From best to worst, here's how my list would stack up:
Fellowship of the Ring.
I defy any of you to show me a better first-book-adaptation than that.
The Hunger Games.
Okay, so the shaky-cam was a little annoying, but come on, it was pretty awesome. Nothing TOO out of place, good actors, good effects, good earnest adaptation.
~NEW~ Divergent.
Again, a good, earnest adaptation. Brought the events of the book to life very nicely, took itself as seriously as the book intended, just wasn't as compelling for me as The Hunger Games. I think casting was excellent, really enjoyed the music and direction, just everything about the movie production itself was excellent. What I felt was lacking in the movie was also sort of a necessary evil. They pulled back on a lot of parts of the movie that should have been honestly more violent than they were depicted. I realize they had to do that to keep a PG-13 rating and therefore keep the audience, but I feel like that lost a lot of the feel of the book. The story hits hard, on purpose, and it felt like the movie pulled the punches a bit. Can't put my finger on specifics, but that's my assessment.
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone.
My wife and I disagree on this, but that's alright. I didn't like it much at the time, but it tried so hard. And it got the whole movie saga rolling, so you have to give it props for that.
Vampire Academy.
Now, before you get surprised that this is right after Harry Potter, look down on this list and see how bad the rest of them were. Now we'll proceed. This movie has the unique property of being the only one on this list whose book I did not read prior to seeing the movie. That being said, my overall reaction to the movie was to say "I'll bet this was a pretty good book." Not that I loved the movie. Too much emo and too many Hollywood fangs in one place for my taste, but I enjoyed the protagonist, the writing was pretty hilarious in some parts, and they did a good job of explaining what was going on in a way that didn't make you feel lost at any point, even though I hadn't read the book. But it was incredibly rushed, scenes moving too fast without any room to breathe whatsoever, and not in a Stark Trek Into Darkness kinda way. I felt like I was watching a Hank Green YouTube video the entire time, which is not what I go to the movies to see at all. All that being said, I don't want two hours of my life back, it was a fun and different vampire system to play around with, and it was fairly enjoyable for a bit of mindless YA-turned-film.
City of Bones.
This is where I put this one. Worse than Harry Potter, but better than the last entries on this list. The effects were pretty, the characters were more or less as I remember them from the book, the plot . . . was close enough that it was recognizable, but there were so, SO many moments when the writing just fell flat on its face. Cassandra Clare, you should've written this one yourself.
The Golden Compass.
Seriously, if you didn't read the book, you were probably really, really lost. Don't feel bad, everyone was. Even Ian Mckellan as a polar bear and the mere presence of Derek Jacoby (normally enough for me to like just about anything) couldn't save this one.
Twilight.
All-around-fail. Just . . . bad. So bad.
Next to come on this list - The Maze Runner, August 2014
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