The Infinite Superiority of HP Books Over Movies
This entry has honestly been in the works a while (if by "in the works" you mean "tumbling around in my head"). It originated with a conversation with my Dad a (few?) week(s?) ago, and got me really fired up. I had meant to blog about it that day, but as usual got caught up with other things.
ABC Family is having another Harry Potter Weekend (they do this so often it's almost not special anymore), and started with Prisoner of Azkaban this time. This movie has always always ALWAYS annoyed me (trope that describes this is They Changed It Now It Sucks) due to a myriad of factors, which I have touched on briefly before. This entry is going to elaborate on why I dislike PoA so much, and then to continue on to OotP (Order of the Phoenix) and HBP (Half-Blood Prince), because once I get on a roll I won't be able to stop.
Get ready for an epic rant.
PoA: Adaptation Decay Begins
The thing that made the third my favorite book was the introduction of Sirius and Lupin (my favorite character and in the top ten), and how much backstory was revealed. So, given how much related to the above was changed/removed entirely, you can see where my dissatisfaction lies.
A major part of the problem is, I think, the actors chosen to play Sirius and Remus. Lupin's actor is ENTIRELY WRONG. This guy was a Marauder, man, no matter how responsible he tries to seem. And David Thewlis doesn't give off that COOL vibe in the slightest. Same with Gary Oldman for Sirius. Sirius is "carelessly handsome" in his prime, and although Azkaban took much of that out of him, you can still tell, but Oldman just doesn't fit my model of Sirius at all. I think the both of them are too old... Neither one of them give the impression of a prankster, carefree youth.
So, aside from that relatively BIG point, many adults (well, people in general) in this seem idiotic. If Mr. Weasley doesn't want Harry to say "Voldemort", why pause conveniently in the spot where it occurs in a sentence? And, in the Three Broomsticks (which worked much better JKR's way to begin with), ALL of the adults in the room are dunces. They know of the existence of invisibility cloaks and spells, but when a door RANDOMLY opens, no one thinks anything of it, no searching for bodies or anything. Seriously?
Character traits are overplayed. After the aforementioned scene, Harry is SERIOUSLY overacted. To an almost comical degree. And, as I've mentioned, Malfoy is too much of a whiny brat. It's there in canon, but not nearly to that extent. And some of the speeches added for Dumbledore are kinda random, and not nearly as wise as the writers intended.
Also, why does Sirius growl at Harry at Privet Drive? Makes no sense. And the Grim-in-the-clouds is stupid, too. The whole point of the Big Reveal was that there was no omen of death to begin with, and the clouds thing undermines that.
The Marauder's Map is so much less awesome in the movie. No Harry-figure telling him how to open the passage, no unique Marauder "voices" to insult Snape. In a related note, we hardly get any Marauder back story, or Lupin werewolf!angst, or anything to explain the very sudden return to friendship of Lupin and Sirius (the former who seems to know a LOT more than is logically explained, or is stupidly un-curious) OR Snape's immense hatred. Not a word about them making the Map, or why they became Animagi (or even that James did, or what his animal was). Oh, and the dementors make him hear only his mother screaming shrilly. Her voice isn't shrill, and you lose so much sentimental (and later plot-important) info by taking out the specific details of their deaths.
There are inconsistencies galore, too. Like, the Patronuses are so lame; the ones that are supposed to be lame are too lame, and the Stag one doesn't canter around like it's supposed to. BUT in OotP it acts as it canonically should... And, an entirely in-movie example: When Pettigrew returns to human from his Animagus form, he has close. Yet when he turns back into a rat he shrinks without the clothes... if the clothes don't shrink with him how can he have them when he turns back? And Sirius transforms with his clothes intact.
I could go on, believe me, but for the sake of space and time I'm going to condense the rest into this paragraph: Trelawny's prophecy is butchered beyond recognition. Harry and Hermione don't tell Ron about the Time Turner; this bothers me INSANELY; the Trio are supposed to trust each other more than this suggests. Finally, Dumbledore seems too omniscient during the rescuing Buckbeak thing. I mean, pointing out strawberry fields, honestly... This bothers me because Dumbles is a human like all of us and it's giving him powers that seem too much, even for the Most Powerful Wizard Ever.
------Goblet of Fire is my favorite movie (and least favorite book, see the correlation?), so I don't feel like ranting about it. There were probably numerous things that bugged me, but nothing that sticks out in memory. Aside from a lack of Sirius except one fire scene; his scenes in the fourth book are what made me fall in love with him as a character.------
OotP: Let's Destroy Beloved Characters by Ruining Characterization!!
Three words: "Nice one, James!" That right there is why I detest this movie. Sirius would NEVER say that; he is perfectly clear on the differences between Harry and James. Non-book-readers don't know this, and so would regard Sirius as like a deluded fool or something. Which he is clearly not. Actually, a lot of what bothers me involves Sirius' "alternative character interpretation". We see none of the brooding man from the book (which although not him at his best showed so much about his character, and led to discussions about his family where his actions make sense) which leads to his recklessness and desire to get out of the house. So many points missed... and again the jarringly bad actor choice for Sirius and Lupin to further affect things.
Speaking of Lupin... where is he in this movie? Not in the Advance Guard, not really around at Christmas, only in the battle scene, the first Order convo and Harry's father!angst scene. So they cut so much of Lupin. And Kreacher, too, was cut. So was Mundungus. We haven't even heard that name. Going to complicate things in DH, lemme tell you.
And then the Fountain of Magical Brethren. WHY INCLUDE IT IF YOU'RE NOT USING IT IN THE DUMBLES/VOLDIE BATTLE??! Sorry, that bugs me immensely as a totally Missed Moment of Awesome. So, so much... Also in that scene, Harry's possession scene was overplayed, too. So corny: "I feel sorry for you." And they took out ALL the other rooms in the Department of Mysteries. So much action-packed goodness removed... and, where's Sirius' knife? Book did all of this WAY better (angst better, battles better, fluff better...).
HBP: Leaving Out Crucial Plot Details... post-DH so you know they're important.
Part of this overlaps with OotP, but what happened to Sirius' mirror? Oh, that's right, Harry never got it. Yet will somehow get it for DH, I'm sure.
Most notable thing left out was nearly all of Voldemort's backstory. We only see two of the Pensieve memories (which could have been done in an amazingly cool and cinematically interesting way for the film), and as a result Harry knows nothing about Voldie's parents, or how he got the ring, OR what any of the other Horcruxes are. Again, pretty crucial info there.
Bill Weasley. When has he appeared in any of the movies? Never. They took out all of the Bill/Fleur subplot, as well as Lupin/Tonks. Neither of these pairings exist=random wedding that people who haven't read the book will feel bad about. And, without showing Lupin's initial reluctance to marry Tonks, his werewolf!angst about the baby will seem out of character and make him look like a jerk.
Again, no sign of Mundungus anywhere. Not selling Black heirlooms, so why would the confrontation happen? Gonna be hard to find another character to be the 7th Potter...
In the movie, Ginny hides Harry's potions book. So, how will Harry know that the Horcrux is in the Room of Requirement if he had his eyes shut the whole time?
A rare case of an added plot detail: burning down the Burrow. They included it because it was a reminder that Death Eaters are Serious Business, made everything more "real" for Harry and Co, and gave a nice opportunity for Ginny and Harry to bond. JKR, however, did not include it because she knew what she was doing. She knew that Order headquarters had strong wards that Death Eaters couldn't cross, or else it wouldn't be Order headquarters. She also knew that she was having a wedding there in the next book, with couldn't happen if it was burned to a crisp.
But yeah, so much was taken out that people (like my Dad) who hadn't read the books were very confused about what was actually going on. Just... too many changes were made.
Whew. Okay. I seem to have ranted myself out. Which is very satisfying. All of this shows the inherent superiority of the page to the screen. Regardless, I love the franchise too much not to continue to watch the movies. DH will be SO BIG, and I don't want to miss it. Plus, I DO enjoy movies 1, 2, and 4. And bits of 5, when they let Sirius actually be compassionate and EPIC.
That's all for me, now. Hope you enjoyed this. Do you agree with my nitpickings? Have more to add? Want to contest some of them? Let me know!
ABC Family is having another Harry Potter Weekend (they do this so often it's almost not special anymore), and started with Prisoner of Azkaban this time. This movie has always always ALWAYS annoyed me (trope that describes this is They Changed It Now It Sucks) due to a myriad of factors, which I have touched on briefly before. This entry is going to elaborate on why I dislike PoA so much, and then to continue on to OotP (Order of the Phoenix) and HBP (Half-Blood Prince), because once I get on a roll I won't be able to stop.
Get ready for an epic rant.
PoA: Adaptation Decay Begins
The thing that made the third my favorite book was the introduction of Sirius and Lupin (my favorite character and in the top ten), and how much backstory was revealed. So, given how much related to the above was changed/removed entirely, you can see where my dissatisfaction lies.
A major part of the problem is, I think, the actors chosen to play Sirius and Remus. Lupin's actor is ENTIRELY WRONG. This guy was a Marauder, man, no matter how responsible he tries to seem. And David Thewlis doesn't give off that COOL vibe in the slightest. Same with Gary Oldman for Sirius. Sirius is "carelessly handsome" in his prime, and although Azkaban took much of that out of him, you can still tell, but Oldman just doesn't fit my model of Sirius at all. I think the both of them are too old... Neither one of them give the impression of a prankster, carefree youth.
So, aside from that relatively BIG point, many adults (well, people in general) in this seem idiotic. If Mr. Weasley doesn't want Harry to say "Voldemort", why pause conveniently in the spot where it occurs in a sentence? And, in the Three Broomsticks (which worked much better JKR's way to begin with), ALL of the adults in the room are dunces. They know of the existence of invisibility cloaks and spells, but when a door RANDOMLY opens, no one thinks anything of it, no searching for bodies or anything. Seriously?
Character traits are overplayed. After the aforementioned scene, Harry is SERIOUSLY overacted. To an almost comical degree. And, as I've mentioned, Malfoy is too much of a whiny brat. It's there in canon, but not nearly to that extent. And some of the speeches added for Dumbledore are kinda random, and not nearly as wise as the writers intended.
Also, why does Sirius growl at Harry at Privet Drive? Makes no sense. And the Grim-in-the-clouds is stupid, too. The whole point of the Big Reveal was that there was no omen of death to begin with, and the clouds thing undermines that.
The Marauder's Map is so much less awesome in the movie. No Harry-figure telling him how to open the passage, no unique Marauder "voices" to insult Snape. In a related note, we hardly get any Marauder back story, or Lupin werewolf!angst, or anything to explain the very sudden return to friendship of Lupin and Sirius (the former who seems to know a LOT more than is logically explained, or is stupidly un-curious) OR Snape's immense hatred. Not a word about them making the Map, or why they became Animagi (or even that James did, or what his animal was). Oh, and the dementors make him hear only his mother screaming shrilly. Her voice isn't shrill, and you lose so much sentimental (and later plot-important) info by taking out the specific details of their deaths.
There are inconsistencies galore, too. Like, the Patronuses are so lame; the ones that are supposed to be lame are too lame, and the Stag one doesn't canter around like it's supposed to. BUT in OotP it acts as it canonically should... And, an entirely in-movie example: When Pettigrew returns to human from his Animagus form, he has close. Yet when he turns back into a rat he shrinks without the clothes... if the clothes don't shrink with him how can he have them when he turns back? And Sirius transforms with his clothes intact.
I could go on, believe me, but for the sake of space and time I'm going to condense the rest into this paragraph: Trelawny's prophecy is butchered beyond recognition. Harry and Hermione don't tell Ron about the Time Turner; this bothers me INSANELY; the Trio are supposed to trust each other more than this suggests. Finally, Dumbledore seems too omniscient during the rescuing Buckbeak thing. I mean, pointing out strawberry fields, honestly... This bothers me because Dumbles is a human like all of us and it's giving him powers that seem too much, even for the Most Powerful Wizard Ever.
------Goblet of Fire is my favorite movie (and least favorite book, see the correlation?), so I don't feel like ranting about it. There were probably numerous things that bugged me, but nothing that sticks out in memory. Aside from a lack of Sirius except one fire scene; his scenes in the fourth book are what made me fall in love with him as a character.------
OotP: Let's Destroy Beloved Characters by Ruining Characterization!!
Three words: "Nice one, James!" That right there is why I detest this movie. Sirius would NEVER say that; he is perfectly clear on the differences between Harry and James. Non-book-readers don't know this, and so would regard Sirius as like a deluded fool or something. Which he is clearly not. Actually, a lot of what bothers me involves Sirius' "alternative character interpretation". We see none of the brooding man from the book (which although not him at his best showed so much about his character, and led to discussions about his family where his actions make sense) which leads to his recklessness and desire to get out of the house. So many points missed... and again the jarringly bad actor choice for Sirius and Lupin to further affect things.
Speaking of Lupin... where is he in this movie? Not in the Advance Guard, not really around at Christmas, only in the battle scene, the first Order convo and Harry's father!angst scene. So they cut so much of Lupin. And Kreacher, too, was cut. So was Mundungus. We haven't even heard that name. Going to complicate things in DH, lemme tell you.
And then the Fountain of Magical Brethren. WHY INCLUDE IT IF YOU'RE NOT USING IT IN THE DUMBLES/VOLDIE BATTLE??! Sorry, that bugs me immensely as a totally Missed Moment of Awesome. So, so much... Also in that scene, Harry's possession scene was overplayed, too. So corny: "I feel sorry for you." And they took out ALL the other rooms in the Department of Mysteries. So much action-packed goodness removed... and, where's Sirius' knife? Book did all of this WAY better (angst better, battles better, fluff better...).
HBP: Leaving Out Crucial Plot Details... post-DH so you know they're important.
Part of this overlaps with OotP, but what happened to Sirius' mirror? Oh, that's right, Harry never got it. Yet will somehow get it for DH, I'm sure.
Most notable thing left out was nearly all of Voldemort's backstory. We only see two of the Pensieve memories (which could have been done in an amazingly cool and cinematically interesting way for the film), and as a result Harry knows nothing about Voldie's parents, or how he got the ring, OR what any of the other Horcruxes are. Again, pretty crucial info there.
Bill Weasley. When has he appeared in any of the movies? Never. They took out all of the Bill/Fleur subplot, as well as Lupin/Tonks. Neither of these pairings exist=random wedding that people who haven't read the book will feel bad about. And, without showing Lupin's initial reluctance to marry Tonks, his werewolf!angst about the baby will seem out of character and make him look like a jerk.
Again, no sign of Mundungus anywhere. Not selling Black heirlooms, so why would the confrontation happen? Gonna be hard to find another character to be the 7th Potter...
In the movie, Ginny hides Harry's potions book. So, how will Harry know that the Horcrux is in the Room of Requirement if he had his eyes shut the whole time?
A rare case of an added plot detail: burning down the Burrow. They included it because it was a reminder that Death Eaters are Serious Business, made everything more "real" for Harry and Co, and gave a nice opportunity for Ginny and Harry to bond. JKR, however, did not include it because she knew what she was doing. She knew that Order headquarters had strong wards that Death Eaters couldn't cross, or else it wouldn't be Order headquarters. She also knew that she was having a wedding there in the next book, with couldn't happen if it was burned to a crisp.
But yeah, so much was taken out that people (like my Dad) who hadn't read the books were very confused about what was actually going on. Just... too many changes were made.
Whew. Okay. I seem to have ranted myself out. Which is very satisfying. All of this shows the inherent superiority of the page to the screen. Regardless, I love the franchise too much not to continue to watch the movies. DH will be SO BIG, and I don't want to miss it. Plus, I DO enjoy movies 1, 2, and 4. And bits of 5, when they let Sirius actually be compassionate and EPIC.
That's all for me, now. Hope you enjoyed this. Do you agree with my nitpickings? Have more to add? Want to contest some of them? Let me know!