Do you believe that the movies streamlining the story helped or hurt it as an adaptation?

Hi! I was curious on how everyone felt on the changes the most recent films made to streamline the story of Dune. imo, I believe that Villeneuve’s changes greatly helped the movies. In the book, there are many subplots that while interesting, are not really necessary and take away time from the main plot (such Thurfir believing that Jessica was the mole and Count Fenrings character ). These plots are interesting but they feel more like fun pieces of lore than necessities to the plot. Like Paul inheriting Jameis’ family is an interesting insight into the Fremen culture but it muddies Paul and Chani’s relationship, which Villeneuve makes the centerpiece of Part II, and throwing that on top of Chani and Irulan would be too many “love interests” for the audience to juggle.

I also feel that the movies putting more emphasis on Paul’s downfall was a great change as well. The book has a few pages that claim that Paul becoming the Lisan Al-Gaib but it never feels like it’s at the forefront of the story, whereas almost every scene in the movie discusses Paul’s eventual fate. The book giving Paul even more motivation towards the finale (Leto II being killed) gives the audience even more reason to root for Paul when I feel like that hurts the messaging of the story. Having Chani be against Paul’s evolution and opposing him marrying Irulan is such a great way for the audience to see how much Paul has changed as well as giving Chani more agency and makes her a better character overall.

That being said, there are some things left out that I did miss. I really like Paul having an older sister that passed away at a very young age (it gives reason to why Jessica had a son as well as showing just how close the Bene Gesserit were to their plans), Dr. Kynes explicitly being the parent of Chani, Fremen traditions such as the before mentioned inheritance of a persons family when you kill them, and it would’ve been cool to see Thurfir some more ngl.

What do you think? Are there any changes in the 80s movie or the miniseries that you feel like help the story? Also, do you like the movies or the book more?

TL;DR: I think streamlining the story greatly helped and made the movies better than the original book at conveying the main plot, themes and character arcs.