Film Adaptations of Video Games (Why They Tend to Stink)

From the Arcade to the Silver Screen

Film and video games have had an interesting relationship for a few decades. At first, it was never really considered that video games could be adapted into feature-length  films. The most popular game around at one point was Pac-Man and there is no story to that arcade classic that could possible carry an hour long film. However as time passed on, technology improved and video game creators became more ambitious. Better tools meant the ability to add a story to the game play. With this added story, Hollywood now saw an opportunity to make more money. What resulted was a film genre that tended to bring disappointment for everyone: moviegoers and fans of the games.

Regarded as THE worst of this genre. (IMDB)

Fall of the Mushroom Kingdom

Even if you are not familiar with video games, you are at least somewhat familiar with the character of Mario from Super Mario Bros. The premise of the game is simple: it is about an Italian plumber who has to save a princess from a dinosaur/turtle. Because of its popularity, Hollywood saw a chance to make a quick buck. The film was a disaster. Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo, the leads of the film, hated the experience and would often get drunk to get through filming. Although it was one of the first live-action adaptations of a video game, it certainly was not the best. In fact it would be more accurate to say it set the stage for how bad these films can be.

Why Do These Films Mostly Fail?

A film from the infamous Uwe Boll, known for his video game adaptations. 

It should be noted that how you enjoy these two media is fundamentally different. A film you watch passively while a video game allows for interaction; as such changing one to the other takes away how the material would have been enjoyed in the first place. One of the biggest reasons why these movies do not work is because the ones who make it do not understand the source material. By straying away from the source material, you alienate the fans (the target audience). Since there is not enough effort put into understanding the video game, the same lack of effort would occur toward making the film competent. Case in point would be Street Fighter: The Movie.

The game Street Fighter 2 had the simple premise of being a fighting tournament with Ryu, a karate master from Japan, as the main protagonist and M. Bison as the final boss. The film abandoned that concept completely and made the main character Guile, an American. It also shoved in too many characters from the game for the sake of fan service, and thus you could not care about any of the characters. While today it is enjoyed as 90's cheese, at the time of its release it was a big disappointment..

Are There Any Good Ones?

There have certainly been more misses than hits, but good video game movies do exist. I will warn you that your mileage may vary. If you do not like the video games adapted, then it is likely you may not enjoy these movies. Nevertheless, here are some of my choices:

1. Mortal Kombat- Considered by many to be one of the best video game adaptations. What this movie does right over Street Fighter: The Movie is focus on fewer characters and keep the central premise alive. It is a fighting game about a tournament, so it was a movie about a tournament. While it is PG-13 compared to its gory origins, for the most part it stays faithful and is a fun time. 
2. Tomb Raider- Starring Angelina Jolie, this film was another faithful adaptation that knew what it was. Tomb Raider was about a woman who was a modern day treasure hunter, thus the movie followed the same route. It had entertaining action and Jolie certainly had fun with the role. 
3. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time- What makes this interesting is the fact that this was made by Disney as another attempt to re-create the Pirates of the Caribbean magic. Although it did not do so, it certainly did not bomb completely. It is certainly a competent film and the effects with time manipulation is interesting enough to take a chance on it. 

These movies are nothing to close to Oscar worthy. Nevertheless, the good ones at least entertain and that is what film should be able to do: provide a slight escape from the norm.