吳念真電影劇本〈兒子的大玩偶〉掌握了黃春明原著的風貌，呈現出小人物的真摯感情，及其辛酸生活中的人性尊嚴。劇本雖屬忠實改編，但因為電影企劃案的原始構想，吳念真於再現小說的基礎上，增設了外來經濟文化殖民的主題，也強化了舊社會向新時代轉型的意旨，此乃基於對黃春明作品的整體了解，並不違背原作者的精神。另外，為了適應電影傳播的特性，劇本加強了角色的戲劇性衝突，也添加了諧謔的插曲，以吸引各階層觀眾的觀影興趣，此則為考量媒介轉換之後大眾接受程度所做的改寫。這些改寫到了導演手中，刪去了笑料，減低了衝突，並加入了文化殖民及社會交替的細節，成為綜合小說、劇本及導演個人經歷的再創造。

The script of the movie His Son’s Big Doll by Wu, Nien-Jen had grasped the style and features of the original work written by Huang, Chung-Ming. It represented the true emotion of the nobodies, and the human dignity in their harsh life. The movie script was a faithful adaptation, but, due to his conception in proposal of the movie, Wu added the theme of colonization of external economy and culture based on the idea of representing the original story, which enhancing the intention for the transition from old society to new age as well. Such adaptation was on the basis of Wu's overall understanding on Huang's works, and thus it did not conflict with the idea of the author. In addition, in order to fit the characteristic of movies, the script strengthened the dramatic conflict between characters, and banters were added in the movie to attract audiences from all stratums. Such was the adaptation for the consideration of conversion of media, and made the public accepts it more. The adaptation included lesser jokes, lower conflicts, and addition of cultural colonialism and social transition. It had become the recreation of combination of the fiction, the script, and the personal history of the director.