The end of an era - A Review by Yearrghsworth
Ah, Harry Potter. Now there's a franchise that did pretty well!
Here's some of my thoughts on it, and a review of Deathly Hallows Pt 2
Honestly, I didn't get into the franchise until after Half-Blood Prince was released, as I really thought it was a bunch of silliness and the world was just plain crazy. You know it happens, I know it happens.. a book comes out, some people with very low standards read it and it spreads like wild fire; all the while people with actual taste and standards pretend to like it, or lie to themselves and think they really do like it just to not be left out. It's okay. We're social creatures that do not like to feel excluded. It's a natural response.
Well, some friends of mine that were.. ahem, Potterheads, constantly talked about the books, the films, and everything Harry Potter. I finally got sick of it and asked if there was ANY way I could get them to please shut the hell up about Harry Potter, and they made a little wager; If I could read ONE book and still be firmly anti-potter, they would never speak another word in my presence.
So, I read the first one. In one sitting. I was hooked. Over the next four days, I had read everything and I was (im)patiently awaiting my friends to finish with Half-Blood Prince so I could read that one as well since every book store was sold out.
I have to say, I was rather disappointed with most of the movies. Philosoph--err, "Sorcerer's Stone" (The fuck? Are Americans really THAT dumb that they can't link Alchemy with Wizarding?!) was reasonably close to the book, but I suppose that's due to brevity of the first volume, the shortest in the series. Chamber of Secrets, I recall watching the same day I finished reading the book and although I can't recall now what it was that annoyed me, I do remember being very frustrated with the film. Prisoner of Azkaban was pretty bad overall, probably one of the worst in the series, and I'm not even going to get started on how disappointing Goblet of Fire was. The Quidditch World Cup!!! Damnit! That was the part I REALLY wanted to see! Bah. I promised myself I wouldn't do this... Anyway, on to Order of the Phoenix, that's where the film adaptations started to improve. It seems that Steve Kloves had finally found his stride and learned how to condense a Harry Potter book into a film without cutting the stuff people actually WANT to see. The next three films are my favorite in the series, adapted as well as could be; Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2.
Having just viewed Deathly Hallows Part 2, that's what this review is *really* about. I'll start with the things I didn't like, before getting into the stuff I absolutely LOVED.
Shell Cottage.. oh boy. First of all, I really wish there had been some remnant of Harry's internal struggle of who to talk to first: Ollivander, or Griphook. Going back and forth between which quest is more important, finding the Deathly Hallows and facing Voldemort as an Immortal, or finding the next Horcrux and coming closer to weakening Voldemort. He shows strength and wisdom by choosing Griphook first.
When Harry goes to see Ollivander, he was also supposed to make a new wand for Luna Lovegood, this is a scene that was probably cut for time's sake, but it really was important to show how Ollivander had become fond of her during their time in the Malfoy Dungeon. To a lesser degree, Bill Weasley was supposed to warn Harry not to trust the Goblin Griphook because Goblins are sneaky and underhanded.
Bellatix LeStrange's Vault.. the items that multiply are also supposed to burn to the touch, this was omitted for no reason I can see. Makes it even more terrifying. In a world of Wizarding, being merely buried alive by trinkets isn't very scary, not when there's so many spells you could use to protect yourself. Now, if you're buried alive under trinkets that scorch your flesh.. that's a different story!
Dumbledore's Past. The. Fuck? Okay... No Grindelwald? No explaining the reason Aberforth despises Albus for what he did to Ariana? That was kind of important to the story. It turns out that Albus Dumbledore was a selfish shithead that had no qualms with putting Harry in harm's way, meanwhile pretending to actually give a rat's ass about him.
Harry Confronting Snape? NO! NO NO NO! I wanted to see Minerva McGonagall kick Snape's ass in her pyjamas! Sending all of Slytherin to the Dungeon? WHAT? No. She sent all of the underage students, and all of the members of Slytherin that *would not fight for Harry Potter* HOME. Locking them away in the Dungeon to only have them pop in places like the Room of Requirement later for no good reason seems a bit odd, no? In the book, it made plenty of sense because students like Draco were old enough to stay, and smart enough to pretend to be on the 'right side' to sabotage things.
I also didn't like Luna demanding to speak to Harry on his way to the Ravenclaw common room and being pushy instead of shy and soft-spoken. It breaks with her character way too much, and I'd rather have seen her show her intelligence by answering the riddle for Harry to gain passage to the Ravenclaw common room, like it was in the book.
Fred and Percy not making up, and the touching side-by-side fight where Fred Weasley dies.. instead, finding out Fred died by seeing his body next to Lupin and Tonks? Bah! Garbage!
And.. uh.. so yeah. Harry snaps the Elder Wand in half and tosses it off the bridge. Now what? What wand will he use now? Draco's? Pft. Uh-uh. He was supposed to fix his original wand with the Elder Wand, but he didn't. I am not fond of that change.
Now on to the changes I *LOVED*
Neville vs. Nagini: instead of killing Nagini the instant he find the sword of Gryffindor in the Sorting Hat, he's knocked back by Voldemort and later comes charging in like a true hero and does the deed. Neville Longbottom's metamorphosis from bumbler to badass is complete.
BLOWING UP THE FUCKING BRIDGE! Woo! I like this added scene. Neville gets to be a goofball, but still gets the last laugh while running from the horde of Deatheaters.
Instead of wasting valuable time explaining the Carrows more than Neville already did, the swapping of Harry's run-in with them for the Gray Lady Ghost was a nice way to give a little more backstory to Tom Riddle/Voldemort.
The Final Showdown between HP and Big V: Ugh. God I was bored reading that part. Blah blah blah. Lots of taunting and circling. Very Un-Voldemort, to be honest. He'd already done plenty of taunting, and I really think J.K. Rowling kind of lost her way on that bit, just trying to fill pages. The film made good use of imagery in this scene, using the near-ruins of Hogwarts and the history of Harry's time there as basis for this battle ground; the courtyard where Hedwig took flight at the end of the first film, the Observatory Deck that Albus Dumbledore took a swan-dive off of... it was just plain *magic* (pun most certainly intended.)
So, yeah. Overall there's more 'bad' than 'good' in my list, but my gripes don't even make up more than about 20 minutes of total footage, so the movie itself is more good than bad. I think it was a great conclusion to the series, even if they didn't show how Draco had mellowed out and become a father (but didn't drop the wannabe-badass naming scheme of his family with his son Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.)
Seven out of ten wands!
-Yearrghsworth
Here's some of my thoughts on it, and a review of Deathly Hallows Pt 2
Honestly, I didn't get into the franchise until after Half-Blood Prince was released, as I really thought it was a bunch of silliness and the world was just plain crazy. You know it happens, I know it happens.. a book comes out, some people with very low standards read it and it spreads like wild fire; all the while people with actual taste and standards pretend to like it, or lie to themselves and think they really do like it just to not be left out. It's okay. We're social creatures that do not like to feel excluded. It's a natural response.
Well, some friends of mine that were.. ahem, Potterheads, constantly talked about the books, the films, and everything Harry Potter. I finally got sick of it and asked if there was ANY way I could get them to please shut the hell up about Harry Potter, and they made a little wager; If I could read ONE book and still be firmly anti-potter, they would never speak another word in my presence.
So, I read the first one. In one sitting. I was hooked. Over the next four days, I had read everything and I was (im)patiently awaiting my friends to finish with Half-Blood Prince so I could read that one as well since every book store was sold out.
I have to say, I was rather disappointed with most of the movies. Philosoph--err, "Sorcerer's Stone" (The fuck? Are Americans really THAT dumb that they can't link Alchemy with Wizarding?!) was reasonably close to the book, but I suppose that's due to brevity of the first volume, the shortest in the series. Chamber of Secrets, I recall watching the same day I finished reading the book and although I can't recall now what it was that annoyed me, I do remember being very frustrated with the film. Prisoner of Azkaban was pretty bad overall, probably one of the worst in the series, and I'm not even going to get started on how disappointing Goblet of Fire was. The Quidditch World Cup!!! Damnit! That was the part I REALLY wanted to see! Bah. I promised myself I wouldn't do this... Anyway, on to Order of the Phoenix, that's where the film adaptations started to improve. It seems that Steve Kloves had finally found his stride and learned how to condense a Harry Potter book into a film without cutting the stuff people actually WANT to see. The next three films are my favorite in the series, adapted as well as could be; Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2.
Having just viewed Deathly Hallows Part 2, that's what this review is *really* about. I'll start with the things I didn't like, before getting into the stuff I absolutely LOVED.
Shell Cottage.. oh boy. First of all, I really wish there had been some remnant of Harry's internal struggle of who to talk to first: Ollivander, or Griphook. Going back and forth between which quest is more important, finding the Deathly Hallows and facing Voldemort as an Immortal, or finding the next Horcrux and coming closer to weakening Voldemort. He shows strength and wisdom by choosing Griphook first.
When Harry goes to see Ollivander, he was also supposed to make a new wand for Luna Lovegood, this is a scene that was probably cut for time's sake, but it really was important to show how Ollivander had become fond of her during their time in the Malfoy Dungeon. To a lesser degree, Bill Weasley was supposed to warn Harry not to trust the Goblin Griphook because Goblins are sneaky and underhanded.
Bellatix LeStrange's Vault.. the items that multiply are also supposed to burn to the touch, this was omitted for no reason I can see. Makes it even more terrifying. In a world of Wizarding, being merely buried alive by trinkets isn't very scary, not when there's so many spells you could use to protect yourself. Now, if you're buried alive under trinkets that scorch your flesh.. that's a different story!
Dumbledore's Past. The. Fuck? Okay... No Grindelwald? No explaining the reason Aberforth despises Albus for what he did to Ariana? That was kind of important to the story. It turns out that Albus Dumbledore was a selfish shithead that had no qualms with putting Harry in harm's way, meanwhile pretending to actually give a rat's ass about him.
Harry Confronting Snape? NO! NO NO NO! I wanted to see Minerva McGonagall kick Snape's ass in her pyjamas! Sending all of Slytherin to the Dungeon? WHAT? No. She sent all of the underage students, and all of the members of Slytherin that *would not fight for Harry Potter* HOME. Locking them away in the Dungeon to only have them pop in places like the Room of Requirement later for no good reason seems a bit odd, no? In the book, it made plenty of sense because students like Draco were old enough to stay, and smart enough to pretend to be on the 'right side' to sabotage things.
I also didn't like Luna demanding to speak to Harry on his way to the Ravenclaw common room and being pushy instead of shy and soft-spoken. It breaks with her character way too much, and I'd rather have seen her show her intelligence by answering the riddle for Harry to gain passage to the Ravenclaw common room, like it was in the book.
Fred and Percy not making up, and the touching side-by-side fight where Fred Weasley dies.. instead, finding out Fred died by seeing his body next to Lupin and Tonks? Bah! Garbage!
And.. uh.. so yeah. Harry snaps the Elder Wand in half and tosses it off the bridge. Now what? What wand will he use now? Draco's? Pft. Uh-uh. He was supposed to fix his original wand with the Elder Wand, but he didn't. I am not fond of that change.
Now on to the changes I *LOVED*
Neville vs. Nagini: instead of killing Nagini the instant he find the sword of Gryffindor in the Sorting Hat, he's knocked back by Voldemort and later comes charging in like a true hero and does the deed. Neville Longbottom's metamorphosis from bumbler to badass is complete.
BLOWING UP THE FUCKING BRIDGE! Woo! I like this added scene. Neville gets to be a goofball, but still gets the last laugh while running from the horde of Deatheaters.
Instead of wasting valuable time explaining the Carrows more than Neville already did, the swapping of Harry's run-in with them for the Gray Lady Ghost was a nice way to give a little more backstory to Tom Riddle/Voldemort.
The Final Showdown between HP and Big V: Ugh. God I was bored reading that part. Blah blah blah. Lots of taunting and circling. Very Un-Voldemort, to be honest. He'd already done plenty of taunting, and I really think J.K. Rowling kind of lost her way on that bit, just trying to fill pages. The film made good use of imagery in this scene, using the near-ruins of Hogwarts and the history of Harry's time there as basis for this battle ground; the courtyard where Hedwig took flight at the end of the first film, the Observatory Deck that Albus Dumbledore took a swan-dive off of... it was just plain *magic* (pun most certainly intended.)
So, yeah. Overall there's more 'bad' than 'good' in my list, but my gripes don't even make up more than about 20 minutes of total footage, so the movie itself is more good than bad. I think it was a great conclusion to the series, even if they didn't show how Draco had mellowed out and become a father (but didn't drop the wannabe-badass naming scheme of his family with his son Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.)
Seven out of ten wands!
-Yearrghsworth