To read or not to read, that is the question.?

I would like some educated input on whether it is better to sit with a good book or watch a well made movie. To make my case I'll throw out some examples. Consider the character "Hannibal Lector", in the books by Harris, you can dismiss him to a degree, Anthony Hopkins' live screen version of him makes your skin crawl with his excellent portrayal of the lunatic anti-hero. My favorite book as a child was "Stuart Little" a wonderfully charming book that was ized on the silver screen to make a dollar and so detracted from the original story that it was unrecognizable without seeing the credits. The jury is still out on "Lord of the Rings" as I was captured by the visual beauty of the films but disappointed by the missing material and characters. Any thoughts?