Formerly Known as FKAJ Posted July 14, 2009 Report Posted July 14, 2009 ^Leaving out the explanation of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs was unforgivable. That too, although I can almost see people not reading the books and working it out, ie, making the connection between Moony and Lupin that extrapolating it for the others. The Fidelius charm one bothers me though because in the book it's the evidence for Sirius's betrayal of the Potters, which Dumbledore had testified to. And it's brought up in Books 5 and 7 in relation to 12 Grimmauld Place, when Dumbledore being the Secret Keeper of the Order becomes important. This movie really should have been 15 minutes longer. Even so, these are still relatively minor symptoms of the butchery that went into Goblet of Fire. The Crouches, Bertha Jorkins, Rita Skeeter... There's actually one in Philosopher's Stone that bothers me. Remember the Chocolate Frog with a Dumbledore card that Harry reads on the train. We get that bit in the movie but they cut the later scene where he rereads the card and finds Flamel's name, causing Hermione to make the connection with her book for "light reading." It's totally random when she finds it in the film. Thank god that was in the deleted scenes on the DVD (if you can find it) and in the extended cuts. It's a minor one, but it still amounts to setting up Chekhov's Gun and not firing it. Not as bad as not setting it up in the first place, of course.
emmasi Posted July 14, 2009 Report Posted July 14, 2009 I don't mind them cutting the chocolate frog card. In the book, it's just a random bit of information that gets lost among pages and pages of information, and I for one certainly didn't remember reading about Nicolas Flammel at the start of the book when his importance was revealed later on. In the movie, it's only two or so hours between the audience hearing the kids read "Nicolas Flammel" out loud off the back of a card, and then to see them searching through all the books in the library, as if they'd never heard the name before. It wouldn't have made sense. I don't think that the audience would've have had enough time to forget about it, particularly since that movie had a habit of overplaying everything. E.g.: "They're the worst sort of... MUGGLES!!!!!" and "Good luck... HHHARRY! POTTERRR!!!!!!!!" ... Of course I'm exaggerating that, but there are definite inflections on certain words, as if we're supposed to gasp and say, "Oh my GOD! That baby is HARRY POTTER?!?!?! " ... as if we hadn't walked into a movie called Harry Potter... The most difficult thing about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs is that it was never explained that James was an animagus, and that he turned into a stag. There was only the brief image of Harry's patronus, which a friend of mine, who hadn't read the book, thought was a unicorn... I don't think the connection to James, apart from Harry believing that his father had cast the patronus, was made clear at all.
Formerly Known as FKAJ Posted July 14, 2009 Report Posted July 14, 2009 What I like about the chocolate frog card in the book is it's one of the first examples of J.K. Rowling tendency to set up some object or some piece of information and have it pay off long after you've forgotten about it. Like Hagrid mentioning Sirius in the first chapter of Philosopher's Stone and Dumbledore using the deluminator. I think these getting lost is intentional, so that they're noticed on rereading, like any good mystery book. In the movie, he doesn't read out the card when he gets it on the train, but in the cut scene from later he reads it and acknowledges that it's the same card he got earlier, so the Chekhov's Gun effect is still there. I think this scene helps the flow of the film, mainly because it leads directly in to Hermione finding the book. Besides, there's other great bits in that scene: First this exchange over Harry and Ron not revising for their exams: Hermione: And what, may I ask, do you plan to do if this comes up on the final exam? Ron: Copy off you! Hermione: No you won't! Besides, according to Professor McGonagall, we're to be given special quills bewitched with an anti-cheating spell. Ron: That's insulting! It's as if they don't trust us! Then Neville enters under a leg-locker curse: Seamus: [Jumping up, wand at the ready] I'll do the counter-curse! Neville: No, that's all I need... you to set my bloody kneecaps on fire! Seamus: [slamming his wand down] I don't appreciate the insinuation, Longbottom. Besides, if anyone cares to notice, my eyebrows have grown completely back! [stalks off angrily, but not before showing that a large chunk of hair is missing from the back of his head] If they weren't going to use that scene, it wasn't worth putting the card in in the first place.
Jen Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 I'm going to see HBp on Fridayyy! So excited. I'm not rereading the book either. So we'll see how we go ... My one issue I have with HBP Movie so far (and I haven't seen it yet - just from previews) is the fact tht Yates has taken the liberty of destroying Muggle London. I don't have a problem with it as far as showing the Death Eaters closing in, but he's destroying the MILLENIUM BRIDGE! As in opened in THE YEAR 2000. If Harry was born in 1980 and he is 17 in the 6th book, the story is only set in 1996. How can you destroy a bridge that hasn't been built? Yes, I'm being pedantic.
princess_in_pink Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 Tickets booked! Friday 8:45 at the IMAX!
emmasi Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 I'LL BE WATCHING IT IN FOUR HOURS!!!!!!!! >_________<!!!!!
mbi615 Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 I LOVED IT! The movie was awesome! It is definitely the best one so far and Draco was great in it! It's funny, scary, romantic, pretty much everything all into one. There were a few scary parts and some other crazy parts but other than that, IT WAS PHENOMENAL!
jenlee Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 Twenty-three freaking hours and counting. Bring on the Ron
freakybuffy Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 I'm seeing it today 5:30. Just about to put on OotP, to get me in the mood. I can't wait to see what it's like, just hope it's not as much as a let down as the last one.
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