So I saw the new Harry Potter

[N3B]

For being my favorite of the series the movie was somewhat of a letdown. Then again, there was so much in that book, it would've been hard to fit it all in a single-seating movie. It was good, but I felt, rather incomplete.

Things that disappointed me:
- They didn't show the quidditch world cup or any of the development with it
- No class-time or class development to let the viewer get a feel for what it's like being a student at Hogwarts
- At the end, there was no resolution for Moody; this is most annoying because they just left him hanging
- No depth for coverage of any other triwizard champions (Krum, French chick, Cedric)
- The dance scene seemed awry with Hermione getting so depressed and pissed and then was too normal the next day
- NO BLAST-ENDED SKREWTS!!!!!

[Ranger]

not too mention the other parts where they took liberties with the story...

[Draxas]

Hmm, like no house elves at all. It did make a bit of sense to have Neville tell Harry about the gillyweed, but you lost that "he would be toast without his mysterious benefactor at the last second" feel that the book had.

I also missed the class scenes, since the books really are, first and foremost, about these people going to school. Harry went to class once in the movie? And only because the lesson on the three curses is so essential for not only the plot of book 4, but all the books after.

The lack of Quidditch in the movie was forgivable; about the only thing extending that sequence really could have added was a bit of awkwardness between Barty Crouch, Harry, Percy, and Mr. Weasley. As it was, Percy wasn't even in the movie at all... Then again, when Barty Crouch does turn up dead later, you have seen so little of him in the film, and no scenes where he is acting strangely, that his death really has very little impact.

I wish they had extended the ending just a little bit longer. The resolution seemed rather lacking... You never see the real Moody, they never explain the polyjuice more than in passing, they mention the foe-glass earlier in the film in passing, but never show it at the end, etc. There was also no sign of Cedric's family after the end of the Triwizard Tournament, so you never see Harry try to make amends... Everything in the ending seemed a bit too abrupt, like they were running out of film in the camera or something.

Then again, it was quite a feat consolidating 1000+ pages of book into a movie under 3 hours. I had heard rumors that they were going to release the movie in 2 parts shortly after they had started filming, in order to better cover everything that happens in the book. I'm glad they didn't do that; it would have been a little bizarre to watch that way (and would have cost twice as much, which is unconcionable considering how expensive movie tickets have gotten), and it probably wouldn't have had very good flow between the two. What would they have done; run a clip reel starting with "In our last episode of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire..."?

[N3B]

expensive movie tickets? There exists such a thing? I wouldn't have minded a longer film (say, 4-5 hours) with a 20 minute intermission, seeing as this is my favorite. The resolution most definitely is the biggest downfall of the movie; and you're right about Doby, I was thinking he gave Harry the gillyweed, but I honestly couldn't remember.

I think the 5th movie will be a bit better, since that book was nothing but character development through school. So, we'll get a better classroom setting in that movie. Unless all they show is the DA, and just enough of the dramatic stuff like Trelawny and the Centaur stuff.

[Ranger]

eh they could have done an intermission I was dying from an exploding bladder. I was thorougly upset by the movie though. I dont remember much from the book(I imagine a certain herbal substance to have taken a role in this) but I remember enough to know what was going on wasn't right. I was thoroughly upset with a lot of things. I did miss the quidditch because a lot of cool things happen then. I always miss the classes. I hate that it tells the story solely from Potter's perspective because not all the books do that. Part of good storytelling is foreshadowing with things between other people.

I hate how they keeping adding ghosty parents everywhere at their own whims. And they keeping giving book secrets away that were kept at that point so that later on it could be a big shocker. I actually REALLY hate that. I can't remember but was there really a thought pensive at that point in the story because I thought that didn't show up till he started occulmency with snape.

[Ranger]

PS you do see the real moody for a few seconds way down in the bottom of the trunk thing

[Draxas]

The pensieve did appear for the first time in Book 4. It's how Harry sees that Barty Crouch Jr. is a Death Eater, and matches him to the man in his dream and the man who sent up the Dark Mark at the World Cup. That, at least, was accurate (though I think they cut out several other courtroom scenes from the pensieve sequence, unfortunately; that's where you see most of Barty Crouch, Sr.'s character development). By the same token, that scene with the ghosts does occur near the end of the book as well; I actually think the scene with Voldemort was spot-on (with the exception of a bit more exposition, and especially some hints at names, when the Death Eaters appear), from what I can remember of the book.

I don't think they gave away any secrets in the movie that weren't in the book at that point. However, their setup for book 5 was not done well. This is part of the reason that Harry meeting with the real Moody at the end of the story is especially important; this way it's not coming completely out of left field when he shows up during book 5.

I actually totally forgot about this before, but I also miss the whole nonsense with Rita Skeeter in the movie. She seems to play the barest of peripheral parts in the film, and is more of a mild nuisance than the almost-a-villain that she was in the book. They also completely failed to set up her role for the later book (6, maybe? I forget) when she plays a minor role.

I'm sort of nervous about how movie 5 will turn out; the book was about the same size as book 4, but there isn't anywhere near as much action to highlight until the Ministry sequence near the end. Then again, 5 might be my least favorite book in the series; other than the aforementioned part in the Ministry (and not even all of it), there wasn't too much memorable going on during the book. It mostly seems to feature Harry's battle against becoming a whiny, angsty, emo teen, and his failed relationship with Cho. I can't think that it will make an interesting or fun movie.

I don't know what movie ticket prices are like down in Virginia, but I had to pay almost $10 to see this movie. I consider that to be pretty expensive.

And one last thing: Don't do drugs, kids. It makes your book-reading experience (and everything else) that much more hazy and unmemorable.

[Ranger]

There is the ghost party but I cant remember if that was 4 or 5 so I feel sad about that. I want to know WTF Peeves has been doing and the barren and nearly headless nick blarg... Better yet where is the Dursley abuse ... I want the real ending back where they were all having a huge discussion in Dumbledore's office about what to do with Potter and how they were all having a tiff.

[Draxas]

I can't help but agree. I miss the original beginning, I miss the original ending, and I miss the stuff that was cut in between.

Then again, while we wouldn't have minded a 4-5 hour epic, lots of people would. Unfortunately, the happy medium doesn't often make everyone (or even anyone) very happy. All in all, though, they certainly could have done a worse job with it, because I can still honestly say that I enjoyed the film.

[N3B]

Oh yes, I totally forgot about the Dursley's. I wish they would have done the quidditch match, because it was cool when Fred and George were betting over who would win, and finally settled on "Krum would get the snitch, but Ireland would win," and what do you know, that happens. It's an interesting thing to know that it's possible to win without the snitch. Not to mention that starts the funds for their magic jokes (until Harry gives them the winnings from the triwizard tournament at the end, also left out). Also, there was no mention of how the other 3 faired with their dragons in the first trial; I would've liked at least a little commentary while Harry's sitting in the back with nervousness explaining the results or the scores or something. And whatever happened to Harry learning the accio spell? I recall him going through rigorous training sessions with Moody to get the hang of that, and didn't even have it down by the time of the first trial; instead he just kind of knows it ahead of time and we don't see as much of Moody helping him through the trials to his inevitable death. Also, in hindsight, Neville stealing from Snape is very out of character...

Book 5, while reading it, I didn't enjoy too much. Even looking back it wasn't that worthwhile. About 80% of it was sheer character development between Harry, Ron and Hermione, with only the 20% of Voldomort and the Ministry interaction. I'm looking forward to the 5th movie, because this should enable us to see more of the classes and get more attached to Hogwarts as a school, rather than place where kids go for mystical and magical adventures. Then again, since most of it is the trio maturing, it's quite possible that they'll fail horribly at capturing that What I did enjoy about book 5 was how it was Harry's fault for being such a hero that (spoiler, JIC) Sirius dies. That made me feel good.

As for movie tickets, I get 'em for $5.25, but I believe part of that is the student discount. I think they're like 7.xx if you're an adult who's not viewing at matinee hour.

[Draxas]

Wow, tickets ARE cheap in Virginia. I had to pay $9.75, and my friend who's going to grad school got in for a bit over your regular price.

As for book 5, I did appreciate that fact that it sort of puts Harry in his place. He acts all haughty and almighty about how he knows exactly what's going on, and it turns around and bites him in the ass at the end... Whereupon he does the exact same thing during book 6, only this time he's right.

As for the subject of Sirius... There's an old saying that goes: No body, not dead. I wonder if that will wind up to be the case.

[Altl]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned the whole 'wtf' Harry and Voldermort wand reaction and the lack of an explanation. If you looked at it from the perspective of a person who hasn't read the book it looked like Harry held of Voldermort with his own magic and some how managed to wake the dead. The most we hear about it is Dumbledore saying that "no spell can bring back the dead".

Also, am I the only one that has noticed the lack of references to Fred and George making gag things in the movies. I mean come the next movie its just gonna be a random just happening isolated occurance and off they go to open a shop.

As for making the movie longer I agree that, that would be the best plan. It seems a shame that they worry children can't sit still that long, which is reasonable, but on the other side one could say that if they made it well no one would realize it was that long [when watching it].

Finally, the Ghost party was in book 2. Happened on Halloween, Nearly Headless Nick trying to join the Hunt... or is it Haunt?

[Draxas]

I had thought the ghost party was further on than that. Shows how well my memory is holding up.

The general lack of explanation for nearly everything in the ending is probably the biggest issue I have with the movie, tied with the lack of class time. Lots of things are going to be coming totally out of left field in future movies because they're glossing over or ignoring them now. Some of this stuff, in hindsight, ends up being pretty important later on (like Fred & George with their gag shop, or Moody joining the Order)... It makes me wonder if the folks in charge of the film have read the books all the way through to the end of 6, or only read the one they're working on at the time.

Then again, while we all might appreciate a longer movie, there are a couple of key problems with that. First and foremost, is that they're bound to lose most of their target audience (figure 8-14 year olds?) with a 4-5 hour epic. Second is the cost involved for doubling the length of the film; already the budget for these movies is in the astronomical-number-of-zeroes dollar range. Can you imagine if they had do double that budget? Realistically, they wouldn't, but it would still probably be an increase of 50% or so. Not to mention it would take that much longer to film and complete, and the kids aren't getting any younger... If they extended these films to the length we would like to see, I have to imagine it would end up costing them at the box office. And no matter what else is said, always remember that movies, just like every other business, exist for the primary purpose of generating as much profit for their investors as possible.

[N3B]

In the first movie I think they explain that Harry and Voldemort have the same phoenix feather wands, but odds are no one who ^DIDN'T^ read the books would remember that, unless they re-watched the movies again. I suppose the ghost summoning could be interpreted as intentional by Harry, even though it had nothing to do with his own doing.

And the movie is only, what? 2.5 hours long? The Lord of the Rings movies are 3+ aren't they? I mean, I sat through those, and from what I hear from readers, they follow the book pretty well as far as getting the important stuff in, unlike what HP's doing. I'd figure that since this series is so loved by kids that they'd be willing to sit through 3-4 hours for it, since it is Harry Potter. I think they could've added the stuff we're talking about in under an hour, perhaps 45 minutes.

EDIT: oh yeah, wanted to add that I kind of liked the very end scene for the 4th, where they're on the balcony and see the other schools leave; kind of leaves you with a (for lack of a better word) magical sensation. Though the 3rd movie's ending was dumb. Flying off on a broom which he got differently than the book did and getting caught on camera.. no no, that was terrible.

[Draxas]

They only allude to the "same phoenix" wand thing in both the first book and movie, they never explicitly say what the connection is until... (drum roll)... the end of book 4. And that's when everything that occurred in the Harry vs. Voldemort sequence is explained: The same phoenix provided the feather, the magical clash because of it, the appearance of the ghosts because of the magical feedback, etc. Of course, without having read the book and based on the movie's version of events, you'd simply think that Harry has done the impossible again, and survived the Deathcurse twice because of his apparently superior magical prowess. Obviously, that's simply not the case.

The difference between LotR and HP is leagues. First and foremost, LotR is geared toward a much more mature audience (older teens and up; the folks that read and were heavily influenced by the books, and have since gone on to essentially make them the cornerstone of modern fantasy of all types) that is much more likely to sit through 3+ hours of movie without complaint. Second is that fact that quite frankly, in the same amount of space, a heck of a lot more HAPPENS in HP than in LotR; If you folks have ever read the books, you'll know that Tolkien is a big fan of long-winded exposition and backstory, but not action as much. This leads to a lot more that can be briefly translated to an image or series of images (such as the Gandalf vs. Balrog fight in the beginning of The Two Towers), rather than the necessity of inserting a lengthy sequence involving lots of dialogue and action. Third, despite the fact that the LotR movies stayed fairly true to the books, quite a lot of material was cut. However, Peter Jackson had pretty darn good judgement in selecting those scenes that didn't make it into the film (or were never filmed in the first place), and most people either don't remember or didn't enjoy the parts that were left out. I've only heard the worst grade of purists complain about the material that was cut from LotR; unfortunately, I don't think HP was so lucky, and a lot of important scenes were left on the cutting room floor. Only the DVD will show for sure what was filmed and removed, vs. what didn't make it in at all... But the point is that none of it made it into the theatrical version, unfortunately.