Good points about Jurassic Park and the 13th Warrior. I wouldn't say the movies were definitively "better" for me but both brought something more/different to the plate as noted by both posters.
It does seem rare to have any movie stand up to a film adaptation. Part of it is pure length. A long movie is something over two hours. Very roughly, a standard book reads in something over six hours. A film doesn't have time for the various character-building nuances and scenes of a good book.
|