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/DidHeJustGoThere]

The original ending for I Am Legend where he realized this got focus-grouped out leading to the released one which undermined the point

[u/Tobbit_is_here → u/DidHeJustGoThere]

Thankfully it appears due to the studio wanting a sequel, the original ending is now the true ending. So a small victory?

[u/AzraelTheMage → u/Tobbit_is_here]

Then they need to make the original ending release more readily available instead of leaving it trapped on a DVD release from when the movie first came out

[u/Tobbit_is_here → u/AzraelTheMage]

I think there is a non-zero chance they'll make a fuss out of a cinema re-release and/or streaming re-release.

[u/ShillBot666 → u/DidHeJustGoThere]

It still misses the point completely because he's not the last human in the movie. There are still other uninfected humans that are set to rebuild the old version of humanity, his death is no longer making way for the new one.

[u/USF4Diago → u/ShillBot666]

Not only that but the vampires truly are monsters, in the books it ends with him seeing they were basically just people, they had a society, they just happened to enjoy his blood, kids were playing in the streets, they were afraid of him because he was a monster to them

[u/rumade → u/USF4Diago]

FR, he was sneaking around while they slept, turning them into salt and pepper with a stroke of his stake.

All of that was left out of the film and Will Smith only attacks in self defence iirc

[u/throwaway69420322 → u/rumade]

In the last scene there's a shot where you see a wall of pictures of all the vampire zombies he abducted to experiment on. He's been doing this for a while. Initially it seems like they're mindless zombies chasing him, but the ending recontextualizes everything. Of course the vampires are going to chase this guy down and try to kill him. He's a mass murderer to them.

[u/javerthugo → u/DidHeJustGoThere]

I’m still sad about the doggy

[u/Poultrymancer → u/javerthugo]

It's somehow both more and less sad in the novella 

Whereas in the movie the dog is his from the time she's a puppy, in the book he just stumbles upon a stray dog wandering his neighborhood long after everyone else has either died or been turned into vampires. He spends weeks trying to gain its trust and bring it home, only for it to die shortly afterward. 

You don't get the movie gut-punch of Neville losing his longtime companion, but you do see his mood lift when finds the dog and finally has some hope of companionship, only to have it firmly dashed by its death. 

[u/Guy-1nc0gn1t0 → u/javerthugo]

One of the saddest scenes 

[u/No_Location_8199 → u/DidHeJustGoThere]

Still a bad adaptation

[u/RabbitStewAndStout → u/No_Location_8199]

It's a great movie! But yeah if they called it anything else I would like it much more. Exactly how I feel about World War Z, too

[u/valdis812 → u/RabbitStewAndStout]

That movie would have done just as well if it didn't have that title. I don't even know why they felt the need to have it tbh.

[u/RabbitStewAndStout → u/valdis812]

It's not like WWZ was prevalent at the time, either. The zombie craze was already over, and the book was written nearly a decade before.

[u/danni_shadow → u/RabbitStewAndStout]

I have never been so, "That's not how it is in the book!" as I was when watching that movie...

Absolutely nothing in common with the book other than one single line.

Like you said, I feel like it would've been an unremarkable but nonetheless enjoyable romp without that name, but instead was a baffling disgrace with it.

[u/GlowingDuck22 → u/DidHeJustGoThere]

I was aware of a second ending where he let's the lady Zombie go. Both Smith and the chick survive. Doesn't the book end up with him more or less standing trial from the vampire/zombies. Isn't the whole "I am legend" book basically him realizing that He is the BoogyMan. He is the creature who comes in the night and steals their children.

Or am i misremembering something?

[u/Baron_Beemo → u/GlowingDuck22]

I haven't seen the Director's Cut of the movie, but you're correct about the novel.

[u/GlowingDuck22 → u/Baron_Beemo]

Thank you for confirming. I really wish they had stayed true to the book. You don't get as many well done "The hero is actually the villain" stories.

[u/BSF7011 → u/[deleted]]

It's the whole point of the fucking book is realizing that HE is the one that is feared. To the vampires, their society is the "human" one while he is the "monster" that "normal society" fears

[u/HazelEBaumgartner → u/BSF7011]

You might even say he is legend.

Literally. It's the entire reason for the title.

[u/BSF7011 → u/HazelEBaumgartner]

Damn, you mean to tell me that to the vampire society, he's some kind of legend? Nahhhhhh

[u/HazelEBaumgartner → u/BSF7011]

Wait until you find out that in the book he's The Last Man On Earth too.

[u/muqrxo → u/[deleted]]

I mean the sequel is already confirmed to be following the alternate ending and is disregarding the theatrical version so I mean, I guess the “masses” have ultimately lost.

[u/mcc9902 → u/[deleted]]

The book was awesome. It's also not relevant here since the only thing the movie has in common is a couple of names.

[u/RabbitStewAndStout → u/[deleted]]

"The masses have spoken! I am correct!" yells the guy that everyone disagrees with

[u/RabbitStewAndStout → u/[deleted]]

Dang so like 100 people voted for a subjective opinion in a majority, that definitely represents whether or not it's good.

[u/ItZSAMIC → u/[deleted]]

Elaborate

[u/Parking-Funny-1932 → u/[deleted]]

I know you're not calling people crybabies with the comments you're leaving here. Are you making your life better acting this way?