You walk out of the movie theater after enjoying a film adapted from a book. You tell your friend how great it was and are immediately met with, “The book was better.” Sound familiar?

There’s always that one person who insists that the movie cannot compare to the book. Well, is that always true?

Most people seem to think so. Lovereading.co.uk put together a list of films-based-on-books from the past 22 years with their book and movie ratings. 39 of the 58 had higher ratings as books.

There is certainly much more freedom in the book. Characters’ thoughts are much easier to communicate and the length can be anywhere from 100 to 1,000 pages. Filmmakers, however, have to take a book with any number of pages and turn it into a two hour movie. It’s impossible to cram every single detail from the book into that little time.

Also, there is so much in a book that is open for interpretation. Every single reader has a different picture in their head of what the characters and setting looks like, how certain scenes play out, etc. Movie watchers who have already read the book are so much harder to please because if their interpretation does not match with the movie, chances are they won’t like it as much.

One of the most recent and disappointing films-based-off-books is the Percy Jackson film series. According to IMDb, the overall rating for The Lightning Thief was 5.9 stars out of 10. Many of the reviews featured titles like “Did they even read the book? Worst Movie of the YEAR! If not ever!” “Nothing like the book!!” and “Most ridiculous script ever . . .” However, there were a few reviews from viewers who had not read the book, which had considerably higher ratings than the one and two stars from previous reviews.

Sometimes I think we get so focused on comparing the movie to the book, we completely forget to appreciate the movie outside the book’s shadow.

I remember when I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for the first time. I was not very happy about how different it was from the book. They added a whole battle scene that was not in the book. But once I stopped comparing it to the book, I realized it wasn’t too bad.

Films-based-on-books deserve a little more credit than we give them. True, the book has more room for detail and a more developed plot, but if you consider them separately, it is  much easier to enjoy them both.