Comparison and contrast of Book/Movie: The Princess Bride

The Book

It's pretty easy to see why S. Morgenstern's story The Princess Bride has become such a widely beloved story, both in its book and its movie incarnations. This classic tale of true love and excellent adventure seems to have everything: fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, and so on (William, 7).

The Movie

The 1987 film, directed by Rob Reiner, starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, and Robin Wright, and written by William Goldman, author of the original book, the film has undoubtedly left an impression, and its fans are still fervent admirers of the story (Reiner, 9). Watching the film with a group of Princess Bride fans inevitably means having almost the entire movie quoted as its playing. Both book and movie are much beloved examples of their genre.

Comparison

William Goldman wrote both the book and movie, and as such there is still a surprising amount of changes, even in the ending. There was a lot in the hefty book that missed the film adaptation: Inigo and Fezzik's pasts, the humorous descriptions of Buttercup's beauty, her later nightmares, and the expansion on the prince's character. I feel like the movie is a high school algebra and the book is college algebra. Overall, the characters were so close to their original book counterparts. The prince is just as violent and cowardly. Buttercup was a ditzy in the book.

There was a lot that missed the movie, though, mainly because the screenplay didn't have room for so many different storylines. I also think that the movie was more optimistic than the book. Some of the differences in the storyline were Westley and Buttercup confesses their love for each other. Another part that was removed was when count Rugen came to see Buttercup to see if she was fit to be prince ...