10 Terribly Unfaithful Adaptations That Made Seriously Great Movies

2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit It's kind of hard to believe that Robert Zemeckis' Who Framed Roger Rabbit was ever a novel in the first place, let alone a unfaithful adaptation, but here we are: "Who Censored Roger Robert?" was originally written by a guy named Gary K. Wolf back in 1981, whose name alone justifies his right to write such a thing. The original novel was just about as crazy as the original movie, but in an entirely different way. Though the core idea remains the same, the biggest change is that the "cartoon characters" of the movie aren't from movies at all, but comics. Oh, and there's also the little matter of Roger Rabbit's death at the beginning of the book. Yes, the novel isn't about solving a framing at all, but an actual murder. That, coupled with the fact that it's Roger's doppelganger who teams up with Eddie Valiant to solve the mystery, really leaves these stories in different places. So as an adaptation, Zemeckis' movie is incredibly unfaithful, but, hey, it's a great movie on its own terms. The director simply Wolf's novel as a springboard of sorts, plucking plot elements from here and there whenever he saw fit. As is stands, though, there actually isn't a single scene in the movie that's in the book.
Contributor

All-round pop culture obsessive.