THE MOVIE *SPOILER*

[Dear Dairy]

zavi said:

Books and movies are two different things, it's impossible to adapt them exactly.

At last! The Voice of Reason! Thank you.

[Sora]

I think this movie can be viewed on two different levels, one being the level of a dedicated reader, and one of someone who has just viewed the movies.

I think the beginning of the movie was rather rushed, but I suppose that couldn't be helped. I thought the dementors were a change for the better, they looked more sinister, great special effects. Petunia and Vernon were pleasant, but a longer tid-bit would have been better.
WTF #1 : WHERE THE HELL WAS PETUNIA'S LETTER? WASN'T THAT A CRUCIAL COMPONENT OF INFORMATION!!!!!

The Order coming by was good, I'm glad they kept Kingley in as well. Tonks was underplayed so much it was depressing, and her whole 'Don't call me Nymphadora!' bit was just WTF on its own. Her metamorphagus ability was never explained, so on a movie watcher perspective, that would have been hard to comprehend I'm sure.

WTF #2: WHY WERE THE ORDER FLYING RIGHT PAST MUGGLE HOUSES AND IMPORTANT LONDON TOURIST ATTRACTIONS? DID MAD EYE JUST LIKE, LOSE HIS ENTIRE CHARACTER???

Number 12 Grimmauld Place was pretty cool, but what happened to the Secret Keeper thing? Nice to see Molly being Molly, she's always a good actress. Didn't like Remus in this one. And why is Harry not even the littlest suprised to see him there? And where was Mrs. Black's portrait? That was such a good part of the book, and two minutes extra could have done it and Kreacher justice.
Liked the extendable ears, funny.
Ginny undderated, AGAIN.
Apparating Weasleys cool.
Nice Molly -Sirius anger thing.
Prefects thing missing. Not crucuial but would have been some good character development for Ron.

Transition to Hearing. Loved the Ministry, but more time should have been spent there.
Why even introduce Bode?
They need to speak up, honestly that paper airplane thing flew right over most of the audience's heads.

Nice hearing dialouge.

Trip to Hogwarts was ok, where was Draco ugh? and the Mimbulus Mibletonia could hae been a good gag.

More WTFs and comments to come.

[PJ]

It ruled. I really did like it a lot. Best movie so far. Sure, you can whinge and whine about how it's not exactly like the book, but movies never are. This is the fifth movie, people. Why do you still act surprised when things like the prefect thing and Petunia's letter get cut? The movie is something else. I liked how they expanded on Umbridge's iron fist at Hogwarts; it would have been hard to build up the whole inquisition thing, they did admirably with those newspaper shots and all the decrees.

A few things that I didn't like:

-Fred and George escape scene. It was an awesome scene in the book, one of the very best, but it was just too short. It wasn't really overly important to the plot, but I still think they should have shown more carnage. Oh well. Same thing goes for the Dumbledore escaping scene. I loved the build up in the book, it was all a bit rushed in the movie. They were still good scenes, I just can't help feeling they should have been BETTER.

-The whole Cho thing. I can understand them trying to eliminate Cho's friend and all, but now it's all convoluted. Cho and Harry are supposed to be OVER by the end of OotP. Now things are somewhat ambiguous, heck, we even feel bad for Cho cos Harry ditched her and she couldn't help it.

-Some things just needed expanding on. I can see this being tricky to do, but I can imagine quite a few people who hadn't read the books being somewhat confused. Neville holding the Mimblus Mimbletonia, for instance, no one even mentioned that. Worked with the whole "random Wizard magic" feel, I guess. Same goes for Tonks metamorphing, though I guess non-readers would just pass it off as more random magic. There was more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

-And I just did NOT like how Dumbledore actually seemed quite angry when Trelawney got sacked. Dumbledore should always be calm and composed, damnit!

On the other hand, the entire Department of Mysteries thing was incredibly cool. The Death Eaters just appearing was really spooky, though I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't much fighting between the students and the Death Eaters, they were just running for a bit. But then when the Order showed up, it was all awesome. The Smoke-Apparation thing was really cool, it added an entirely new dimension to the fighting. When the camera zoomed out and you could see all the small duels happening around the Archway, and Beatrix flying around cackling madly, that was very cool. Similiarly, I liked the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort, though there should have been more cool dialogue ("That was always your greatest weakness, Tom, there are worse things than death"). The effects were great. The expanded parts of Harry being tempted to kill Beatrix and the possession scene were also pretty good, though I felt a tad cheesy.


But yeah. Overall, quite a good movie.

[J.]

I wanna see the movie. I have to wait til Sunday. I was all like "All I care about is the seventh book, who cares about the movie" but now I care about the movie. ;-;

[Artemis]

If that were just a movie, and had never been written as a book, it would be really good.
But I can't help thinking that if they had made it a little bit more accurate to the book it would have been better.
For one thing, it seemed way too rushed. I know it was hard to fit enough into the movie, but I think they would have done better to make it into two separate movies. The 5th book is just too long.
I think they really should have shown a bit more personality in Sirius. The movie just didn't compare to the book in showing how much they cared for each other, and how Sirius wanted out of the house. If they would have built up the relationship between them better, Sirius's death would have been a lot more sad.
I think they could have done more with the fight between the DA members and the Death Eaters, too. That was one of my favorite parts and they didn't really do it justice.
Also what irritated me was the flying death eaters. Since when could Death Eaters turn into smoke and fly?

[Liz Hollow]

I liked the movie, and I thought it was better than the previous two, but there were things that just were bad.

The Department of Mysteries scene was kind of pathetic. It was such a large portion of the book, and there could have been a lot more done with it. I just was not very fond of that particular scene. But I liked the Dumbledore/Voldemort fight. That was cool.
I was mad that they did not have all of Snape's Worst Memory. That was totally the best scene in the book. But oh well.
I loved all of the Dumbledore's Army scenes! Ooh, and Luna, Umbridge, and Bellatrix did really well with their parts. Bellatrix's laugh was so spooky!
Overall, it was a good movie, but there were just some things that were kind of... bleh. And I understand it can't be 22 hours long. I'm just saying... although I would sit through a 22 hour movie if there were two or three intermissions!

[ineedyourhelp]

I really do not like Michael Gambon's portrayal of Dumbledore. I though that Richard Harris was much better. Gambon shows too much emotion and anger to be Dumbledore and he doesn't show as much calm and wit as she should.

[sunnygal]

daniel radcliffe is really bad at some of the anger scenes. in the beginning with Dudley he just kind of muttered "shut up". and why did he just pull out his wand in front of all Dudley's friends?

[Jacques the Environmentalist]

Of course Richard Harris is better.
And I can understand that this book is ginormous and that they need to make cuts but why have the shortest movie portray the longest book?
Directors can do whatever they want on pretty much any movie, look at Napoloen Dynamite. But on movies portraying practically legendary books your duty as a director is to actually try to make the movie like the book, that's what you're being paid to do, not to make up random stuff and leave out key parts.
That being said I liked:
The beginning scene with the dementors
The hearing, although they could've introducted madam bones
Luna and Bellatrix, they were both pretty awesome
the DA
The Department of Mysteries(why didn't we see more?) and the Dumbledore/Voldie fight as well as Harry being possessed.
The newspapers were cool though a bit disorienting.

I didn't like:
The lack of important stuff like quidditch(key to Ron's character), St. Mungo's(come on now...), Snape's affection/hate for Lily, the fight with Hagrid during the astronomy OWL, and basically half the book.

[Persnickety Raven]

Seeing as this is really the right thread, I'll paste my criticisms here.

1. The Patronuses.
What the heck did they do? They looked just right in PoA, but now they're electric blue transparent balls? Terrible look.
2. Mrs. Figg.
She literally came from nowhere. Granted, this fault goes back to PS, and I understand why she didn't make a mention in the film as no one knew of her later importance circa 2001, but this is a pure bolt from the blue if you haven't read the book.
3. The House of Black
WAAAY too much is cut concerning the events at the headquarters. Granted, they want to get to the school as soon as possible, but it still cuts rather important scenes out.
4. Lupin
Lupin may as well be a extra here. While he admittedly doesn't have a huge role in the book, his movie appearance may as well be a feeble appeasement to the fans.
5. The DA
Again, too much was cut, as most of the scenes were a montage. Given that it's a crucial part of the story, I would think they would give some more time for it.
6. The Sackings
The set-up for Umbridge's sackings is much too hasty, and we don't even see Hagrid's. (or McGonagall's stunning for that manner) And Dumbledor seems angry and helpless during Trelawny's. And Firenze isn't shown or mentioned. (So who's doing the lessons?)
7. The Room of Requirement
In the film, Filch and co. know where it is the whole time, but are comically portraid as never being able to get in. And when they do, it isn't at all like the book, as they literally blow the wall apart.
8. The Weasley Escape
Fred and George's escape isn't nearly as planned as the book, and only the fireworks are shown. It's also too short for my tastes.
9. Hagrid
Hagrid almost wasn't in the movie. He only has a token presence to introduce Grawp really.
10. The Centaurs
The centaurs are never clearly seen, or even speak, despite the good dialog in the forest scene.
11. The Prophecy
The whole prophecy is never heard, and it isn't heard in the right manner anyway. Inexcusable seeing as the prophecy is very important.
12. The Ministry Duel
It's too short, and isn't handled at all the right way. Half of the time the Death Eaters are a swirling cloud. (apparently a weird take on apparation) The wand fighting looks too much like a swordfight, and Sirius' death is handled oddly. And Harry claws from Lupin's grip in a look very reminiscent of Boromir/Frodo in FotR.
13. Voldemort vs. Albus
Again, too short, unlike the book, and Voldy doesn't even seem that powerful. The possession is also done weirdly.
14. The Conversation
Harry's and Dumbledor's talk is only given a token scene. Seeing as it was sort of the tell all for some of the biggest mysteries pre HBP in the book, this is also inexcusable.

Anyone else thing Voldy telling Harry to kill Bella was executed just like Palpatine telling Anakin to kill Dooku in RotS?

[Jacques Snicket]

I'm either going to see it on Saturday or Sunday. Also, my copy of Book 7 has been preordered.

EDIT: I've got a feeling that the scene of Harry being tempted to kill Bellatrix echoes Palpatine urging Anakin to decapitate Dooku…

[sunnygal]

i hate how they portrayed Grawp as a friendly giant who's a bit slow and falls in love with Hermione...that was weird

[J.]

Oh my dear sweet Jesus on a hot stove, there's Grawp/Hermione? Oh. My. Freaking--I'm so glad I got out of the HP fandom.

[Dear Dairy]

But on movies portraying practically legendary books your duty as a director is to actually try to make the movie like the book, that's what you're being paid to do, not to make up random stuff and leave out key parts.

Actually, the blame for what's left in and what's left out from the book lies with the writer of the screenplay, not the director. The director's job is to develop a vision from the screenplay, and try to translate that vision onto film. True, he is the primary artistic force behind the end result, and he does have some say in script editing, but most directors use the screenplay as a blueprint to develop visuals such as shot composition, tempo and pacing of editing, and actors' performances. So blame the scriptwriter if you don't like what was left out.

[Deleted]

About the house points...they never had them