Top five scenes that made the transition from page to screen well

Top Five Friday

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This week: Top five scenes that made the book-to-movie transition well

Do you have a favorite book scene that was adapted for the screen particularly well? If so, share it on your blog with the icon above, or post your favorite in the comments!

Emily's list:
1. The Breaking of the Fellowship, from The Lord of the Rings. Despite the fact that this got shifted from The Two Towers (book) to The Fellowship of the Ring (movie), it really captured the tone of the scene. The dialogue and acting really brought out each character's motives for going in different directions. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get an Aragorn/Legolas duet lamenting Boromir's death, though.
2. Lucy Pevensie stepping through the wardrobe for the first time, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I just thought this scene was really well done, and it looked exactly as I imagined it!
3. Coraline's introduction to Other Mother and Other Father in the parallel world beyond the little door. The filmmakers did a nice job balancing Coraline's wonder and delight at this new world, with the sort of underlying vague creepiness of it all.
4. Lizzy turning down Darcy's first marriage proposal, Pride & Prejudice (BBC). In addition to staying quite loyal to the original dialogue, this scene was well acted. As a crucial turning point in the story, I'm glad it got a good treatment.
5. The Council of Elrond, from The Lord of the Rings. There was a LOT of material to cram into this scene, but Peter Jackson and company managed to do it pretty well without making it feel crammed or rushed. Most of the information presented in this section of the book is too crucial to leave out, and the script nicely included basically everything that you really needed to know. I was a little sad to not have Bilbo there, though.

dishonorable mentions: 5 WORST scenes to make the book to movie transition (because I couldn't resist making this list)
1. Any scene with the ridiculous flying dementors in the Harry Potter movie franchise.
2. The ending of The Golden Compass. Really? We couldn't stick with the original ending? Do all endings have to be happy? Apparently.
3. The entirety of Twilight. Bella and Edward were pretty real, if flawed, characters in the novel. In the movies, I'm pretty sure they're portrayed by dead fish with faces painted on them.
4. All of the crucial scenes in Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire that were apparently considered irrelevant to the movies. After all, it's only plot continuity; who worries about THAT in Hollywood?
5. "Go home, Sam", from The Return of the King (movie). This kind of doesn't count because at no point was it a real scene in the book. This scene just about gave me a heart attack in the movie theater.