The Top 10 Best Movies Based on Young Adult Novels
5. The Spectacular Now
Hey, it’s Shailene Woodley again! She’s appeared in a ton of adaptations of young adult novels and, to be honest, that’s where her strength lies as an actress. The Spectacular Now is a hard movie to watch because it’s just so damn well done. In it, she’s a young girl who falls for a guy with more than a few demons in his closet (Miles Teller). While the relationship might seem toxic at first glance, the truth is that it’s a movie about seeing the actual potential in the person you love and helping them when they need you most. Of course, it’s a lot more complicated than all that both in real life and in this adaptation. If you shy away from most the movies on this list because teenage films can be literal trash, you’ll be happy with the subtle storytelling used in The Spectacular Now.
4. Hugo
When it comes to adaptations of young adult novels, Hugo tends to fly under the radar. That’s probably because it’s from director Martin Scorsese and more often than not it’s his crime movies that get all the attention. This is a far cry from all that as it’s the tale of an inventive boy (played by Asa Butterfield who is another actor that’s no stranger to movies based on young adult novels). While most of Scorsese’s movies are brutal, to say the least, Hugo is a whimsical family film with plenty of laughs and a heartwarming story at its core. I know, it feels weird for me to say that about anything from Scorsese, but the man has range. Who knows, maybe Eli Roth will take a note from the famed director with his next film hitting theaters in September. Until then, add Hugo to your family movie night. You won’t regret it.
3. Harry Potter
You didn’t think that we’d forget about what is easily one of the biggest phenomena of… Well, a long time. With how popular the young adult novels telling the tale of this young wizard whisked off to a school renowned for its magical teachings and disgustingly poor adult supervision won the hearts of children and adults alike. Needless to say, there was a ton of pressure to do this tale justice and luckily the vast majority of this film empire got it right. Some were better than others, but all in all the movies are all pretty good. Best of all this series launched the careers of Emma Thompson and Daniel Radcliffe. I would include Rupert Grint in there (I’m all for ginger representation), but he hasn’t really done a lot of high profile work since then. Still, he was a terrific Weasley and this was a terrific series.
2. The Outsiders
Yeah, I know you probably thought this list was going to end with Harry Potter. However, young adult novels have been around long before J.K. Rowling dominated the industry. Those who had the pleasure of enduring the public school system in America are probably more than familiar with the classic phrase “stay golden, Ponyboy.” This book is an American classic and the adaptation features the likes of Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, and Rob Lowe. As if the cast wasn’t impressive enough, Francis Ford Coppola was tasked with adapting the film and he knocked it out of the park. Honestly, this movie is probably one of the few I would say are acceptable substitutes for the Cliff’s Notes.
1. The Princess Bride
Look, I don’t care how many teens shriek for Edward or whoever, no flash in the pan phenomenon will ever dethrone The Princess Bride as the best adaptation of all young adult novels. This is the literal definition of a feel-good movie because there’s no way to be in a bad mood by the time you get to the credits. It has everything you could want in a story, love, action, thrills, and side-splitting comedy. To top things off it also features brilliant performances from the likes of Cary Elwes, Andre the Giant, and Robin Wright. For me, this is easily one of the best movies ever made and if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, I’m willing to be you’ll probably feel that way too.
Honorable Mention: Ready Player One
I feel like one of the more recent young adult adaptations deserved a shout out because it was a pretty good film overall. Sure, it had its issues, but when you look at all the movies out there based on young adult novels, Ready Player One was actually one of the better ones out there. It was a pretty decent flick, even if it didn’t get a chance to break into the top 10.
Of course, this list is subject to change and with how many new movies based on young adult novels are coming out, much less new YA books, there are bound to be plenty of them. Until then be sure to leave a comment below about what your favorite movie from this list is and what other films you would have liked to see on it. I welcome all suggests.
… Unless it’s Twilight. You can keep Twilight.