Harry Potter...Spoilers

[Android Kaeli]

Didn't like the beginning too much, made it look like Dumbledore just happened to be there. In the movie it looked like the Dursley's didn't care too much about where Harry went to, when in the book they much rather keep Harry as secret and quiet as possible.

I liked it more then I did PoA even with all of the gaps. At least there was some explaination to the Horcruxes.

[crazyofficeclerk]

According to my mother, who is like a rabid dog when it comes to Harry Potter, the next installment of the movie will start with Dumbledore's funeral. What I want to know is, if they are splitting Book 7 into two parts where are they going to split it? There really isn't a natural break in the book. Guess they will be leaving more important information out.

[Red_Dazes]

Tom Felton is growing into such a nice looking young man that I didn't dislike him NEARLY as much as when he was a snide and sniveling youngster. There was just something so punchable about his character previously, now he seems nobler.

I really have to agree, while all the characters have grown up and progressed, I will say I am most pleased with Draco...seems like he grew up the most. And I have to say that scene with the little yellow bird dying... that made me sad... apparently it made Draco sad too...

[Shards]

I cannot believe we made it to page two of the spoiler thread of HP6 without someone saying this yet. Ah, well, my privilege, then.

DUMBLEDORE DIES

[CaroPhoenix]

I cannot believe we made it to page two of the spoiler thread of HP6 without someone saying this yet. Ah, well, my privilege, then.

DUMBLEDORE DIES

Thank you Shards!

Anyways, I read in a magazine interview with Daniel Radcliffe, that after the 4th take of the scene where Harry is crying over the dead body of Dumbledore, the actor who portrays him fell asleep!!!! Here, Daniel Radcliffe was trying to give all his emotion, and it put the other actor to sleep.



I just found it too funny not to share.

[Reyneth]

What I want to know is, if they are splitting Book 7 into two parts where are they going to split it? There really isn't a natural break in the book. Guess they will be leaving more important information out.

My pick would be right after the Silver Doe and Ron returns to Harry and Hermione, gets the sword and the locket is destroyed. Up ending but not all is good and complete and concluded. And it's pretty much halfway through the book - a little past, but that allows for more time spent on the Battle at Hogwarts since they shafted the one in HBP.

[persephone]

My pick would be right after the Silver Doe and Ron returns to Harry and Hermione, gets the sword and the locket is destroyed. Up ending but not all is good and complete and concluded. And it's pretty much halfway through the book - a little past, but that allows for more time spent on the Battle at Hogwarts since they shafted the one in HBP.

That's my guess. And I think they, and J.K. Rowling, know how long the fans have been waiting for the Battle of Hogwarts (heck -- much of the fandom was talking about a battle in the grounds long before HBP ever came out, they shafted that one -- they BETTER do a good job on the DH one!) that I doubt too much of that one will be cut. There's just so many good and important scenes in that one, some of which could be done in seconds or even just a minute or two. She wrote it perfectly to be a movie scene, with just what Harry sees. They should really just slap that to screen.

Back on topic to this one -- I finally saw the movie last night. I went into it like I did to all the others -- thinking about it as it's own thing instead of as an adaptation of the book.

Cause as its own movie, it's actually rather good. The acting was good, the pacing worked, it told a good story, I liked it.

But as an adaptation of the book? Horrid.

I keep them completely separate in my head.

[XCashier]

That's my guess. And I think they, and J.K. Rowling, know how long the fans have been waiting for the Battle of Hogwarts ...that I doubt too much of that one will be cut. There's just so many good and important scenes in that one, some of which could be done in seconds or even just a minute or two. She wrote it perfectly to be a movie scene, with just what Harry sees.

Agreed! That battle is going to be so amazing. I am so looking forward to Neville shouting down Voldemort and killing Nagini. I think he's my favorite character; he's gone from being a nebbish to one of the most brave and noble characters in the book; in scenes like that one he even outshines Harry.

[gremcint]

As previously mentioned I really liked the film, but now that I've seen it twice there are a few things to say.

First someone in one of the Harry Potter threads said that they should have had Dumbledore's funeral just to show that Hagrid wasn't dead after buring his house at the end. This would hold water if Hagrid wasn't right next to McGonagall in the scene with dumbledore's body.

I think it is good they left out the funeral, it would have completely ruined the pacing they set up, they ended the movie on the perfect note and probably are better off having the funeral next book if at all.

To address why I really liked the movie I need to address why I didn't like the book.

First in the book there was literally entire chapters that were about who was dating who, and while I find that interesting to a point I really wanted them to move the plot along by the third chapter of this. The movie has the romance but it is paced much better and works a lot better on screen.

Next problem I had was the jealousy that Hermione had over Ron. Now it's one thing for her to be jealous but in the book she was a raging bitch who was foaming at the mouth half the time (I may be exagerating but not by much.) In the movie rather than show her being mean constantly, they show her being jealous and being hurt instead and most importantly do it well. They don't ram it down your throat but it's there and it's easy to understand, especially during the crying scene. The Ginny/Harry stuff was wonderfully subtle and also well done.

I don't buy that after 5 years of Harry being right and helping people and beating Voldemort a couple times that NONE of his friends would believe him about Malfoy. Here it is only mentioned once rather than half the book and that is a lot better.

In the book the conversation at the end between Harry and McGonagall s
he outright asks him what they were working on, and he refuses to tell her about the Horcruxes. This to me smells like bullshit, this is the one person in the world Harry would trust most after his friends and Voldemort and that Dumbledore trusted as well and she was also assistant headmaster of Hogwarts, if there is anyone at all that Harry would trust with this information it should be her. She is one of the most capable witches alive and is certainly more resourceful than 2 16 year olds and could have helped a great deal.

Furthermore half the reason Horcruxes are so useful is that NOONE knows about them, scream it from the rooftops let people know that Voldemort uses horcruxes and then people would start looking for them and have hope of a way of fighting him.

Now lets talk about the three main plot threads, first: half blood prince, a good chunk of the book is about finding out who he is and about them trying to convince him to ditch the book. First it was never that big of a deal to me who he was, sure I was curious but it was just some guy who wrote notes in a book. I know Harry hoped it was his dad and ended up really relating to the guy only to find out it was Snape, maybe this was to make us identify with Snape more, but then the reveal should have been before Snape Kills Dumbledore not after. To me the reveal at that point was really anticlimactic and I was kind of like: So what?

Second: the horcruxes and the clues, no they clearly explained what the horcruxes are and what is needed to make them and how many he has. However this is where some people may have a point, they left the clues to what the other horcruxes were as well as leaving out some of the hallows hints and the hint of how to destroy them. This however may be resolved in the next movies so I acknowledge your point but reserve judgement.

Third: Malfoy's struggle. This was actually well done in the book but the movie just blew that away. I swear Malfoy's actor deserves an award for this movie alone, heck even just for that last scene with him and dumbledore.


Now I didn't say the movie was perfect, there are two main gripes:

I wish they left more of the quidditch stuff (especially the song, and that guy who tried to micromanage the team) but I understand why it got cut.

Second I agree that the battle at the end was not as good as the one in the book, however the movie is not the book, the movie is merely based on the book and the pacing worked rather well so I can forgive this but I agree it would have been cool to see.

Also one last thing I love the black smoke flying thing the deatheaters do.

I'm sorry this was so long, it just kept going and going.

[KiaKat]

While I understand your criticisms about the book and could write an essay responding to them, I'll stick to your comment about the movie's pacing.

The pacing was terrible. Whereas in previous movies, you had the classic 5-act setup, with the climax at the fourth act, in this case it was eliminated entirely. I couldn't tell you where each act started and ended, and usually I'm able to pick that out easily.

There was no climax. In the book, all the action builds up to the First Battle of Hogwarts, where the Death Eaters are swarming the school (and foreshadowing the situation in book 7 where they truly are swarming/ruling the school), and creating confusion that allowed Snape to get up to the Astronomy Tower, do the deed, and escape without anyone stopping him.

One of my biggest complaints about the pacing was that instead of having the tension, drama, and action revolve around three points (to use OOTP as an example, the Dementors, Christmas, and the Ministry are the points), there were only two here. They tried to use the Quidditch match as a third, but it's not crucial to the story, and so does not contribute to the build-up. The book doesn't need that, because you have the gradually increasing tension via the interpersonal relationships having problems, the struggle to get Slughorn's memory, and Harry's obsession with Draco (and yes, it's plausible that they wouldn't believe him, because they frequently don't believe him if Dumbledore tells them something opposite to Harry's opinion).

My biggest issue with the pacing is the final fight scene between Harry and Snape. Without having a scene in DADA, we do not see Harry's difficulty with silent casting, and therefore there is no reason for Snape to be schooling Harry while knocking his spells awry. Without that implication, we have no reason to believe Snape is anything other than what he appears to be on the surface - a murdering, lying Death Eater loyal to Voldemort. The fight scene is supposed to be this grand emotional moment on both sides - rather, it was a weak attempt to get Snape off the grounds (and how did he get out of the castle without the Death Eaters causing chaos? They couldn't have caused chaos if they were all up in the Astronomy Tower with him and Draco).

And this doesn't even begin to touch on my problem with the movie being called "The Half-Blood Prince" when the Potions textbook is barely mentioned, and Hermione spends no time researching who the Prince could be. Snape's revelation that HE is the Half-Blood Prince doesn't come as a grand shock, because we haven't gotten to know the Prince at all throughout the movie. Instead, our response is more like "oh, ok, now why is this important again?"

There are a number of other things wrong with the movie as a movie, as well as being wrong as a Harry Potter movie, and as an adaptation of book 6. The above really only touches on a small part of the pacing, and on Snape's role in the movie, and still ended up being an essay.

[gremcint]

It is becoming exceedingly clear that this one is going to be very polarizing. I understand where you're coming from and I probably got a little too bogged down in some parts of the book. I can understand going into a movie based on a book and being disappointed, the same thing happened with the dresden files for me (tv series not movie but still the same sort of thing).

I agree about the ending actually (it has been about a year since I last read the book) you raise some good points, the ending with lack of climax felt very much to me of a calm before the storm type setting.

I agree with some of your points but am not in the mood to write another essay.

[Sheldonrs]

A gift for all you HP fans:


http://www.mentalfloss.com/quiz/quiz.php?q=701

[Sliceanddice]

Maybe that's what it is that is bugging me so much. Just the lack of info... it was the same with the Golden Compass. Okay movie, but there was just so much NOT explained that it made me dislike it!

and like the golden compass they cut off the movie before the really good/important end

also for those who havent seen any of those pics, have you seen bonnie white with her hair out of her face and wearing real makeup?
omg i think she may have beaten amy adams for my current red head crush... .... ... or is at least a close second.

[Racket_Man]

What I want to know is, if they are splitting Book 7 into two parts where are they going to split it? There really isn't a natural break in the book. Guess they will be leaving more important information out.

the most natural place is right at the time Harry, Ron and Hermonie are captured and sent to the Malfoy house. lots of emotion tension and Hermonie screaming while being tortured by Belitrix.

they can cut out most of the wandering around in the woods

but they have to leave in the main plot points of the :
wedding (I know there is one saw that on muggle net),
the stay at Grimdwalt Place
the Ministry break in
Ron;s leaving and return
the trip to Godricks Hollow (and the vision of James and Lily's death and Volty's de-spiriting)
a conversation with someone about the wizard fairy tale concening the Deadly Hallows
the trio's capture and escape (hope they leave Dobby in this one)
the stay at Shell Cottage (again saw this on muggle net)
the destruction of the cup and tiara
the beginning of the 2d battle of Hogwarts,
Snapes death and his memories that he gives to Harry,
Harry's "death" and subsequent conversation with Dumbeldor (very very important plot point and information),
and the final battle of Hogwarts with the very important duel between Harry and Volty.

[KiaKat]

See...Ok. Here's another problem I had with the 6th movie.

THEY SET THE BURROW ON FIRE!

It's unnecessary. We KNOW the Death Eaters are evil. And that, combined with the utter lack of Fleur (Phlem...hehehe) means we aren't certain there's a real wedding. What, is it going to be Remus and Tonks instead of Bill and Fleur? That's so wrong. SO wrong.