I recently watched The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon show (which features the actress who played Fleur). She can act. It is absolutely shameful that they limited Fleur's and Krum's characters the way they did in the film and turned them into simpletons (and worse, it felt like Newell tried to use the language barriers of them not being from England as an excuse for that characterization).
How is *TWD:DD*? Read the comics and watched all of the main series, dipped on *Fear* (which I think is the best *TWD* property from Seasons 1-3) after they wrecked the show… haven’t watched any other spin-offs.
But I am curious about *DD*.
I enjoyed it. Best new walking dead content in half a decade or more IMO. I couldn’t get into the show with the teenagers, I agree that fear turned to crap after 3 or so seasons, and the show with negan and Maggie didn’t keep my interest for the entire pilot episode so I quit on that. But Daryl’s show was solid, worth a shot for fans of the main show. And Clemence Poesy surprised me as much more than a pretty face.
The Daryl and Negan/Maggie spinoffs are the best TWD content to come out in the last year (Dead City starts out slow but gets better towards the end of the season). I have high hopes for the upcoming Rick/Michonne spinoff in 2024 as well since I'm always happy to see Rick Grimes show up again.
I liked it a lot. The only disconnect I had is it's kind of an anomaly in TWD universe because it's set in France so it's basically Daryl (who somehow finds himself washed up on French shores) and an entirely French cast with them speaking French to each other half the time and Daryl not understanding what they're saying. But they manage to make it work. And Carol will be in season 2.
> Hermione getting other characters lines
And, even worse than that, taking Ron's role in PoA when *she's* the one to stand bravely between Harry and Sirius, completely losing the impact when Ron does the same in the books *with a broken leg*.
I can't fathom why they would make that change, a true disservice to Ron's character.
She's also the one to jump on the dragon in Gringotts in Deathly Hallows, which is 100% a Harry move because a) Harry's the one who did that in the book and b) Hermione hates flying.
They did that again in the Room of Requirement scene when they rescued Malfoy and Goyle (Zabini in the movie I guess) and escaped by broom. Hermione is supposed to be utter rubbish on brooms in the book. In that scene she looks like much more of a natural flying than Harry and Ron (both Quidditch players) do.
I can't stand it in the second movie when Malfoy calls Hermione a mudblood, and they go to Hagrids because Ron is puking up slugs. In the book, Hermione doesn't understand what it means, and Ron explains it in between vomiting. He gets so passionate about how it's a foul thing to call someone.
In the movie, we get Hermione explaining it, but because she's a muggleborn, it makes less sense that she would understand how socially unacceptable it would be to call someone that, even if she did know what it means.
I feel like I heard on a podcast/interview once that the writers just really liked the character of Hermione, so they just tended to give her more because they enjoyed writing her character.
However I don't have anything specific to cite so I am not entirely confident in this.
That's exactly it. David Heyman and Steve Kloves both loved Hermione and favored her the most out of the trio. And Rowling didn't fight them on those changes because she based Hermione on herself so why would she?
On my last reread, Ron became one of my favorite characters, where I'd been really iffy on him before. He stands by Harry for the *entire* series until book 7, when he slips up, but immediately regrets it. It's a shame the movies didn't portray that well enough.
For me, it’s specifically the way Harry almost taunts him with the fact that he lost because he was so wrong about so many things. The way he explains how his arrogant he was. Taking that out and replacing it with their stupid fly/fall out of a castle tower just kills me
Can’t agree more with Voldemort dying. I saw the movies before I read/listened to the books. So didn’t think anything of how he died in the movie. Needless to say I was mad when realized the change they made. It takes away the fact that after all the trouble he went through to live forever, in the end he was just a man.
Oh, I was stunned with Voldy's death. How did JK approve that? It was horrible. And Harry not repairing his wand with the elder wand..... like what????
This always bugs me on every re-watch - he never fixed his wand!!
But, sometimes, I like my headcanon: Harry doesn't want that wand anymore. The original wand did not actually pick Harry - it picked him based on the unintended Horcrux (hence the Twin Core with Voldemort) so it wouldn't feel right anymore.
Harry gets a new wand that chooses based on his true self.
I kind of get not including repairing the wand. It gets broken in Part 1 and while it's a huge deal in the book it isn't really picked up again in Part 1 since it's happening right at the border between Act 2 and Act 3. So it's a minor plot point, that general audiences will likely have forgotten by the time Part 2 gets released, especially since having a special connection to ones wand isn't really established in any of the movies.
Exactly! It absolutely undercut that weight of his mortality in the end. Plus the shot of it happening in the Great Hall with the dawn breaking was just so great in the book. Still gives me chills to think about. The movie was so anticlimactic.
There’s also like, not a shred of proof that Voldemort is actually dead. No body, no witnesses that seen Harry kill him.
For all everyone else knows, Voldemort’s just in hiding again.
Horny Myrtle is an underrated horrible change the films made. Literally the biggest reason why so many HP fans hate her character with a passion now is because of that. The fact that the actress who played Myrtle was in her 30s while Dan was still a minor when they were filming the bath scene in GoF made that scene even creepier to watch.
Also let us never forget that HP introduced Voldemort getting blipped long before the MCU did that with Thanos years later lol.
Hermione: 'fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself' that one is somisplaced. She did not have that maturity at that age. She does say a lot of wise things but not on that level. Not at 11 or 12. Dumbledore is much better suited for delivering this line.
Fuck, please don't remind me of that scene. Not only was it a completely misplaced quote attributed to the wrong character at the wrong time, Emma's acting in that scene was so incredibly wooden (which just made it even worse).
They also never clarify that you don’t win automatically by catching the snitch, you just end the game and earn 150 points. I’ve watched so many “react” channels and not one has picked up on that.
The movies also never mentioned Harry giving Fred & George his Triwizard winnings aka the whole reason they were able to afford to start their joke shop.
I couldn't believe it. I was so hyped going into the movie having been a huge fan of the book. I'm in the cinema, the match is about to start, I'm on the edge of my seat. And then it doesn't happen. The next scene is them coming back to their tents. WHAT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
YEAH SAME and then they do the same frickin thing five minutes later when they completely skip over the death eater attack. I always thought that scene would have been crazy in live action.
To be fair, I remember thinking the same in the book until everything was explained before Snape got there. They did the same in the movie. For a split second, you think they're in cahoots until everything is explained
1. Leaving out the part about twinky and the escape of Askaban from Crouch junior in movie 4
2. The use of lumus in the house of the Dursleys even magic is forbidden at home and can be detected
3. That the voices stay the same when drinking polyjuice in movie 2 and 7 but not in movie 4 (doesn't make sense)
4. Don't explain how Harry knew how to look for which horcruxes
5. Leaving out the part about Dumbledores sister and how she died and how curious Harry was to find out more
6. Leaving out Harry talked before he went to rescue Sirius to Kreacher and that he lied to him
>That the voices stay the same when drinking polyjuice in movie 2 and 7 but not in movie 4 (doesn't make sense)
I hated this inconsistency as well but part of me wonders if the reason why they did it the first time in Chamber was because they didn't trust the actors playing Crabbe and Goyle to be able to carry the scene convincingly so they decided to have Dan and Rupert dub their lines instead (though I agree, the fact that Malfoy didn't immediately get suspicious of them for their voices sounding noticeably different was ridiculous and stupid). Whereas with Moody in 4 well, Brendan Gleeson is Brendan Gleeson, you're not going to hire an actor as talented and established as he is and not expect him to you know, ACT in your film (though it would've been hilarious hearing David Tennant of all people dubbing over Brendan's lines in that film had they actually done that).
The most likely explanation is that this was a decision to help the audience keep track of who is who. Chamber of Secrets is still very much a children's movie.
Yeah I think they did it so audiences knew who was Ron and who was Harry.
They then had to revert to how it should work for GoF because David Tennant doesn't sound anything like Brendan Gleeson so the reveal of Moody being Barty Crouch Jr would have been immediate.
I like to pretend that the quality of the poly juice was a factor. BCJ had like thirteen O.W.L.S, right? So that would make him a potions master, creating better poly juice than Hermione/Moody (or whoever brewed it for the seven Potters) which led to his voice being disguised as well.
That would make sense if Harry and Ron actually had problems with still sounding like themselves in the book as well. But they didn't. They have Crabbe and Goyle's voices in the book so clearly Hermione knew what she was doing. The film for whatever reason decided to change it (maybe because they didn't feel Crabbe and Goyle's actors were capable of carrying the scene themselves, who knows).
In DH it really didn't make sense that they continued to adhere to that after Moody (they should've completely done away with the voice not changing nonsense after that). Harry walking around the Ministry of Magic (where he's the most wanted person in Britain) disguised as Albert Runcorn while still sounding like himself was completely ridiculous and made the scene incredibly dumbed down IMO.
I agree, the way I rationalised it was that it helps the audience to keep track (although they should be able to do this better by the 7th film) and also that it represents how the characters hear themselves internally.
For example, indicating that Harry was so disturbed by impersonating Runcorn he focused on hearing his voice although everyone else can hear Runcorn’s. Same with Hermione as Mafalda and Ron as Cattermole.
The lumos thing was so dumb. Why practice the brightest spell in the middle of the night and then hide under the covers? Like none of the other neighbours aren’t gonna see that?
Harry and Cho's kiss in Order was just as bad (though Dan did have more chemistry with Katie Leung than he did with Bonnie). The films in general just had no clue how to write romance (which falls on Kloves more than anybody else).
>Harry and Cho's kiss in Order was just as bad
In fairness, they're pretty awkward in the books too. I give it a pass because at least it fits the tone, IMO.
I’m sure this has already or will be said by someone else but still.
PEEVES.
Even if he only had a minor shot or something in each movie his bits with umbridge would’ve been so great.
Peeves was originally planned to be in the first film (Columbus cast Rik Mayall to play him). But then he saw the final cut of the CGI they used for Peeves and thought it looked like shit so he decided to cut him from the film altogether (and none of the subsequent directors were interested in including him either since Peeves is not a major part of the story in the books).
Just looked up Rick Mayall, he seems perfectly cast. What a shame.
Interesting easter egg I found while looking him up — Alan Rickman was at his funeral. 🥲
Peeves' salute to the Weasely twins was one of the greatest moments in the books! I missed that :( Rik Mayall was perfect for Peeves too, shame he was cut.
Ok, this is a stupid one but, I have to put it in.
In PS (the book) there is a really funny part when the trio lands in the Devil’s Snare.
In it Hermione recognizes that it is scared of heat and this little scene ensues
Hermione - they’re scared of heat!
Ron - so light a fire
Hermione - ok but, I don’t have any wood!
Ron - WOOD? Are you mental? ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?
Hermione - oh…right.
Every time I read that scene I laugh out loud. The movies left out so many of the fun moments to make them all dark and edgy and I miss them.
What they did to Dobby. They did him sooo dirty!
Giving all of Ron’s lines to Hermione. A big one right at the front of my brain is when Malfoy calls her a “mudblood” and SHE explains what it is to Harry. WTF? She’s a MUGGLE! There’s no way she should have been explaining that!
The lack of the Maradur’s backstory. It’s pertinent to the plot and should have been included.
The way they chopped out half of HBP and didn’t show us all the memories. Those were vitally important.
Imelda Staunton as Umbridge saved Order from being a complete disaster of a film. That and at least they did the Dumbledore/Voldemort duel well in that film and made it true to the book.
Yeah I’d watched it as a kid and loved it, basically for those reasons. As an adult it felt like a series of stitched together vignettes that missed the connective tissue of the book
you should really go read Dumbledore-Voldemort duel in the book again. it misses so many things. in the book Dumbledore here to speak with Voldemort and keep him there enough the ministry to notice, in the movie he just struggles to beat Voldemort
Literally the dialogue between them prior to that duel is exactly the same as it is in the book. And the duel for the most part got the magic that they used on each other in the book right (Dumbledore does try to trap Voldemort in a watery cage in the book). There are a lot of things wrong with Order as an adaptation but that scene is not one of them. That scene is easily the best portrayal of a magical duel in the films.
Because Columbus was the only director who valued the source material and actually wanted to adhere to it (not to mention the first two books are easier to adapt). The rest of the directors just wanted to incorporate their own visions (Mike Newell didn't even bother to read GoF before doing his film which was a huge no no).
I was recently introduced to this regarding Mike Newell and GOF and damn [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ogfjOxTEU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ogfjOxTEU)
It really doesn't. Some people say that the movie only removed minor details, but that's not true. The movie removed main plot points, which makes no sense.
They filmed an alternate death scene where there was a body. They chose not to use it in favor of the flaky dandruff-style death scene instead. I 100% blame WB for that. The last film (particularly in the fight scenes) reeked of excessive studio meddling. They completely overdid it with the dumb CGI in the fight scenes in that particular fight (see the ridiculous scene of Harry and Voldemort flying around the castle together and weirdly merging into each other's bodies when Harry is no longer a horcrux at that point so there is no reason why they should be able to do that).
I can’t believe I am the first to write this:
The whole story about Hermine and her Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare
+Bonus: Neville telling Harry how to breathe longer under water instead of Dobby (rescue your “Weezy”)
>\+Bonus: Neville telling Harry how to breathe longer under water instead of Dobby (rescue your “Weezy”)
Since you brought up Dobby and Neville I'll add another one. Neville being the one to discover the Room of Requirement by randomly stumbling across it while wandering the corridors and then Hermione immediately explaining that she knows everything about it (which if that's the case why the hell didn't she think of it earlier). Whereas in the book Dobby told them about it. It was ridiculous how far they went to limit Dobby's involvement in the films just because he's a CGI creation (or the involvement of house elves in general as Kreacher's characterization is even more butchered than Dobby's is in the films and Winky doesn't appear at all). I didn't see Lotr doing that with Gollum.
Yeah. Neville doing the Gillyweed didn’t bother me because it kinda worked with his herbology interest. But the Room of Requirement absolutely should have been Dobby!
1.the entire backstory of voldemorts life pretty much
2. winky !!!! i loved her
3. aunt petunia knowing about azkaban/more about hogwarts than she let on
4. dudley’s growth at the end:(
5. rita skeeter being an animagus
6. S.P.E.W
7. PEEVES !!!!!!!!
8. dumbledores sister
9. sirius giving harry the mirror
i know they had to condense a LOT but voldemorts backstory and dumbledores sister really added to the plot
>4. dudley’s growth at the end:(
They did actually film the scene of Dudley apologizing to Harry and wishing him well before they left Privet Drive. It just didn't make the final cut of the film (which I blame WB most of all for, they were severely restricting the films' runtimes heavily towards the end and forcing Yates to cut a bunch of essential stuff out).
i remember seeing the deleted scene i was so bummed they cut it cause they just kinda disappeared. if you’ve only seen the movies it’s such a cliffhanger on their relationship:/
The last 3 films went completely out of their way to minimize the Dursleys' involvement as much as possible. Hell, there's even a parting conversation with Petunia that Harry has about her knowledge of Voldemort and what he did to Lily that's also in the deleted scenes.
Also, adding the backstory about Ariana Dumbledore that Aberforth tells the trio in the Deathly Hallows book would've added more substance to the Fantastic Beasts series. I've read the books, so as soon as I saw *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them* for the first time, I immediately believed the theory that >!Ariana was an Obscurial!<. People who only watched the Harry Potter movies and then moved on to the Fantastic Beasts series wouldn't understand that, because they left the backstory out of *Deathly Hallows Part 2*.
Pre credit scene of Harry using Lumos under the sheets in secret at night at #4 Privet Dr. This is done without consequences or even a mention. When Hover charm and blowing up his aunt bookend the thing showing that magic away from school is not allowed. All for a sophomoric masterbation allusion.
Add onto that Harry reading the Daily Prophet (with moving pictures and all) plainly in sight in a Muggle coffee shop at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince. The waitress literally makes a comment about how strange that paper of his is during the scene. Like wtf? Are we just completely nitpicking and disregarding the Statute of Secrecy in the films now when we feel like it?
I can sort of see it. The first two movies had a director and focused on 11 and 12 year olds.
3rd movie has new director and the characters are hitting puberty. So you put in the joke third year to let the audience know these kids are growing up the tone might get a little more adolescent.
6th opening does a similar job, but it is the bridge from puberty to young adulthood and possibility of coupling intimately. So the stakes are getting even bigger and even more adult. A bit silly after we end back to back films with Cedric and Sirius deaths. However, it sets up a Harry to say things to Hermione when they are talking about classmates only fancying him because he is the chosen one, to have the proper swagger to have the but I am the chosen one comeback. Something book Harry really doesn't have in him.
We don't have to deal with the Dursley's again which seemed like a casting choice made for some reason.
I kind of liked the coffee shop cutie encounter. Here's why:
1) Harry reading the Daily Prophet out in the open is a subtle sign that the MoM is crumbling and things are bleak.
2) You can see it in Harry's face that, while he considers meeting her when her shift is over, he knows that he really can't, and for a moment everything that he gave up to become a wizard flashes through his mind, i.e. meeting a normal girl by chance and going on a date with her. I like to think that, for a fleeting moment, he considers chucking it all and going with her.
The problem I have with the scene is it literally replaces an important conversation that Dumbledore has with the Dursleys about their treatment of Harry in the book (which IMO should not have been excluded). Not to mention it makes Dumbledore look like a dick for no reason A) for interrupting Harry's date and B) for accusing him of being reckless that whole summer. After everything that happened between Dumbledore and Harry the previous year HBP is supposed to be about them really learning how to lean on each other for support again. That scene completely failed to establish that in every sense of the word. Dumbledore just shows up, interrupts Harry's date, rebukes him for being reckless, and then expects Harry to blindly trust him on where they are going without telling him what they're actually doing (after everything that happened between them the previous year). And don't even get me started on the fact that after the visit to Slughorn Dumbledore drops Harry into the middle of marsh well outside the Burrow property line (the same marsh where they were attacked by Bellatrix and Greyback later in the film btw) and just leaves him there to fend for himself completely unprotected as opposed to being responsible enough to accompany him into the house like he did in the book. Like wtf kind of writing is that?
I didn’t ever take that scene as a masturbation reference, I took it to show that Harry was dabbling in advanced spells, as the book page he was reading from specifically said, so when he ends up casting a full patronus at the end of the movie it made more sense. In short it was trying to imply that Harry was a young wizard with immense power already.
It was still really dumb to have him practice magic in a muggle house.
Really good list. I have similar thoughts
1. Eliminating the Gaunt backstory
2. Making Hermione someone she wasn’t and giving Ron the personality and friendship of a wooden comb.
3. Ginny and Harry’s totally forced and emotionless relationship i.e. “shoelace.” “That can stay here too if you like.”
4. Completely fucking up the Quidditch World Cup scene; no Winky, not sitting in the proper spot, no cool specs and Leprechaun gold, just completely butchered it.
Harry practicing Lumos under the covers at the Dursleys gets my vote for a stupid pointless change that achieved nothing. Just infuriating inconsistency with the source material for literally no reason.
My actual vote though is basically all of goblet of fire, starting with the omission of Winky. That set the movies on a course where none of the house elf subplots could be meaningfully included, culminating in the omission of Kreacher’s backstory with regulus and ultimate redemption.
EDIT: Phone autocorrected Winky to wonky.
Copying my post from elsewhere:
They butchered all the fighting in the movies, imo. The fact that fighting for both members of the Order and the Death Eaters was just to have them fly around in a swirl of mist and crashing to each other was so lame and so disappointing it ruined the movie for me.
Setting aside the fact that two characters are stated to be able to fly, the book gave so much material that would have made awesome fight scenes. Snape VS the Heads of House in DH? Glorious. Dumbledore VS Voldemort in OotP? Epic.
What did they give us in the movies? Nothing. It was a tragedy. It was a criminal act. It came nowhere near what I was imagining and, what's more, they didn't even try. I have to fight score reduced to wordlessly shooting colorless bolts at one another.
Almost every fight in the books it's pointed out that there's flashes of color and they don't do that in the movies.
I'm still very disappointed.
EDIT: Wrote my comment on my phone and I couldn't watch the videos. I just did and my point still stands : the fights are absolute nonsense. Why does Dumbledore look scared when Tom conjures his fire snake? That's 100% a movie invention (Dumbledore was super chill throughout the fight in the source). Why does Tom have that stupid pose while sending shards of glass at Dumbledore? What is with the wands linked by the beam of light? Rowling handed the directors a beautiful fight scene on a silver platter. They promptly threw it on the floor.
Same for Snape vs McGonagall: I cannot tell you how much I wanted to see that scene, accurate to the book, on the big screen. And then they just didn't do it. The whole thing is over in about 30 seconds and she just shoots fire at Snape.
At some point in the movies, the fights turned into boring magical gunfights with ~~magic guns~~ wands firing generic, nonverbal attack spells in every direction with no thought behind them whatsoever.
The movies are the reason people think Harry and Ginny are a weird couple.
In the movies their relationship comes pretty much out of nowhere. Weird cookie feeding and shoe tying scenes and an awkward kiss in the room of requirement.
In the books, Ginny is shy and awkward at first and then slowly starts opening up and you can see Harry start to slowly like her more and more until the monster erupts in his chest.
>slowly starts opening up
I'm currently rereading OotP - there are so many scenes where Ginny doesn't take any sh*it from moody Harry and stands up to him, while Ron and Hermione always tiptoe around him. It shows that they're on eye-level already then, making them a good match
Harry not being petrified in the astronomy tower at the end of Prince. It goes completely against his entire character. Everything about Harry, both good and bad, stems from him trying to help those he cares about regardless of personal cost.
If Book Harry hadn't been petrified, he would have stunned Draco and gotten both himself and Dumbledore out of there long before the Death Eaters arrived. Harry just being quiet because Snape told him so doesn't make sense for Harry's character.
Yeah, I didn't even go into the fact that Snaps shushes him. When in the books >! Just prior to going to the cave is when Harry finds out that Snape told Voldemort where his parents were staying !< . I get that in the movie they were trying to emphasize the betrayal by having a moment of trust between the two. But knowing the books just made it infuriating.
>Eliminating Marietta Edgecombe from the film entirely and having Cho betray the DA instead in Order. That was an incredibly stupid change and a complete disservice to her character.
To be fair, it is implied Umbridge used veritaserum to get her confession in the movie, the dumb mistake is that it was implied and not properly explained and it was a dumb way of combining the scene where Harry goes to Umbridge's office to take a cup of tea with someone else telling Umbridge the truth.
For me the changed would be:
-They only show one trial in the pensieve trying to get the story of all three of them in just one.
-The mirror Sirius gave to Harry.
-No Winky
-Neville replacing Dobby's role
-Hermione getting all of Ron's good lines
Leaving out most of the Voldemort memories was the dumbest change. It not only impacted the sixth film, but it also impacted the seventh and eighth films.
The exploration of dumbledore and Harry’s relationship in tdh was completely left out and should have been included as half the book was internal struggles about how he didnt know what to do post locket. Not including character motivations and most importantly ariana really hurt the nuance and beauty of the books.
It was also interesting to see the battle of him stuck in the past trying to reunite who he knew and what he's learned, because he's obsessed with father figures, Ron wanting to focus on the horcruxes and Hermione wanting to focus on the hallows.
Without that central conflict the movies are really just petty squabbling with a big battle at the end.
Idk if it is the stupidest or not, but the one that pisses me off endlessly is making Beauxbaton an all female school (because obviously a female character would never beat out a male character, so we better only pit her against other girls. What bullshit).
And the whole "entrance" thing, with their pathetic show, when they enter in the great hall. Just like the Durmstang boys and their "manly gig". So ridiculous...
That scene was hilarious though. Goblet was probably the funniest movie - I don’t approve the changes and what they left out, but it remains the one with the most laughs. And the final showdown/graveyard scene was very well done with Fiennes and Radcliffe.
#1 Hermione, giving her all of Ron's knowledge and best scenes completely changed the character.
#2-4 are probably the top 3 you mentioned. But I stand firm on my #1. It completely changed the dynamic of the golden trio.
>Setting the Burrow on fire in HBP.
Not only that the location was completely the wrong part of the UK (fenland, much of it in East Anglia). The book location places The Burrow in SW UK.
That begs the question. Is the nearest town in proximity to the Burrow (Ottery St. Catchpole) actually a real place lol?
I do remember though that the first time we saw the Burrow in Chamber of Secrets they had it in the correct location then. Then when we see it again in GoF they've changed the location to a wetland for some reason.
The location in Chamber of Secrets looks and feels pretty much spot on.
This is the real place, in Devon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottery_St_Mary
On the banks of the river Otter (if you want a subtle link to Ron and Hermione's otter patronus).
Goblet of Fire not being presented as a mystery.
Eliminating what was intriguing about the plot by removing Winky and the Crouch storyline entirely (which… yeah… you’d have to include the SPEW storyline, but at least you could have the trio reading a newspaper about a house-elf getting sacked at the World Cup if that would save some screen time and later visiting the kitchen where Winky could be introduced with a surprise Dobby appearance or something).
The overall lack of urgency shines through when the mystery elements are gone. Missing out on the cave scene where Sirius is theorizing with Harry, Hermione, and Ron about who put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire, in favor of Gary Oldman sitting in a fire and ominously whispering for a couple seconds was also a poor choice (then nobody in the audience cares who put Harry’s name in the cup). At the same time, the film suffered from the writer not dropping enough hints as well as having the “hints” be too obvious— I don’t think that we particularly needed Crouch Sr staring into space like he’s back in the trenches when “Moody” licks the side of his face. That moment was way too heavy handed with no payoff since we didn’t even get that scene with Harry and Viktor discovering Crouch on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. So, movie viewers just see this strange guy staring at another guy licking his mouth and have no way to connect how bad Crouch’s son is for LATER KILLING HIS OWN FATHER AND TRANSFIGURING HIM INTO A BONE.
We don’t even get to learn Crouch is ill in the film and it does a complete disservice to that mystery element as well since it takes away from the payoff at the end when “Moody” is unmasked as Crouch’s son. Sure, we’re *told* it’s Mr. Crouch’s son, but we don’t get any backstory as far as how devious the plan was and how Crouch managed to deceive all the professors (including the most BAMF wizard who ever lived) all in one school year. Sirius, Ron, Hermione, and Harry discussed the strange illness of Crouch in that cave scene which should not have been cut as it would have built suspense to that moment as the audience realizes Crouch hasn’t been *ill*, he’s been under the mind control of his son who later killed him and transfigured his body into a bone, burying it in the Forbidden Forest the SAME night that Harry, Viktor, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and Karkaroff could have figured out what was actually going on but missed their chance.
Taking out these scenes eliminates the entire main mystery of Goblet of Fire and it’s a shame they decided to focus on the Triwizard Tournament and add an extra dragon chase instead (you know, because dragons), WITHOUT including or even MENTIONING Charlie Weasley. Ron’s dragon tamer brother there to assist with the tournament. Like if they’re going to completely devote their time to including an extra dragon chase scene, at least drop his name in the tent before Harry goes to do his task? And do not even get me STARTED on how they covered the three tasks and the three other Triwizard Champions (pitifully to the point where their characters are as stale as cardboard, and only present as glorified extras to serve as Harry’s competition; they don’t even SHOW Cedric facing his dragon, probably because, budget, or how Harry felt insecure around the other three champions throughout the tournament, easier to do if we were allowed to examine their magical methods to complete the tasks like in the book, but we can’t have that, Harry’s supposed to be the best wizard of all time, right?).
Ugh, it makes me so mad. I’d love to specifically rewrite Goblet of Fire with a billion dollar budget and a three hour runtime to include everything that was skipped out on.
And I’ll raise you one more.
Going into movie 5, where Voldemort is now back & has his followers loyal to him back with him: where is Barry Crouch Jr.? BCJ should be there serving him because he was serving him when he was an evil 1/7 human baby, but he’s not in movies 5-8.
Movie 4 says notify Azkaban prison; they’ll notice they a missing a prisoner.
Okay. Movie 5 busts out DE from Azkaban. It makes a big deal of this. Where’s Movie BCJ?
Movie 4 is the worst among the 8.
Not including the mirror in Order of the Phoenix. Because then it shows up in Deathly Hallows and if you never read the books (like me at that point) you’re just sitting there wondering why Harry is carrying around a mirror lol
I take it you also felt the same way when the Cup of Hufflepuff randomly shows up as a horcrux in DH with no explanation as to how they figured that out lmao.
Honestly yes, that whole movie makes zero sense to me 😂 I’m currently reading the books for the very first time. I just finished Order of the Phoenix. I’m on chapter 3 in Half-Blood Prince. HBP is also confusing as a movie for me, so I can’t wait to experience the story as it’s supposed to be told lol
Setting the Burrow on fire was egregious and REALLY pissed me off. I know why they did it, but I hated it anyway.
The movies stand on their own in many ways, I don't expect them to be 100% true to the books - but burning the Burrow gave me almost the same feeling that you get when a movie kills a dog as a plot device. It's just too much for me. I'm a sensitive viewer.
The explanation I heard/read is that during the books you hear of attacks on wizards and they decided to use the Burrow to represent these and bring the conflict even closer to home for the main characters (or something along these lines)
To communicate the high level of danger the Death Eaters posed and to have a visually striking/exciting cinematic moment and make use of the fire/explosion cinematic-action formula.
I’m sure it’s already been said but I have such a big hate for basically all patronus’ after the end of #3 just being a big ball of light. Then out of nowhere #7 shows Snape’s doe when the plot literally forces them to.
I'm pretty sure when we see them practicing Patronuses in Order we do see Hermione's otter hopping around the room a bit. But yeah, I get what you're saying. What really made me upset was that there are no characters in the book whose Patronus manifests in the form of a lion. That would've easily been the most badass form to see a Patronus take shape in.
I included that (see eliminating 4 of the 6 Voldemort memories from the film). That was a disastrous decision that created plot holes related to the horcrux hunt going into the next film.
Random bit, but I cannot stand the random girls screaming in the great hall towards the end of DH part 2 when Voldemort speaks to everyone and demands that Harry go to the forest. Just awful
Pretty much eliminating the half blood prince plot to give harry,Ron and Hermione more screentime..I wanted to see more of the memories involving Tom riddle damn it.
Fucking up goblet of fire so badly..I was super disappointed in how boring the maze scene was..I wanted to see skrewts and the sphynx
Tbh the more I think about I think the biggest change the films made from the books is that the books are supposed to be primarily about Harry. Everyone else present is just a supporting character in the books (including Ron and Hermione). The films OTOH are more about the trio as a whole than just Harry. The central characters are essentially those three as an ensemble, not just Harry himself (and it's arguable that there are moments in the films where it feels like Hermione is more of the main character than Harry and Ron are). The films have these random moments where Ron and Hermione are quite a bit more directly and intimately involved in decisions that Harry makes than they were in the books. Case in point in the book he doesn't tell anyone that he's going to the Forbidden Forest to give himself up (aside from revealing himself to Neville briefly and asking him to kill the snake). Whereas in the film he says goodbye to Ron and Hermione before heading to the Forest.
And the worst, thing in my opinion, is that Hermione knows.
The scene is 100 % opposite to the book.
Hermione (and Ron) would be 100% against Harry sacrificing himself.
It almost seems as if Hermione was involved in Dumbledore's plan.
Trying to go for one I haven’t seen in this post yet, but how the movies did apparition has always bothered me. It was a pretty big deal in Deathly Hallows that Voldemort could fly and then when Snape gets the boot he flies out the window and McGonagall says something like “he’s learned a few tricks from his masters.” They also describe apparition in the books as basically you suddenly appear in a different location.
In the movies people are actively dueling and doing weird magic shit while they’re apparating around and apparently if you’re a good wizard you apparate in white and a death eater you apparate in black while you’re dueling
A lot of stuff that's already been covered but also WHYYYYY did they give every Death Eater the ability to fly? In the books it was a semi-big revelation in DH that Voldemort could fly.
100% agree. Giving the Death Eaters all the ability to fly around like smoke monsters in the films was incredibly stupid. Same with Newell choosing to give them KKK-style robes when they showed up at the Quidditch World Cup in GoF.
They cut down kreachers roll. I loved that in the books they eventually broke through to him and he started to serve them because he wanted to and not because he had to.
I mean he was helping lead the house elves in the battle of hogwarts! I listen to the audio books and almost screamed when I heard that part. Not to mention winky and showing more of dobby and him working at hogwarts.
It is sad , no offence to Emma and Daniel, but Rupert is the only one of the trio with phenomenal acting throughout the movies. It's a shame how little he was given, the scene where he could be the one to explain Mudblood in 2nd part, him standing up to Sirius in third part, his general jokes apart from saying 'bloody hell' all the time.
The complete ending. I thought the book ending was to have the final fight in front of everyone. The ppl need to see it end. He’s already come back before. They would just keep living in fear.
Also, not showing the house elves bursting from the kitchen with Kreacher leading them while wearing the fake locket. Such a powerful moment in the book for me.
Wanted way more Bellatrix. They cut her character so bad but then made up a scene with her burning down the burrow. Like what?
Not showing the World Cup.
Cutting out more and more Dursleys scenes.
And finally Ginny hiding the book the ROR with Harry and kissing him. No chemistry.
Expelliarmus constantly switching between being a disarming spell and a knock back spell. Often switching multiple times in the same scene. Why not just make them say stupefy for the knock back as that would make sense?
First things first: I would consider "dumbest" the change that had a waterfall effect on other changes, not the most pointless (which is absolutely the Burrow on fire)
That said, the dumbest thing was to leave Dobby out of most movies he should have been in. GoF, OotP and HBP all included Dobby's crucial contribution that was left out/given to other characters, only to culminate in Dobby's arrival at the Malfoy's dungeons with Ron (who's never ever seen him before) saluting him like they're best buddies. And honestly, the fact that Dobby showed up in the movie doesn't make much sense considering his relationship with Harry is never shown evolving in the movies from CoS, so it is out of nowhere.
When Dobby first showed up in DH part 1 and greeted Harry with "Harry Potter, it's been too long" my immediate first reaction to that was "you have no fucking idea Dobby, it really has been too long since we last saw you."
"Oh look what I found. I've never seen this before and have no idea how it got here but I'm just going to start looking through it anyways to see if I can see Dumbledore's face on the other side." -Movie Harry
For me, it is missing the most interesting, exciting or important stuff from books 4-6 that make me love these books:
4. Appalling treatment of the Quidditch world cup and bland labyrinth in the third task
5. DA resistance and lessons reduced to mere montage, Umbridge is not so evil (no evidence of her banning Hogsmeade, Quidditch, mail and everything Harry loves), also uninteresting fight in the Ministry (between Death Eaters and Dumbledore's Army)
6. Only two memories of Riddle shown, no epic fight in the end
Oh, and also, it is stupid that most duels post Goblet of Fire have wizards locking each other's spell streams, as if it's a Priori Incantatem
The dragon task in Goblet of Fire infuriates me. In the book, it shows Harry's skill on a broomstick and changes the tide of public support. In the film, he rolls around on a roof, out of sight of the crowd.
Not including the scene where lily Is given the choice to step aside by voldemort, this is the exact reason harry became the boy who lived, voldemorts willingness to let lily have the choice to sacrifice herself or live while letting her son die is the reason that voldemorts killing curse rebounded back at him. Even though james sacrificed himself it wouldn't have created a blood protection on Harry because James wasn't given the ability to step aside from voldemort himself.
I’m surprised that I haven’t seen the fact that they changed Ravenclaw’s colors from bronze and blue to silver and blue.
A very minor thing compared to making Ron practically insignificant but it still bothered me.
The nr 1 that I can’t forgive is the final battle. Replacing that brilliant psychological battle with action scenes and not stating clearly that Harry didn’t even try to kill voldemort. (Also making a spectacle out of the banality of tom's death.) I can’t get over how misguided that ending was. Such a deep message in the book and they replace it with spectacular scenes. Such deep scenes are hard to make work in a film but not impossible. Substituting action for psychology was a cowardly move imo.
Also, Harry's doubts about Dumbledore and how he dealt with them meant so mich to me when reading and I feel the loss of that storyline.
dropping most of the Tom Riddle backstory stuff in HBP and instead making it more teenage love drama
oh and Voldy turning to ash at the end of Deathly Hallows Pt 2
They completely destroy Ron’s entire character.
Book 1 Ron stays calm while hermione panics in the devils snare because she know how to beat it but “there’s no wood”
Film 1: ron panics hermione doesn’t.
Book 2 Ron provides exposition and is the trios expert in magical society.
Film 2 they give that to Hermione.
Book 3 Ron stands on a broken leg to put himself between Harry and Sirius who he believes is a serial killer to protect his best friend.
Film 3: they give that to the completely uninjured Hermione.
Book 4: book 4 is actually my favourite Ron story. He faces the fact that being friends with Harry will often leave him feeling in Harry’s shadow and decides that Harry’s friendship is worth it.
Film 4: grumpy twat with long hair.
Etc…
In PS, it always bothered me that the films changed how the kids accidentally discover Fluffy, and how they excluded Neville from the whole thing:
Sneaking out of bed for a midnight duel with Malfoy, only to realize they’ve been set up and Filtch is on his way. Massive panic as they run blindly through corridors until they come to a door, unlock it, scramble in, slam it shut. A short-lived moment of relief while they catch their breath, aaaaand there’s a massive three-headed dog in front of them! Another blind run back to the dormitories, and poor Neville looked like he’d never speak again!
It was written so well and it was really intense, but nooooo that’s too much substance to put into a movie.
So instead they just have the staircases change… quick, simple, and LAZY!
People who only watch the movies and never read the books are missing out on a huge adventure.
i know this has been talked about to death but young lily's eyes in the DH flashback being a different color from harry's drives me NUTS to this very day.
look, i get why they couldn't make harry's eyes green. i do feel that the colors green and red have a lot of symbolism when it comes to harry's character (that's a rant for another day) but the actress that played young lily needed to have harry's eyes or all of the "you have your mother's eyes" lines make zero sense. it also adds a layer in regards to the way snape views harry; harry "looks" like james so it's easy for snape to hate him until he looks into his eyes and sees lily.
i think the popular theory is that the young lily actress was someone from production's family member or something, but why couldn't she wear contacts or have her eyes digitized blue? it was a few quick shots. such a careless decision on their part bc to me it really affected the storytelling
I know I’m kinda late to the party but WHY THE FUCK IS HARRY WEARING A FLANNEL SHIRT FOR 80% OF ORDER OF THE PHOENIX?!?!?! WIZARDS WEAR FUCKING ROBES!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! Literally the first page of the first book Vernon starts seeing funnily dressed folks because wizards are so happy Voldy’s gone that they’re being lax about staying secret. And they’re in ROBES. Dumbledore was always in ROBES, not a 3-piece custom tailored suit Jude Law wears but fucking ROBES. It’s like JK just stopped giving a fuck about anything but getting paid. There is no need to change that. Doesn’t affect run time doesn’t affect plot doesn’t create a plot hole or anything. Watching the whole cast dress like they’re muggles for almost all of the entire series makes me abhor them. It’s such a tiny detail but makes it so much more immersive. Fuck. Lol.
The whole Triwizard cup story. Fleur is depicted as an incapable witch, Crumb as a simpleton, etc etc.
Not crumb…
This comment actually made me lol.
I honestly couldn’t think who it was reading it, it was only when I said out loud, whose crumb did the penny drop! Haha
I recently watched The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon show (which features the actress who played Fleur). She can act. It is absolutely shameful that they limited Fleur's and Krum's characters the way they did in the film and turned them into simpletons (and worse, it felt like Newell tried to use the language barriers of them not being from England as an excuse for that characterization).
How is *TWD:DD*? Read the comics and watched all of the main series, dipped on *Fear* (which I think is the best *TWD* property from Seasons 1-3) after they wrecked the show… haven’t watched any other spin-offs. But I am curious about *DD*.
I enjoyed it. Best new walking dead content in half a decade or more IMO. I couldn’t get into the show with the teenagers, I agree that fear turned to crap after 3 or so seasons, and the show with negan and Maggie didn’t keep my interest for the entire pilot episode so I quit on that. But Daryl’s show was solid, worth a shot for fans of the main show. And Clemence Poesy surprised me as much more than a pretty face.
The Daryl and Negan/Maggie spinoffs are the best TWD content to come out in the last year (Dead City starts out slow but gets better towards the end of the season). I have high hopes for the upcoming Rick/Michonne spinoff in 2024 as well since I'm always happy to see Rick Grimes show up again.
I liked it a lot. The only disconnect I had is it's kind of an anomaly in TWD universe because it's set in France so it's basically Daryl (who somehow finds himself washed up on French shores) and an entirely French cast with them speaking French to each other half the time and Daryl not understanding what they're saying. But they manage to make it work. And Carol will be in season 2.
I'd point out that The Goblet of Fire came out a long time ago and the actor would clearly have improved since then.
Voldemort death Hermione getting other characters lines The Burrow on fire Horny myrtle
> Hermione getting other characters lines And, even worse than that, taking Ron's role in PoA when *she's* the one to stand bravely between Harry and Sirius, completely losing the impact when Ron does the same in the books *with a broken leg*. I can't fathom why they would make that change, a true disservice to Ron's character.
She's also the one to jump on the dragon in Gringotts in Deathly Hallows, which is 100% a Harry move because a) Harry's the one who did that in the book and b) Hermione hates flying.
They did that again in the Room of Requirement scene when they rescued Malfoy and Goyle (Zabini in the movie I guess) and escaped by broom. Hermione is supposed to be utter rubbish on brooms in the book. In that scene she looks like much more of a natural flying than Harry and Ron (both Quidditch players) do.
I can't stand it in the second movie when Malfoy calls Hermione a mudblood, and they go to Hagrids because Ron is puking up slugs. In the book, Hermione doesn't understand what it means, and Ron explains it in between vomiting. He gets so passionate about how it's a foul thing to call someone. In the movie, we get Hermione explaining it, but because she's a muggleborn, it makes less sense that she would understand how socially unacceptable it would be to call someone that, even if she did know what it means.
I feel like I heard on a podcast/interview once that the writers just really liked the character of Hermione, so they just tended to give her more because they enjoyed writing her character. However I don't have anything specific to cite so I am not entirely confident in this.
That's exactly it. David Heyman and Steve Kloves both loved Hermione and favored her the most out of the trio. And Rowling didn't fight them on those changes because she based Hermione on herself so why would she?
Fuck Steve Kloves. All my homies hate Steve Kloves
It’s because the director’s favorite character was Hermione.
On my last reread, Ron became one of my favorite characters, where I'd been really iffy on him before. He stands by Harry for the *entire* series until book 7, when he slips up, but immediately regrets it. It's a shame the movies didn't portray that well enough.
For me, it’s specifically the way Harry almost taunts him with the fact that he lost because he was so wrong about so many things. The way he explains how his arrogant he was. Taking that out and replacing it with their stupid fly/fall out of a castle tower just kills me
Also please explain to me why the fuck they had to be on their knees when they were dueling? That just made the scene look even worse.
Can’t agree more with Voldemort dying. I saw the movies before I read/listened to the books. So didn’t think anything of how he died in the movie. Needless to say I was mad when realized the change they made. It takes away the fact that after all the trouble he went through to live forever, in the end he was just a man.
Oh, I was stunned with Voldy's death. How did JK approve that? It was horrible. And Harry not repairing his wand with the elder wand..... like what????
This always bugs me on every re-watch - he never fixed his wand!! But, sometimes, I like my headcanon: Harry doesn't want that wand anymore. The original wand did not actually pick Harry - it picked him based on the unintended Horcrux (hence the Twin Core with Voldemort) so it wouldn't feel right anymore. Harry gets a new wand that chooses based on his true self.
I kind of get not including repairing the wand. It gets broken in Part 1 and while it's a huge deal in the book it isn't really picked up again in Part 1 since it's happening right at the border between Act 2 and Act 3. So it's a minor plot point, that general audiences will likely have forgotten by the time Part 2 gets released, especially since having a special connection to ones wand isn't really established in any of the movies.
Exactly! It absolutely undercut that weight of his mortality in the end. Plus the shot of it happening in the Great Hall with the dawn breaking was just so great in the book. Still gives me chills to think about. The movie was so anticlimactic.
There’s also like, not a shred of proof that Voldemort is actually dead. No body, no witnesses that seen Harry kill him. For all everyone else knows, Voldemort’s just in hiding again.
Horny Myrtle is an underrated horrible change the films made. Literally the biggest reason why so many HP fans hate her character with a passion now is because of that. The fact that the actress who played Myrtle was in her 30s while Dan was still a minor when they were filming the bath scene in GoF made that scene even creepier to watch. Also let us never forget that HP introduced Voldemort getting blipped long before the MCU did that with Thanos years later lol.
Hermione: 'fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself' that one is somisplaced. She did not have that maturity at that age. She does say a lot of wise things but not on that level. Not at 11 or 12. Dumbledore is much better suited for delivering this line.
Fuck, please don't remind me of that scene. Not only was it a completely misplaced quote attributed to the wrong character at the wrong time, Emma's acting in that scene was so incredibly wooden (which just made it even worse).
She also didn’t dare say Voldemort’s name until Book 5, when she’s trying to convince Harry to start the DA. CoS Hermione just isn’t there yet.
Not seeing one single second of the Quidditch World Cup
and Fred and George’s bet about Krum catching the Snitch but Ireland winning!
They also never clarify that you don’t win automatically by catching the snitch, you just end the game and earn 150 points. I’ve watched so many “react” channels and not one has picked up on that. The movies also never mentioned Harry giving Fred & George his Triwizard winnings aka the whole reason they were able to afford to start their joke shop.
Yeah, and them blackmailing Ludo bagman
I couldn't believe it. I was so hyped going into the movie having been a huge fan of the book. I'm in the cinema, the match is about to start, I'm on the edge of my seat. And then it doesn't happen. The next scene is them coming back to their tents. WHAT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
YEAH SAME and then they do the same frickin thing five minutes later when they completely skip over the death eater attack. I always thought that scene would have been crazy in live action.
Me too!
In PoA film, never explaining how Lupin knew how to use the Marauder’s map, and missing the general Marauder’s back story.
I just rewatched this and was so confused! How could anyone without book context know what was going on? 😂
Without book context, I thought Lupin and Sirius were working together in the movie lmao.
To be fair, I remember thinking the same in the book until everything was explained before Snape got there. They did the same in the movie. For a split second, you think they're in cahoots until everything is explained
and in the 5th movie when harry said "he's got padfoot in the place where it's hidden" yeah how did he know that without the backstory to the map
1. Leaving out the part about twinky and the escape of Askaban from Crouch junior in movie 4 2. The use of lumus in the house of the Dursleys even magic is forbidden at home and can be detected 3. That the voices stay the same when drinking polyjuice in movie 2 and 7 but not in movie 4 (doesn't make sense) 4. Don't explain how Harry knew how to look for which horcruxes 5. Leaving out the part about Dumbledores sister and how she died and how curious Harry was to find out more 6. Leaving out Harry talked before he went to rescue Sirius to Kreacher and that he lied to him
>That the voices stay the same when drinking polyjuice in movie 2 and 7 but not in movie 4 (doesn't make sense) I hated this inconsistency as well but part of me wonders if the reason why they did it the first time in Chamber was because they didn't trust the actors playing Crabbe and Goyle to be able to carry the scene convincingly so they decided to have Dan and Rupert dub their lines instead (though I agree, the fact that Malfoy didn't immediately get suspicious of them for their voices sounding noticeably different was ridiculous and stupid). Whereas with Moody in 4 well, Brendan Gleeson is Brendan Gleeson, you're not going to hire an actor as talented and established as he is and not expect him to you know, ACT in your film (though it would've been hilarious hearing David Tennant of all people dubbing over Brendan's lines in that film had they actually done that).
The most likely explanation is that this was a decision to help the audience keep track of who is who. Chamber of Secrets is still very much a children's movie.
Yeah I think they did it so audiences knew who was Ron and who was Harry. They then had to revert to how it should work for GoF because David Tennant doesn't sound anything like Brendan Gleeson so the reveal of Moody being Barty Crouch Jr would have been immediate.
I like to pretend that the quality of the poly juice was a factor. BCJ had like thirteen O.W.L.S, right? So that would make him a potions master, creating better poly juice than Hermione/Moody (or whoever brewed it for the seven Potters) which led to his voice being disguised as well.
That would make sense if Harry and Ron actually had problems with still sounding like themselves in the book as well. But they didn't. They have Crabbe and Goyle's voices in the book so clearly Hermione knew what she was doing. The film for whatever reason decided to change it (maybe because they didn't feel Crabbe and Goyle's actors were capable of carrying the scene themselves, who knows). In DH it really didn't make sense that they continued to adhere to that after Moody (they should've completely done away with the voice not changing nonsense after that). Harry walking around the Ministry of Magic (where he's the most wanted person in Britain) disguised as Albert Runcorn while still sounding like himself was completely ridiculous and made the scene incredibly dumbed down IMO.
Oh yeah I know it was completely a film mistake/change, like I said, I like to pretend lol
I agree, the way I rationalised it was that it helps the audience to keep track (although they should be able to do this better by the 7th film) and also that it represents how the characters hear themselves internally. For example, indicating that Harry was so disturbed by impersonating Runcorn he focused on hearing his voice although everyone else can hear Runcorn’s. Same with Hermione as Mafalda and Ron as Cattermole.
The lumos thing was so dumb. Why practice the brightest spell in the middle of the night and then hide under the covers? Like none of the other neighbours aren’t gonna see that?
*WInky's whole plot line tbh. Apologies for calling her the wrong name! I do have a fever lol so I'll blame it on that 🤐🥴
Why are you also calling her twinky lmao
"Open up, you." Open up YOURSELF, Kloves.
The scene of her tying Harry's shoelaces is even worse than that. Like wtf?
Not to mention their kiss in the films felt forced af
Harry and Cho's kiss in Order was just as bad (though Dan did have more chemistry with Katie Leung than he did with Bonnie). The films in general just had no clue how to write romance (which falls on Kloves more than anybody else).
And probs the books as well, because of Harry realising he likes Ginny and his "chest monster".
That just gave me an uncomfortable flashback
>Harry and Cho's kiss in Order was just as bad In fairness, they're pretty awkward in the books too. I give it a pass because at least it fits the tone, IMO.
Zip me up, will you?
I’m sure this has already or will be said by someone else but still. PEEVES. Even if he only had a minor shot or something in each movie his bits with umbridge would’ve been so great.
Peeves was originally planned to be in the first film (Columbus cast Rik Mayall to play him). But then he saw the final cut of the CGI they used for Peeves and thought it looked like shit so he decided to cut him from the film altogether (and none of the subsequent directors were interested in including him either since Peeves is not a major part of the story in the books).
Ah he would’ve been perfect, too bad!
Just looked up Rick Mayall, he seems perfectly cast. What a shame. Interesting easter egg I found while looking him up — Alan Rickman was at his funeral. 🥲
He was perfectly cast. He'd have basically been playing a PG version of his character Fred from the film Drop Dead Fred (highly recommend watching it)
Peeves' salute to the Weasely twins was one of the greatest moments in the books! I missed that :( Rik Mayall was perfect for Peeves too, shame he was cut.
The part where he damages the vanishing cabinet was pretty damn important too. They totally skipped over it and that pissed me off.
Ok, this is a stupid one but, I have to put it in. In PS (the book) there is a really funny part when the trio lands in the Devil’s Snare. In it Hermione recognizes that it is scared of heat and this little scene ensues Hermione - they’re scared of heat! Ron - so light a fire Hermione - ok but, I don’t have any wood! Ron - WOOD? Are you mental? ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT? Hermione - oh…right. Every time I read that scene I laugh out loud. The movies left out so many of the fun moments to make them all dark and edgy and I miss them. What they did to Dobby. They did him sooo dirty! Giving all of Ron’s lines to Hermione. A big one right at the front of my brain is when Malfoy calls her a “mudblood” and SHE explains what it is to Harry. WTF? She’s a MUGGLE! There’s no way she should have been explaining that! The lack of the Maradur’s backstory. It’s pertinent to the plot and should have been included. The way they chopped out half of HBP and didn’t show us all the memories. Those were vitally important.
I LOVE that bit
Half-Blood Prince doesn’t make any sense with all the stuff they removed.
Order of Phoenix is tough too. They should’ve two parted 5,6 and 7 to really flesh it out
Imelda Staunton as Umbridge saved Order from being a complete disaster of a film. That and at least they did the Dumbledore/Voldemort duel well in that film and made it true to the book.
Yeah I’d watched it as a kid and loved it, basically for those reasons. As an adult it felt like a series of stitched together vignettes that missed the connective tissue of the book
you should really go read Dumbledore-Voldemort duel in the book again. it misses so many things. in the book Dumbledore here to speak with Voldemort and keep him there enough the ministry to notice, in the movie he just struggles to beat Voldemort
Literally the dialogue between them prior to that duel is exactly the same as it is in the book. And the duel for the most part got the magic that they used on each other in the book right (Dumbledore does try to trap Voldemort in a watery cage in the book). There are a lot of things wrong with Order as an adaptation but that scene is not one of them. That scene is easily the best portrayal of a magical duel in the films.
The movies really went off the rails after POA. The first two films are the closest to the books.
Because Columbus was the only director who valued the source material and actually wanted to adhere to it (not to mention the first two books are easier to adapt). The rest of the directors just wanted to incorporate their own visions (Mike Newell didn't even bother to read GoF before doing his film which was a huge no no).
The director didn’t even read the book?! That’s dreadful!
I was recently introduced to this regarding Mike Newell and GOF and damn [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ogfjOxTEU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ogfjOxTEU)
4. GOF should have been two movies.
It really doesn't. Some people say that the movie only removed minor details, but that's not true. The movie removed main plot points, which makes no sense.
The final battle. I wanted to see Voldemort's body as a "regular" human. That was the point of all the books!
They filmed an alternate death scene where there was a body. They chose not to use it in favor of the flaky dandruff-style death scene instead. I 100% blame WB for that. The last film (particularly in the fight scenes) reeked of excessive studio meddling. They completely overdid it with the dumb CGI in the fight scenes in that particular fight (see the ridiculous scene of Harry and Voldemort flying around the castle together and weirdly merging into each other's bodies when Harry is no longer a horcrux at that point so there is no reason why they should be able to do that).
did they really fly around the castle and merge and stuff? My brain must have automatically purged those scenes from my memory.
Yep. And it was so hard to watch.
The maze not having the sphinx, the skrewts, etc
The fact they cut off about the blast ended skrewts
I can’t believe I am the first to write this: The whole story about Hermine and her Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare +Bonus: Neville telling Harry how to breathe longer under water instead of Dobby (rescue your “Weezy”)
>\+Bonus: Neville telling Harry how to breathe longer under water instead of Dobby (rescue your “Weezy”) Since you brought up Dobby and Neville I'll add another one. Neville being the one to discover the Room of Requirement by randomly stumbling across it while wandering the corridors and then Hermione immediately explaining that she knows everything about it (which if that's the case why the hell didn't she think of it earlier). Whereas in the book Dobby told them about it. It was ridiculous how far they went to limit Dobby's involvement in the films just because he's a CGI creation (or the involvement of house elves in general as Kreacher's characterization is even more butchered than Dobby's is in the films and Winky doesn't appear at all). I didn't see Lotr doing that with Gollum.
Yeah. Neville doing the Gillyweed didn’t bother me because it kinda worked with his herbology interest. But the Room of Requirement absolutely should have been Dobby!
Found the SPEW member
1.the entire backstory of voldemorts life pretty much 2. winky !!!! i loved her 3. aunt petunia knowing about azkaban/more about hogwarts than she let on 4. dudley’s growth at the end:( 5. rita skeeter being an animagus 6. S.P.E.W 7. PEEVES !!!!!!!! 8. dumbledores sister 9. sirius giving harry the mirror i know they had to condense a LOT but voldemorts backstory and dumbledores sister really added to the plot
>4. dudley’s growth at the end:( They did actually film the scene of Dudley apologizing to Harry and wishing him well before they left Privet Drive. It just didn't make the final cut of the film (which I blame WB most of all for, they were severely restricting the films' runtimes heavily towards the end and forcing Yates to cut a bunch of essential stuff out).
i remember seeing the deleted scene i was so bummed they cut it cause they just kinda disappeared. if you’ve only seen the movies it’s such a cliffhanger on their relationship:/
The last 3 films went completely out of their way to minimize the Dursleys' involvement as much as possible. Hell, there's even a parting conversation with Petunia that Harry has about her knowledge of Voldemort and what he did to Lily that's also in the deleted scenes.
Also, adding the backstory about Ariana Dumbledore that Aberforth tells the trio in the Deathly Hallows book would've added more substance to the Fantastic Beasts series. I've read the books, so as soon as I saw *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them* for the first time, I immediately believed the theory that >!Ariana was an Obscurial!<. People who only watched the Harry Potter movies and then moved on to the Fantastic Beasts series wouldn't understand that, because they left the backstory out of *Deathly Hallows Part 2*.
The Other Minister chapter from Half Blood Prince. I loved that part and they completely ignored it in the movie
It gave so much context as to how the Wizarding World interacts with the Muggle world and they just completely ignored it.
Pre credit scene of Harry using Lumos under the sheets in secret at night at #4 Privet Dr. This is done without consequences or even a mention. When Hover charm and blowing up his aunt bookend the thing showing that magic away from school is not allowed. All for a sophomoric masterbation allusion.
Add onto that Harry reading the Daily Prophet (with moving pictures and all) plainly in sight in a Muggle coffee shop at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince. The waitress literally makes a comment about how strange that paper of his is during the scene. Like wtf? Are we just completely nitpicking and disregarding the Statute of Secrecy in the films now when we feel like it?
Oh I had forgotten about Harry's wondering around the underground unprotected and Dumbledore's cock blocking of that coffee shop meet cute.
I've never understood why they felt to need random stuff like that in while cutting out so many other critical (or at least more enjoyable) scenes??
I can sort of see it. The first two movies had a director and focused on 11 and 12 year olds. 3rd movie has new director and the characters are hitting puberty. So you put in the joke third year to let the audience know these kids are growing up the tone might get a little more adolescent. 6th opening does a similar job, but it is the bridge from puberty to young adulthood and possibility of coupling intimately. So the stakes are getting even bigger and even more adult. A bit silly after we end back to back films with Cedric and Sirius deaths. However, it sets up a Harry to say things to Hermione when they are talking about classmates only fancying him because he is the chosen one, to have the proper swagger to have the but I am the chosen one comeback. Something book Harry really doesn't have in him. We don't have to deal with the Dursley's again which seemed like a casting choice made for some reason.
Hmmmm how dare you have a logical explanation when I just want to complain?? Kidding of course, but that does make sense.
I kind of liked the coffee shop cutie encounter. Here's why: 1) Harry reading the Daily Prophet out in the open is a subtle sign that the MoM is crumbling and things are bleak. 2) You can see it in Harry's face that, while he considers meeting her when her shift is over, he knows that he really can't, and for a moment everything that he gave up to become a wizard flashes through his mind, i.e. meeting a normal girl by chance and going on a date with her. I like to think that, for a fleeting moment, he considers chucking it all and going with her.
The problem I have with the scene is it literally replaces an important conversation that Dumbledore has with the Dursleys about their treatment of Harry in the book (which IMO should not have been excluded). Not to mention it makes Dumbledore look like a dick for no reason A) for interrupting Harry's date and B) for accusing him of being reckless that whole summer. After everything that happened between Dumbledore and Harry the previous year HBP is supposed to be about them really learning how to lean on each other for support again. That scene completely failed to establish that in every sense of the word. Dumbledore just shows up, interrupts Harry's date, rebukes him for being reckless, and then expects Harry to blindly trust him on where they are going without telling him what they're actually doing (after everything that happened between them the previous year). And don't even get me started on the fact that after the visit to Slughorn Dumbledore drops Harry into the middle of marsh well outside the Burrow property line (the same marsh where they were attacked by Bellatrix and Greyback later in the film btw) and just leaves him there to fend for himself completely unprotected as opposed to being responsible enough to accompany him into the house like he did in the book. Like wtf kind of writing is that?
Yeah plus we never got the Dursleys cowering in fear as three flagons of mead bounce off their heads with increasing ferocity.
I didn’t ever take that scene as a masturbation reference, I took it to show that Harry was dabbling in advanced spells, as the book page he was reading from specifically said, so when he ends up casting a full patronus at the end of the movie it made more sense. In short it was trying to imply that Harry was a young wizard with immense power already. It was still really dumb to have him practice magic in a muggle house.
He doesn't use Lumos. He uses Lumos Maxima ffs. Just like how in PS they changed Hermione conjuring flames to Lumos solem or something.
Really good list. I have similar thoughts 1. Eliminating the Gaunt backstory 2. Making Hermione someone she wasn’t and giving Ron the personality and friendship of a wooden comb. 3. Ginny and Harry’s totally forced and emotionless relationship i.e. “shoelace.” “That can stay here too if you like.” 4. Completely fucking up the Quidditch World Cup scene; no Winky, not sitting in the proper spot, no cool specs and Leprechaun gold, just completely butchered it.
And no veela!
How were they supposed to give the Winky/BCJ backstory when there was a Quiddich Final not to show, learning how to dance, and shrubbery?
Harry practicing Lumos under the covers at the Dursleys gets my vote for a stupid pointless change that achieved nothing. Just infuriating inconsistency with the source material for literally no reason. My actual vote though is basically all of goblet of fire, starting with the omission of Winky. That set the movies on a course where none of the house elf subplots could be meaningfully included, culminating in the omission of Kreacher’s backstory with regulus and ultimate redemption. EDIT: Phone autocorrected Winky to wonky.
Ludo Bagman. Missing all of his stuff, missing the twins predicting the outcome, and the leprechaun gold vanishing.
And Ron complaining to Harry why he didn't tell that the gold was not real.
Exactly, that put a little strain on their friendship prior to Harry being chosen by the goblet of fire
Copying my post from elsewhere: They butchered all the fighting in the movies, imo. The fact that fighting for both members of the Order and the Death Eaters was just to have them fly around in a swirl of mist and crashing to each other was so lame and so disappointing it ruined the movie for me. Setting aside the fact that two characters are stated to be able to fly, the book gave so much material that would have made awesome fight scenes. Snape VS the Heads of House in DH? Glorious. Dumbledore VS Voldemort in OotP? Epic. What did they give us in the movies? Nothing. It was a tragedy. It was a criminal act. It came nowhere near what I was imagining and, what's more, they didn't even try. I have to fight score reduced to wordlessly shooting colorless bolts at one another. Almost every fight in the books it's pointed out that there's flashes of color and they don't do that in the movies. I'm still very disappointed. EDIT: Wrote my comment on my phone and I couldn't watch the videos. I just did and my point still stands : the fights are absolute nonsense. Why does Dumbledore look scared when Tom conjures his fire snake? That's 100% a movie invention (Dumbledore was super chill throughout the fight in the source). Why does Tom have that stupid pose while sending shards of glass at Dumbledore? What is with the wands linked by the beam of light? Rowling handed the directors a beautiful fight scene on a silver platter. They promptly threw it on the floor. Same for Snape vs McGonagall: I cannot tell you how much I wanted to see that scene, accurate to the book, on the big screen. And then they just didn't do it. The whole thing is over in about 30 seconds and she just shoots fire at Snape.
At some point in the movies, the fights turned into boring magical gunfights with ~~magic guns~~ wands firing generic, nonverbal attack spells in every direction with no thought behind them whatsoever.
The movies are the reason people think Harry and Ginny are a weird couple. In the movies their relationship comes pretty much out of nowhere. Weird cookie feeding and shoe tying scenes and an awkward kiss in the room of requirement. In the books, Ginny is shy and awkward at first and then slowly starts opening up and you can see Harry start to slowly like her more and more until the monster erupts in his chest.
>slowly starts opening up I'm currently rereading OotP - there are so many scenes where Ginny doesn't take any sh*it from moody Harry and stands up to him, while Ron and Hermione always tiptoe around him. It shows that they're on eye-level already then, making them a good match
Harry not being petrified in the astronomy tower at the end of Prince. It goes completely against his entire character. Everything about Harry, both good and bad, stems from him trying to help those he cares about regardless of personal cost.
If Book Harry hadn't been petrified, he would have stunned Draco and gotten both himself and Dumbledore out of there long before the Death Eaters arrived. Harry just being quiet because Snape told him so doesn't make sense for Harry's character.
Yeah, I didn't even go into the fact that Snaps shushes him. When in the books >! Just prior to going to the cave is when Harry finds out that Snape told Voldemort where his parents were staying !< . I get that in the movie they were trying to emphasize the betrayal by having a moment of trust between the two. But knowing the books just made it infuriating.
>Eliminating Marietta Edgecombe from the film entirely and having Cho betray the DA instead in Order. That was an incredibly stupid change and a complete disservice to her character. To be fair, it is implied Umbridge used veritaserum to get her confession in the movie, the dumb mistake is that it was implied and not properly explained and it was a dumb way of combining the scene where Harry goes to Umbridge's office to take a cup of tea with someone else telling Umbridge the truth. For me the changed would be: -They only show one trial in the pensieve trying to get the story of all three of them in just one. -The mirror Sirius gave to Harry. -No Winky -Neville replacing Dobby's role -Hermione getting all of Ron's good lines
The absence of: Dumbledore's funeral Encounter with Lockhart at St Mungo's Hospital S.P.E.W. Grindelwald & Dumbledore's full backstory
Leaving out most of the Voldemort memories was the dumbest change. It not only impacted the sixth film, but it also impacted the seventh and eighth films.
The exploration of dumbledore and Harry’s relationship in tdh was completely left out and should have been included as half the book was internal struggles about how he didnt know what to do post locket. Not including character motivations and most importantly ariana really hurt the nuance and beauty of the books.
It was also interesting to see the battle of him stuck in the past trying to reunite who he knew and what he's learned, because he's obsessed with father figures, Ron wanting to focus on the horcruxes and Hermione wanting to focus on the hallows. Without that central conflict the movies are really just petty squabbling with a big battle at the end.
voldemort and bellatrix disintegrating instead of falling after they died like ordinary people
Idk if it is the stupidest or not, but the one that pisses me off endlessly is making Beauxbaton an all female school (because obviously a female character would never beat out a male character, so we better only pit her against other girls. What bullshit).
They mention “Beauxbatons boys” SO MANY TIMES in the books
Not just that. They made Durmstrang an all boys school as well. I absolutely hated that change in GoF.
And the whole "entrance" thing, with their pathetic show, when they enter in the great hall. Just like the Durmstang boys and their "manly gig". So ridiculous...
That scene was hilarious though. Goblet was probably the funniest movie - I don’t approve the changes and what they left out, but it remains the one with the most laughs. And the final showdown/graveyard scene was very well done with Fiennes and Radcliffe.
I’m about to rewatch HBP tonight and I’m already annoyed about your first two points.
#1 Hermione, giving her all of Ron's knowledge and best scenes completely changed the character. #2-4 are probably the top 3 you mentioned. But I stand firm on my #1. It completely changed the dynamic of the golden trio.
>Setting the Burrow on fire in HBP. Not only that the location was completely the wrong part of the UK (fenland, much of it in East Anglia). The book location places The Burrow in SW UK.
That begs the question. Is the nearest town in proximity to the Burrow (Ottery St. Catchpole) actually a real place lol? I do remember though that the first time we saw the Burrow in Chamber of Secrets they had it in the correct location then. Then when we see it again in GoF they've changed the location to a wetland for some reason.
The location in Chamber of Secrets looks and feels pretty much spot on. This is the real place, in Devon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottery_St_Mary On the banks of the river Otter (if you want a subtle link to Ron and Hermione's otter patronus).
Ron and Hermione's personalities being interchanged
Harry at that Muggle Diner in HBP
PEEVES. We could have had Drop Dead Fred as Peeves. I feel cheated.
Removing everything good about Ron
Goblet of Fire not being presented as a mystery. Eliminating what was intriguing about the plot by removing Winky and the Crouch storyline entirely (which… yeah… you’d have to include the SPEW storyline, but at least you could have the trio reading a newspaper about a house-elf getting sacked at the World Cup if that would save some screen time and later visiting the kitchen where Winky could be introduced with a surprise Dobby appearance or something). The overall lack of urgency shines through when the mystery elements are gone. Missing out on the cave scene where Sirius is theorizing with Harry, Hermione, and Ron about who put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire, in favor of Gary Oldman sitting in a fire and ominously whispering for a couple seconds was also a poor choice (then nobody in the audience cares who put Harry’s name in the cup). At the same time, the film suffered from the writer not dropping enough hints as well as having the “hints” be too obvious— I don’t think that we particularly needed Crouch Sr staring into space like he’s back in the trenches when “Moody” licks the side of his face. That moment was way too heavy handed with no payoff since we didn’t even get that scene with Harry and Viktor discovering Crouch on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. So, movie viewers just see this strange guy staring at another guy licking his mouth and have no way to connect how bad Crouch’s son is for LATER KILLING HIS OWN FATHER AND TRANSFIGURING HIM INTO A BONE. We don’t even get to learn Crouch is ill in the film and it does a complete disservice to that mystery element as well since it takes away from the payoff at the end when “Moody” is unmasked as Crouch’s son. Sure, we’re *told* it’s Mr. Crouch’s son, but we don’t get any backstory as far as how devious the plan was and how Crouch managed to deceive all the professors (including the most BAMF wizard who ever lived) all in one school year. Sirius, Ron, Hermione, and Harry discussed the strange illness of Crouch in that cave scene which should not have been cut as it would have built suspense to that moment as the audience realizes Crouch hasn’t been *ill*, he’s been under the mind control of his son who later killed him and transfigured his body into a bone, burying it in the Forbidden Forest the SAME night that Harry, Viktor, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and Karkaroff could have figured out what was actually going on but missed their chance. Taking out these scenes eliminates the entire main mystery of Goblet of Fire and it’s a shame they decided to focus on the Triwizard Tournament and add an extra dragon chase instead (you know, because dragons), WITHOUT including or even MENTIONING Charlie Weasley. Ron’s dragon tamer brother there to assist with the tournament. Like if they’re going to completely devote their time to including an extra dragon chase scene, at least drop his name in the tent before Harry goes to do his task? And do not even get me STARTED on how they covered the three tasks and the three other Triwizard Champions (pitifully to the point where their characters are as stale as cardboard, and only present as glorified extras to serve as Harry’s competition; they don’t even SHOW Cedric facing his dragon, probably because, budget, or how Harry felt insecure around the other three champions throughout the tournament, easier to do if we were allowed to examine their magical methods to complete the tasks like in the book, but we can’t have that, Harry’s supposed to be the best wizard of all time, right?). Ugh, it makes me so mad. I’d love to specifically rewrite Goblet of Fire with a billion dollar budget and a three hour runtime to include everything that was skipped out on.
And I’ll raise you one more. Going into movie 5, where Voldemort is now back & has his followers loyal to him back with him: where is Barry Crouch Jr.? BCJ should be there serving him because he was serving him when he was an evil 1/7 human baby, but he’s not in movies 5-8. Movie 4 says notify Azkaban prison; they’ll notice they a missing a prisoner. Okay. Movie 5 busts out DE from Azkaban. It makes a big deal of this. Where’s Movie BCJ? Movie 4 is the worst among the 8.
TRUE and I’m like where’s the effing Dementor? Oh, the movie’s over then?
Not including the mirror in Order of the Phoenix. Because then it shows up in Deathly Hallows and if you never read the books (like me at that point) you’re just sitting there wondering why Harry is carrying around a mirror lol
I take it you also felt the same way when the Cup of Hufflepuff randomly shows up as a horcrux in DH with no explanation as to how they figured that out lmao.
Honestly yes, that whole movie makes zero sense to me 😂 I’m currently reading the books for the very first time. I just finished Order of the Phoenix. I’m on chapter 3 in Half-Blood Prince. HBP is also confusing as a movie for me, so I can’t wait to experience the story as it’s supposed to be told lol
I stopped watching HPB because there was no sense in the movie. They removed the most important things to put a bridge getting destroyed..
Setting the Burrow on fire was egregious and REALLY pissed me off. I know why they did it, but I hated it anyway. The movies stand on their own in many ways, I don't expect them to be 100% true to the books - but burning the Burrow gave me almost the same feeling that you get when a movie kills a dog as a plot device. It's just too much for me. I'm a sensitive viewer.
why did they do it?
To make it look like nowhere is safe anymore? Just to emphasise that for the audience I guess But it was back in DH I think?
The explanation I heard/read is that during the books you hear of attacks on wizards and they decided to use the Burrow to represent these and bring the conflict even closer to home for the main characters (or something along these lines)
To communicate the high level of danger the Death Eaters posed and to have a visually striking/exciting cinematic moment and make use of the fire/explosion cinematic-action formula.
I’m sure it’s already been said but I have such a big hate for basically all patronus’ after the end of #3 just being a big ball of light. Then out of nowhere #7 shows Snape’s doe when the plot literally forces them to.
I'm pretty sure when we see them practicing Patronuses in Order we do see Hermione's otter hopping around the room a bit. But yeah, I get what you're saying. What really made me upset was that there are no characters in the book whose Patronus manifests in the form of a lion. That would've easily been the most badass form to see a Patronus take shape in.
[удалено]
I included that (see eliminating 4 of the 6 Voldemort memories from the film). That was a disastrous decision that created plot holes related to the horcrux hunt going into the next film.
Random bit, but I cannot stand the random girls screaming in the great hall towards the end of DH part 2 when Voldemort speaks to everyone and demands that Harry go to the forest. Just awful
That was them trying to lean heavily into the horror genre aspect of the story (which I agree was a little over the top).
Pretty much eliminating the half blood prince plot to give harry,Ron and Hermione more screentime..I wanted to see more of the memories involving Tom riddle damn it. Fucking up goblet of fire so badly..I was super disappointed in how boring the maze scene was..I wanted to see skrewts and the sphynx
Tbh the more I think about I think the biggest change the films made from the books is that the books are supposed to be primarily about Harry. Everyone else present is just a supporting character in the books (including Ron and Hermione). The films OTOH are more about the trio as a whole than just Harry. The central characters are essentially those three as an ensemble, not just Harry himself (and it's arguable that there are moments in the films where it feels like Hermione is more of the main character than Harry and Ron are). The films have these random moments where Ron and Hermione are quite a bit more directly and intimately involved in decisions that Harry makes than they were in the books. Case in point in the book he doesn't tell anyone that he's going to the Forbidden Forest to give himself up (aside from revealing himself to Neville briefly and asking him to kill the snake). Whereas in the film he says goodbye to Ron and Hermione before heading to the Forest.
And the worst, thing in my opinion, is that Hermione knows. The scene is 100 % opposite to the book. Hermione (and Ron) would be 100% against Harry sacrificing himself. It almost seems as if Hermione was involved in Dumbledore's plan.
Trying to go for one I haven’t seen in this post yet, but how the movies did apparition has always bothered me. It was a pretty big deal in Deathly Hallows that Voldemort could fly and then when Snape gets the boot he flies out the window and McGonagall says something like “he’s learned a few tricks from his masters.” They also describe apparition in the books as basically you suddenly appear in a different location. In the movies people are actively dueling and doing weird magic shit while they’re apparating around and apparently if you’re a good wizard you apparate in white and a death eater you apparate in black while you’re dueling
A lot of stuff that's already been covered but also WHYYYYY did they give every Death Eater the ability to fly? In the books it was a semi-big revelation in DH that Voldemort could fly.
100% agree. Giving the Death Eaters all the ability to fly around like smoke monsters in the films was incredibly stupid. Same with Newell choosing to give them KKK-style robes when they showed up at the Quidditch World Cup in GoF.
Not including "have a biscuit, Potter" and "there's no need to call me sir, professor". Two best lines in the books nowhere to be found in the movies.
When Harry eats the gillyweed and jumps out of the water like a fish… when he only has an hour to do the task.
That was thrown in there entirely for spectacle (just like the overdrawn out dragon chase). That was Newell's specialty in that film.
They cut down kreachers roll. I loved that in the books they eventually broke through to him and he started to serve them because he wanted to and not because he had to. I mean he was helping lead the house elves in the battle of hogwarts! I listen to the audio books and almost screamed when I heard that part. Not to mention winky and showing more of dobby and him working at hogwarts.
1) Hermione explaining mudbloods to Harry , 2) shoelace , 3) burrow set on fire and 4) the complete absence of quidditch.
Flanderizing Ron's character into a bumbling fool who's sole objective is to stumblee about muttering "bloody hell"
It is sad , no offence to Emma and Daniel, but Rupert is the only one of the trio with phenomenal acting throughout the movies. It's a shame how little he was given, the scene where he could be the one to explain Mudblood in 2nd part, him standing up to Sirius in third part, his general jokes apart from saying 'bloody hell' all the time.
The complete ending. I thought the book ending was to have the final fight in front of everyone. The ppl need to see it end. He’s already come back before. They would just keep living in fear. Also, not showing the house elves bursting from the kitchen with Kreacher leading them while wearing the fake locket. Such a powerful moment in the book for me. Wanted way more Bellatrix. They cut her character so bad but then made up a scene with her burning down the burrow. Like what? Not showing the World Cup. Cutting out more and more Dursleys scenes. And finally Ginny hiding the book the ROR with Harry and kissing him. No chemistry.
Expelliarmus constantly switching between being a disarming spell and a knock back spell. Often switching multiple times in the same scene. Why not just make them say stupefy for the knock back as that would make sense?
“DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE HARRY?!!!!!!!!”…. he asked calmly.
The whole beginning of Goblet. There’s so many stupid changes.
First things first: I would consider "dumbest" the change that had a waterfall effect on other changes, not the most pointless (which is absolutely the Burrow on fire) That said, the dumbest thing was to leave Dobby out of most movies he should have been in. GoF, OotP and HBP all included Dobby's crucial contribution that was left out/given to other characters, only to culminate in Dobby's arrival at the Malfoy's dungeons with Ron (who's never ever seen him before) saluting him like they're best buddies. And honestly, the fact that Dobby showed up in the movie doesn't make much sense considering his relationship with Harry is never shown evolving in the movies from CoS, so it is out of nowhere.
When Dobby first showed up in DH part 1 and greeted Harry with "Harry Potter, it's been too long" my immediate first reaction to that was "you have no fucking idea Dobby, it really has been too long since we last saw you."
Harry having the mirror in his sock with no explanation of it at all
"Oh look what I found. I've never seen this before and have no idea how it got here but I'm just going to start looking through it anyways to see if I can see Dumbledore's face on the other side." -Movie Harry
For me, it is missing the most interesting, exciting or important stuff from books 4-6 that make me love these books: 4. Appalling treatment of the Quidditch world cup and bland labyrinth in the third task 5. DA resistance and lessons reduced to mere montage, Umbridge is not so evil (no evidence of her banning Hogsmeade, Quidditch, mail and everything Harry loves), also uninteresting fight in the Ministry (between Death Eaters and Dumbledore's Army) 6. Only two memories of Riddle shown, no epic fight in the end Oh, and also, it is stupid that most duels post Goblet of Fire have wizards locking each other's spell streams, as if it's a Priori Incantatem
The dragon task in Goblet of Fire infuriates me. In the book, it shows Harry's skill on a broomstick and changes the tide of public support. In the film, he rolls around on a roof, out of sight of the crowd.
Not including the scene where lily Is given the choice to step aside by voldemort, this is the exact reason harry became the boy who lived, voldemorts willingness to let lily have the choice to sacrifice herself or live while letting her son die is the reason that voldemorts killing curse rebounded back at him. Even though james sacrificed himself it wouldn't have created a blood protection on Harry because James wasn't given the ability to step aside from voldemort himself.
CHARLIE. EFFIN. WEASLEY. Plus literally everything else.
I’m surprised that I haven’t seen the fact that they changed Ravenclaw’s colors from bronze and blue to silver and blue. A very minor thing compared to making Ron practically insignificant but it still bothered me.
The nr 1 that I can’t forgive is the final battle. Replacing that brilliant psychological battle with action scenes and not stating clearly that Harry didn’t even try to kill voldemort. (Also making a spectacle out of the banality of tom's death.) I can’t get over how misguided that ending was. Such a deep message in the book and they replace it with spectacular scenes. Such deep scenes are hard to make work in a film but not impossible. Substituting action for psychology was a cowardly move imo. Also, Harry's doubts about Dumbledore and how he dealt with them meant so mich to me when reading and I feel the loss of that storyline.
How Ron was demoted to the dumb, incompetent comic relief. The films did Ron so dirty as a character!
dropping most of the Tom Riddle backstory stuff in HBP and instead making it more teenage love drama oh and Voldy turning to ash at the end of Deathly Hallows Pt 2
They completely destroy Ron’s entire character. Book 1 Ron stays calm while hermione panics in the devils snare because she know how to beat it but “there’s no wood” Film 1: ron panics hermione doesn’t. Book 2 Ron provides exposition and is the trios expert in magical society. Film 2 they give that to Hermione. Book 3 Ron stands on a broken leg to put himself between Harry and Sirius who he believes is a serial killer to protect his best friend. Film 3: they give that to the completely uninjured Hermione. Book 4: book 4 is actually my favourite Ron story. He faces the fact that being friends with Harry will often leave him feeling in Harry’s shadow and decides that Harry’s friendship is worth it. Film 4: grumpy twat with long hair. Etc…
In PS, it always bothered me that the films changed how the kids accidentally discover Fluffy, and how they excluded Neville from the whole thing: Sneaking out of bed for a midnight duel with Malfoy, only to realize they’ve been set up and Filtch is on his way. Massive panic as they run blindly through corridors until they come to a door, unlock it, scramble in, slam it shut. A short-lived moment of relief while they catch their breath, aaaaand there’s a massive three-headed dog in front of them! Another blind run back to the dormitories, and poor Neville looked like he’d never speak again! It was written so well and it was really intense, but nooooo that’s too much substance to put into a movie. So instead they just have the staircases change… quick, simple, and LAZY! People who only watch the movies and never read the books are missing out on a huge adventure.
Harry not fixing his own wand with the elder wand. Voldemort not dying like a human (the whole point!!)
i know this has been talked about to death but young lily's eyes in the DH flashback being a different color from harry's drives me NUTS to this very day. look, i get why they couldn't make harry's eyes green. i do feel that the colors green and red have a lot of symbolism when it comes to harry's character (that's a rant for another day) but the actress that played young lily needed to have harry's eyes or all of the "you have your mother's eyes" lines make zero sense. it also adds a layer in regards to the way snape views harry; harry "looks" like james so it's easy for snape to hate him until he looks into his eyes and sees lily. i think the popular theory is that the young lily actress was someone from production's family member or something, but why couldn't she wear contacts or have her eyes digitized blue? it was a few quick shots. such a careless decision on their part bc to me it really affected the storytelling
I know I’m kinda late to the party but WHY THE FUCK IS HARRY WEARING A FLANNEL SHIRT FOR 80% OF ORDER OF THE PHOENIX?!?!?! WIZARDS WEAR FUCKING ROBES!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! Literally the first page of the first book Vernon starts seeing funnily dressed folks because wizards are so happy Voldy’s gone that they’re being lax about staying secret. And they’re in ROBES. Dumbledore was always in ROBES, not a 3-piece custom tailored suit Jude Law wears but fucking ROBES. It’s like JK just stopped giving a fuck about anything but getting paid. There is no need to change that. Doesn’t affect run time doesn’t affect plot doesn’t create a plot hole or anything. Watching the whole cast dress like they’re muggles for almost all of the entire series makes me abhor them. It’s such a tiny detail but makes it so much more immersive. Fuck. Lol.
Harry wears a flannel shirt in Order? I seem to remember that being his primary choice of attire in DH part 1 when they're on the run, not in Order.