Book-to-Movie

In light of my next book review - The Hunger Games  (release date March 23, 2012)
Click here to watch the trailer played during the Super Bowl

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We've all watched one. Probably read one.
Books-to-Movie

It seems more recently, Hollywood has had issues coming up with their own material. They poach the printed world for inspiration and ideas. To the fan, this can be good or horribly wrong... depending on a few factors:

• Representation of the book
• CGI (if needed)
• Books like The Golden Compass and Harry Potter rely on CGI for many of their scenes. The writer imagines up an unbelievable scene with flying brooms, talking bears and magic spells that make people puke slugs. 
• Desire to see a different representation to what you've already seen in your own head. 
• Desire to bring more people into the written world. 

One of the things a fan judges the hardest is the representation of the novel. Does the movie follow the plot of the book? Do they follow chronological order or shuffle scenes around for sake of time and money? Do the actors appear to represent the physical and emotional characteristics of the characters in the novel?

     I can think of a few movies that fell a little flat in this aspect: 

• The Golden Compass - The movie (2007) featured Nicole Kidman, and Daniel Craig. 
• The characters were fine in my opinion, Nicole Kidman does a great job at being likable and hatable at the same time. 
• Someone (I will not blindly point fingers) decided for sake of the allotted time of the movie and plot, they would shuffle the major scenes around. The majority of the movie was out of place. I believe (and It's been a while so I am not totally positive) the final scene is not actually the final scene in the book. 
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - The movie (1971) though it was not titled Charlie, but Willy Wonka. From what I understand, there were many differences in this book to movie shift. I can not say for sure myself, because I have never read the book. I have, though, seen both movies and hear that the second movie (Tim Burton) is a better representation of the book. 
• Roald Dahl is no stranger to the big screen - Some of his notable novels-to-movie are
• Charlie and the Chocolate factory
• Matilda
• James and the Giant Peach

What movies hit the mark for you? What didn't?
Where will Hunger Games land?

• Already, based on the above link, there are some alterations to the novel. This makes me a little nervous about the final package.