Always have to ruin everything

[trinityvixen]

I hope my friends and the internet won't crucify me for saying it, but I didn't really like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Look, I had low expectations. Every Harry Potter movie has been okay. They're not as good as the books ever, and I'm okay with that. The movies did have the potential, however, to do Rowling one better, especially

Comments

[gryphonrose]

I haven't seen Part 2 yet, but I'd have to disagree about the others--I think in most cases the movies were BETTER than the books because they did exactly what you hoped and covered over Rowling's own gaping plot holes. For example, I only recently rewatched Goblet of Fire (which had been one of my least favorite before) and realized just how well they set up the Big Reveal right from the get-go, whereas Rowling herself tried to conceal it until the last possible second in the hopes of appearing clever.

[ivy03]

I thought the movie of five also did a good job of a) lessening just how freaking annoying Umbrage was in print and b) whittling down that enormous Hagrid giants digression that bored me so much.

[gryphonrose]

Agreed. :)

[trinityvixen]

I find every incarnation of Umbridge ENTIRELY ANNOYING, so I disagree that the movie lessened that at all.

[moonlightalice]

I found the film version absurd. It made Umbridge seem petty and cartoonish, instead of seriously, viciously evil.

[trinityvixen]

Lots of things were smoothed over by the movies, you're right. I mean, didn't love Half-Blood Prince the movie, but it's miles better than the book. (The less I hear about Harry's "monster," the better.)

But there are half-dropped plots in Rowling's books that the movies could have done one-better without destroying any real outcomes and they didn't. I don't know if it's spoiling to say that the movie doesn't change something, so I won't say what it doesn't change. It just seems to me that it's unfortunate that no one picked up the narrative slack.

[gryphonrose]

Fair enough. Like I said, I haven't seen this one yet. But it's got to be a tough balance, figuring out what to keep and what to change and what to drop. Hard enough when converting a movie to a book, but a huge-ass book to a movie? Worlds harder.

[trinityvixen]

I would agree with you except that I think a lot of the bulk of the series is easily excised without losing either world-building or plot. There's plenty you can cut or gloss over without losing the thread of the plot.

[gryphonrose]

There is, and I feel like, in the seven movies I did see, they managed exactly that--well, really in #3-7. Some things are obvious to cut, like Tom Bombadil in LotR. Other details get a lot trickier, esp. if they're deeply interwoven.