The Book Was Better Than the Movie

We've all said it. Far too many times, you read a great book, then go to see it in the theater - and it's awful. Even if the movie is good, the book is (in most cases) better. But why is that? That is precisely the question I am trying to answer. Let's look at a few possible reasons:

1. There are some things books can do, but movies can't.
For example, only in a book can a familiar character say something without you knowing who it is. The author can keep you guessing for suspense. In a movie, you'd recognize the character instantly by his/her voice. Also, in a book, you can tell what the characters are thinking and feeling. You can be directly told be the author what's going on in the characters' minds. In a movie, you have to convey that with actions and words. And sometimes, those fail. (In Les Misérables, they used singing to convey feeling and thoughts better, which actually worked quite well.)

2. Sometimes movies are trying to meet/not exceed a time limit.
Often movies have great scenes taken out, or horrible scenes added in, simply because the writers/producers are trying to make their movie a certain length. It can be annoying, or it can be so bad that it ruins the entire movie.

3. Movies often have extra love scenes added in.
This particular one drives me crazy. I hate it when there's some extra, stupid, mushy love scene that wasn't in the book, just because the writer felt like it. An example of this is in the second Hobbit movie. (By the way, the movie may be a prequel to the Lord of the Rings movies, but the book came before the Lord of the Rings books. Just FYI.) I'm sorry, but a love triangle between two elves and a dwarf? I don't ship it.

4. The book is interpreted differently than you wanted it to be.
Anyone who has ever had an intelligent discussion about a book knows that there's more than one way to read it. In fact, there are so many different was to interpret any given book that the chance that the script writer understands the book the same way the author does is practically none. In many cases, this isn't a problem (unless you're the author and think the writers/producers/actors didn't do your book justice). But every once in a while, there comes a movie that is horribly different from the book and is a positively ghastly adaptation.

5. Scenes/characters in the movie look different than you pictured.
How many times have you gone into the movie theater and thought "That's not how he/she's supposed to look!" or "That's not how that scene goes!"

It should be noted that in some cases, the movie is actually as good as or better than the book, but for the most part, the book is better.

What about you? Why do you think the book is often better than the movie? What are your favorite examples?