enough data to analyze ... :)) May be getting the main characters right is sufficient ....