I'm of the opinion that whenever a movie is based on a book, the book is almost always better (obviously, when it is the other way around, and somebody writes out the story to something like "The Goonies" as a promotional piece after the movie is made that is a whole different deal).
The few exceptions to this rule I can think of actually tend to confirm my theory because most of these are cases where I have some emotional attachment to the experience of seeing the movie (like seeing it with friends a million times as a kid).
What say ye? Any of you movie buffs ever read a book you prefered to the movie version? Any other readers want to chime in with exceptions?
I'll give the few I can think of off the top of my head -
The Princess Bride - perfectly fits the situation described above. It is my favorite movie, probably due more to me seeing it first as a kid at just the perfect age than to any artistic merits (although I can argue that is does have some). I didn't read the book until college and I have to say, it is pretty close. Probably because it was written by the screenwriter it is very close to the movie.
The Natural - similar situation. Every time I have ever seen the book mentioned in print, the next comment is how they ruined it when they made the movie, so I finally hunted down the book version, and I wasn't really impressed. I will say it is a whole different story. Part of the reason I like the movie more is that I like the movie story more, and part is probably because I saw this for the first time with my cousins and my brother used to watch it before almost every baseball game when we were kids.
Breakfast at Tiffanys - a little different, since I don't particularly like the movie that much. Most of the things I normally hate about a film adaptation (like changing the story, sanitizing the more difficult parts, etc.) they did, but I guess I prefer the weaker, watered down version in this case. Maybe because while I can see that the novella was well written, it didn't really jump out and grab me.
Last of the Mohicans - not even close. It took me forever to plow through this beating of a read, and the movie is one of my favorites ever.
Probably have to include The Body/Stand by Me and Shawshank. The performances by the actors push these over the top.
Others?