I just finished The Beach, in book form, having seen the film about 5 years ago. I really enjoyed the film at the time, and I have fond memories of it - Francoise in particular.

The first thing I noticed was initially how better the story of the book was.

The second thing was how many liberties the film-makers have taken from the novel. I know it's 'based on' as they always are - but following them getting to the island, pretty much none of it is loyal to even the book's basic storyline.

Is anyone aware of what Garland thought of the film? I know it was heavily panned by film critics but I assume he'd be totally pissed off that his edgy, surprisingly unconventional book was given the Hollywood treatment so strongly.

Without revealing any endings or anything: what films have you seen that make such little reference to their source material?

This has to be the most drastic case I've come across so far.