There are only two instances where I think the movies made from a book were better than the books: A Little Princess and Big Fish. I only saw Big Fish once, so let me briefly explain my preference for the movie of A Little Princess: I like Cuarón’s decision to move the period to World War I and to move Sarah’s boarding school to America: it’s more of a shift for Sarah, raised as she was in an English colony in India. There are also higher stakes: her father is fighting in World War fucking I, when warfare got really modern and really terrifying really fast. Cuarón doesn’t shy away from the mustard gas scene either, which I think is a bold choice for a movie made from a book usually associated with childhood reading material. And the ending: the movie’s ending is such a relief, so dramatic. I DARE YOU NOT TO CRY. Sarah’s father’s voice when he remembers who she is, choked with emotion, is…it’s real. So the book’s ending sucks eggs in comparison since Sarah’s father (spoiler alert!) dies in Africa of some kind of fever. He’d gone in with some friend on diamond mines (‘cause that always works out) and lost everything. Oh, but it’s OK, Sarah will still enjoy the wealthy life because some rich neighbor guy adopts her. So, yeah, that’s a happy, Victorian-England ending. Movie=better. It also has a kick-ass soundtrack.