Seriously... I have all kinds of spoilers, and don't want to ruin it for you.
Last chance to stop reading.
So you're one of the millions of people who HAVE seen the movie? Okay, you can read on.
First off, great movie. I always have a tough time with the movies because I LOVE the books so much, and its hard for me to watch 900 pages turned into a 2 hour movie. But I thought this movie was good and worth seeing (if you've read the books). If you've only been watching the movies to this point... I think you'd have a really tough time understanding what the heck was going on.
So, in no particular order... here's my comments:
- Cho was the sneak who ratted on Dumbledore's army??!!!
- Grawp was surprisingly cute, not as scary or computery as I expected.
- Luna Lovegood (who was excellent by the way) was surprisingly prominent.
- Percy's part was surprisingly small. Couldn't he have at least appeared in the hearing scene? There was also very little of Draco and Lupin.
- I was so disappointed that they didn't have Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville and Ron all squeeze into the telephone box/visitor's entrance to the Ministry. That would have been a great sight gag.
- Fantastic moment that wasn't in the book- when Harry says to Umbridge in the forest- "you told me not to tell lies, professor."
- Lucius broke the prophecy... I liked that.
- The Dumbledore/Voldemort showdown was terrific and dramatic, but I'm not sure why they cut out some of the wonderful moments from the book- particularly Fawkes swallowing the Avada Kedavra curse. I loved that they kept "It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom"... although anyone who hadn't read the books would have had no earthly idea of what that meant.
- There was a lot of Ron and Hermione romantic foreshadowing.
- My husband's comment on Umbridge "She wasn't how I pictured her, but she did manage to completely and totally irritate me, so I guess she did a good job."
- I was the only one in the entire, packed movie theater that laughed when there was a goat in the Hogs Head. Okay, it's an obscure reference, but I thought it was hysterical that they included it in the movie.
- There were a lot of funny sight gags... mostly seeming to involve Filch.
- I understand it was a hot day, but Aunt Petunia's dress was a little...ummm... short.
- Great sight gag about Mr. Weasley getting past the ticket barriers on the London underground.
- Very funny moment when Fudge sees Voldemort at the ministry and says "he's back."
- The Mr. Weasley and the snake scene was a little strange... they cut out St. Mungo's entirely (which I understand was done for time purposes) but it felt awkward and choppy.
- There was more of the D.A. then I was expecting... they were great scenes. Although, why invent a random cute little boy named Nigel? What was wrong with using Dennis Creevey... who is a cute little boy who's actually in the book?
- Kreacher's betrayal never happened.... so why was he in the movie at all?
- Dumbledore's twenty page speech at the end was summed up into four sentences... really, it was Lucius Malfoy who explained the prophecy.
- If the whole point of the Order of the Phoenix is to avoid being seen.... WHY would they fly their brooms right through the London harbor???
I think my favorite thing was seeing the child actors.... and to watch how they've gotten older and grown into their parts. Anyways... good movie.... worth seeing.
You read this post before you saw the movie, didn't you? =) Yeah, that's what I would have done too.
You got me! Yes, I did read this post before I saw the movie. :) Hope you'll forgive me.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing the movie, but my first love is reserved for the books (thanks, Wizard's Wireless, as you were the person who badgered to read them in the first place...).
RE: Great sight gag about Mr. Weasley getting past the ticket barriers on the London underground.
ReplyDeleteRight with ya on most of these comments, but about this one I gotta speak up ... I HATE wizards being befuddled by muggle technology ...
snotty purebreds, maybe ... but Mr. Weasely??? an official in the Ministry of Muggle Affairs, or whatever it is? You'd think that he'd have a better than rudimentary knowledge of how muggle things work, yet it shows him bumbling and wondering over the most mundane objects over and again.
... he's spent ... what? Twenty-odd years working PROFESSIONALLY with the stuff. You'd think he'd stop staring in wonder at a toaster.
Like you, I liked the movie lots, and disagree that it had to be pared down as much as it was -- my biggest criticsm of the film was that they had an embarrassment of riches in their adult cast, and the only one that got ample screentime was Imelda Staunton (which we'll agree, she used wonderfully -- psycho 50s mom).
Just got back from seeing the movie. My feeling is that it's a very good attempt at an impossible task: squeezing the longest book into the shortest film. There's so much crammed in that the film feels choppy at points, jumping between scenes without connecting them properly... but I'll be damned if I could think of anything else to cut or condense.
ReplyDeleteRandom thoughts:
I didn't mind too much that Cho was the rat, though it would have been nice if they had made a bigger point that she was fed veratiserum by Umbridge. (It was a throwaway line from Snape.) Frankly, it makes sense, b/c Umbridge would know that they were dating and that she could sweat Cho to get the goods on Harry. It also simplifies the breakup of their relationship (Harry don't date snitches), though I liked the realistic way in the book that Cho's more of an emotional wreck and the whole thing falls apart.
I dug how Ginny does one spell really well, which impresses Harry.
I liked how the Room of Requirement looked. It was kind of too easy the way they found it (having cut Dobby from the film), but I loved the door, the dummies, Filch's stakeout, and Umbridge finally managing to bust in.
Also loved how the Room of Requirement grew mistletoe for Harry and Cho... because hey, they required a place to get it on.
Best line in the film:
Kingsley Shacklebolt mentioning that Dumbledore's got style.
Best line (not) in the film: Umbridge takes a spoonful of brown sugar crystals. Audience member: "Is that crack?"
Loved Filch's wall of Ministry decrees.
Loved Umbridge's wall of moving kitty plates (pivotal to the plot later!).
I agree that it makes no sense that the kids zoom on their brooms right past Parliament.
I wish that the entry to the Ministry of Magic for the climax had been shown. The kids just kind of show up in the elevator--no explanation how they even got in. Also, they fly in on the thestrals, and I would have liked to have seen an acknowledgment that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny can't see them and are scared witless.
I was also a little disappointed about the kids dueling with the Death Eaters. In the books, they manage to hold their own and cause some damage. Here, they just manage to run away, then Lucius corners them in the next room and tells them they never really had a chance against them.
Dumbledore/Voldemort fight was pretty cool, especially the bit with the glass.
I always imagined Grawp more savage.
Loved Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood and Imelda Staunton as Umbridge. Go rent Vera Drake if you want to see her play a sympathetic role!
Percy was in this movie? Who cares? Percy's a git.
I must not be that much of a Potterhead. I missed the goat thing entirely, in both the book and the movie.
Kreacher is in the movie b/c Jo Rowling insisted he be there. Apparently, he plays a very important part in Book 7. Personally, I wish there had been more of Kreacher, b/c he's the anti-Dobby (and Dobby is the Jar-Jar Binks of the Harry Potter films).
Okay, that's probably more than enough. Can't wait to get the new book on Friday night!
Jim,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that Mr. Weasley shouldn't have any problems with muggle technology, being that it's his CAREER and all.
But it is mentioned repeatedly in the books that he has trouble dealing with the muggle world (which annoys me too).... so that makes it fair game for the movie.
Although there is one place in the books where Mr. Weasley actually seems to know something about the muggle world... in Book 5 when he corrects Kingsley Shacklebolt that guns are called "firearms" and not "fire legs."