HP:HBP thoughtses
Alright, time to write a bit about Half Blood Prince!
I went with Max to catch the midnight showing and then just went again this afternoon with my mom. I'm not at all surprised that the midnight release was record-breaking - it was WAY crazier than the other releases have been! There were 8 sold-out showings at each of the two major movie theaters in the area (like within 15 minutes of my house) so that's 16 showings before you even get to the smaller, crappier, and/or farther theaters. We had been told the line would start forming at 9 but when we got there at like 9:04 or something there was already almost a full theater's worth of people in line ahead of us so it was obvious they'd let the line start forming way earlier than that. They started letting people into the theaters at about 10:30. We ended up in the first theater, and it was mostly full by the time we got in but we managed to find two decent seats so we didn't have to sit way too close or anything. At around 11:30 or so Max went out to get us a soda and when he came back he explained how long the line was and I'd guess it was still about 2 theaters worth of people at that point. And it was moving, of course - they had two people taking tickets so they can file people into the theaters pretty quickly but still not as fast as people were joining the line so the line was still super long. Ridiculous!
Overall, I was very happy with the movie. I think this one was definitely one of the best if not THE best of the movies. The only thing that MAJORLY annoys me is the random scene they just ADDED IN in which they SET FIRE TO THE BURROW OMG. I really, really don't understand it. And going along with that, I don't like that they skipped the major fight scene at the end. It doesn't make sense; I don't see what the reasoning was for adding an extra scene instead of that one.
Beyond that, there are of course a lot of things that get left out that I'm always kinda "awww" about but I can deal. I can always understand when things have to get left out, it's only when they change things for no apparent reason that I get pissed.
I was sort of surprised that they pulled all of the plotlines involving Bill and Fleur, Bill getting attacked by Greyback, and therefore the stuff about Tonks and Lupin. I'm not TOO upset to see that stuff go (partially because the casting of Fleur was SO awful that I'm glad to not have her around, haha) but it seems weird to me to not have Bill attacked. I kinda missed seeing Lupin's and Tonks's relationship develop because when I first read the book it was really neat to see all the signs of that and figure out what was happening, but again, it's very understandable that that was something that would have to get cut.
There are a few things that I really wish were in the movie because of how they affect the storyline of the next book/movie. One I'm really worried about is Dobby - they seem to cut the house-elf scenes a LOT because they're somewhat expendable and also take a lot of CG to put together, so they're one of the first things to go out the window. So Dobby doesn't show up in this movie at all, and he's also been missing in some of the other movies he would have been in. But...he really SHOULD be in one of the movies for DH, and now I'm worried that either they'll skip that part (which I'd be REALLY pissed about) or even if they do it, it will be hard for them to make it as touching as it should be because in the movies we haven't seen enough of Dobby and haven't seen how loyal to Harry he's always been.
Along the same lines...Neville and Luna. I always loved the part of the book where they're the only two who respond when Hermione signals the D.A. because they're the only two who were still checking the coins regularly because it meant so much to them. With the major fight scene missing from the movie, we miss out on that bit of cuteness, but we also miss out on some set up for the next movies. They should have been fighting alongside the others this time because they'll be fighting alongside them next time, and I think it's important to see how loyal to Harry they've been as well. And especially Neville - after everything he does in DH and all the huge changes we see in him from the kid who kept losing his toad and forgetting the passwords but still stood up to his friends when he felt it was right? I freaking LOVE watching Neville grow up and so in DH when he comes striding up and we get to see what he's been up to since Harry's been gone - oh man I just want to do little dances of Neville-awesomeness. And the fact that the D.A. means so much to him and all that really sets up that storyline, so I'm kinda sorry that was missing.
There's some other small stuff that I wish hadn't been left out, but nothing awful. I would have liked to see some of the touching scenes with Harry and Dumbledore - the whole "Dumbledore's man through and through" bit and then the part at the beginning when Dumbledore tells Harry he'll be safe because "you are with me" and then at the end he says he isn't worried because "I am with you." SO SWEET and really significant, so I'm sorry it got cut.
I wish the Quidditch didn't get sacrificed as usual - just like the house-elves, it's somewhat expendable and it's expensive because it's CG-heavy, but I hate that it ALWAYS gets sacrificed, movie after movie. And I don't understand why the Order was like...nonexistent in this movie. Hardly got mentioned, and a lot of the scenes where the Order came into play got changed - like Luna finding Harry on the train instead of Tonks. However, that specific scene I kinda liked - I always love the parts where Luna turns out to be right - she knows what's up with the thestrals, she had the right idea about Voldemort being back even when hardly anyone believed it, and after all she's in Ravenclaw so it's obvious that the Sorting Hat (and presumably therefore Dumbledore) know she's not just a kook. And in this scene she got to be right about the Wrackspurts - at least to some degree - which was cute.
I really LOVED the scenes with Ron and the love potion and Harry and the Felix. Rupert nailed the love potion scene out of the part - his love-struck facial expressions were perfect, and then everything else too. Ron cramming his way onto the narrow bed while Harry backs away awkwardly, toppling backwards off Slughorn's couch, and of course "These girls...they're gonna kill me!" And Harry on Felix was hilarious as well - I love "HI!" and "SIRRR!" and "Well then by all means come along!" and of course his impression of spider-pincers.
I loved all the scenes with Luna, of course - "It was like being with a friend!" and her dress for the Christmas party and the fact that she wears shoes to bed because she sleepwalks. Evanna is, as usual, so incredibly PERFECT as Luna. And at one point I said "I love her!" referring to Luna and Max goes "You ARE her!" Hahaha.
I thought Lavender was very good and all of the scenes involving her were well done. I especially liked the elaborate heart she drew on the window in the train, mostly because of Harry's awkward fidgeting with the armrest and then "...lovely!" And Cormac was good as well, although honestly I think Freddie would have made a better Cedric and Rob would have made a better Cormac!
The relationships were handled pretty well in my opinion. I wish the Quidditch scenes had been there so Ginny and Harry's kiss could have happened the way it was supposed to, but apart from that they were good. The scene where Harry is comforting Hermione and they're both being pretty open about their respective crushes was sort of weird. It was sweet, but it's pretty out of character. But it didn't bother me TOO much - J.K. Rowling is so bad at writing relationships that I don't mind if the movie strays from the book a bit in that area!
I really liked the way Fred and George's shop was depicted - I thought it looked exactly as it should and I'm really glad they didn't cut that scene. As always, I love the twins - "How much for this?" "Five Galleons." "Yeah, but how much for me?" "...five Galleons." "But I'm your brother!" "...ten Galleons!" (And Arnold was cute!)
Dumbledore's death was well done also. I thought it was kinda weird that everybody just hung back and didn't go near him until Harry showed up. Like apparently all the teachers just stood around like "Should we do something?" "Nah, let's wait for some kid to show up and do something." But the scene where everyone held up their wands in tribute was touching. And I'm glad they included a scene with Fawkes flying away from the castle. And of course the entire thing was so sad - I was literally SHAKING with sobs and I could hear other people sniffling and when we walked out of the theater everyone was wiping their eyes. Max was just laughing at me - he was like "you doing okay over there?" and I laughed and said "ha, clearly" or something like that and he jokingly goes "I thought you knew! Snape kills Dumbledore!" and I was still laughing but just said "Shut up!" as I mopped my face off with my sleeves and got eyeliner all over me in the process. Hahaha.
Hmm, what else? Tom Felton did really well. After five years of Draco being such a one-dimensional character it takes some seriously good acting to not only show another side of him and make it believable, but to actually make you feel SORRY for him. I really liked the way they portrayed Greyback - I think it makes sense to have him a little less human than Lupin. I loved Ron's Quidditch helmet and the tryout scene where McLaggen is making all these flashy saves - smack one away with his hand, kick one away, etc. - and Ron is stopping them all as well but it's the opposite of flashy - get bopped in the head with one, take another directly to the gut, etc.
I could probably go on much longer naming bits that I liked (and I'm sure there's other stuff I didn't like that I didn't mention) but I'm getting tired of writing so I'll end it here. Overall, I was very happy with it!
I went with Max to catch the midnight showing and then just went again this afternoon with my mom. I'm not at all surprised that the midnight release was record-breaking - it was WAY crazier than the other releases have been! There were 8 sold-out showings at each of the two major movie theaters in the area (like within 15 minutes of my house) so that's 16 showings before you even get to the smaller, crappier, and/or farther theaters. We had been told the line would start forming at 9 but when we got there at like 9:04 or something there was already almost a full theater's worth of people in line ahead of us so it was obvious they'd let the line start forming way earlier than that. They started letting people into the theaters at about 10:30. We ended up in the first theater, and it was mostly full by the time we got in but we managed to find two decent seats so we didn't have to sit way too close or anything. At around 11:30 or so Max went out to get us a soda and when he came back he explained how long the line was and I'd guess it was still about 2 theaters worth of people at that point. And it was moving, of course - they had two people taking tickets so they can file people into the theaters pretty quickly but still not as fast as people were joining the line so the line was still super long. Ridiculous!
Overall, I was very happy with the movie. I think this one was definitely one of the best if not THE best of the movies. The only thing that MAJORLY annoys me is the random scene they just ADDED IN in which they SET FIRE TO THE BURROW OMG. I really, really don't understand it. And going along with that, I don't like that they skipped the major fight scene at the end. It doesn't make sense; I don't see what the reasoning was for adding an extra scene instead of that one.
Beyond that, there are of course a lot of things that get left out that I'm always kinda "awww" about but I can deal. I can always understand when things have to get left out, it's only when they change things for no apparent reason that I get pissed.
I was sort of surprised that they pulled all of the plotlines involving Bill and Fleur, Bill getting attacked by Greyback, and therefore the stuff about Tonks and Lupin. I'm not TOO upset to see that stuff go (partially because the casting of Fleur was SO awful that I'm glad to not have her around, haha) but it seems weird to me to not have Bill attacked. I kinda missed seeing Lupin's and Tonks's relationship develop because when I first read the book it was really neat to see all the signs of that and figure out what was happening, but again, it's very understandable that that was something that would have to get cut.
There are a few things that I really wish were in the movie because of how they affect the storyline of the next book/movie. One I'm really worried about is Dobby - they seem to cut the house-elf scenes a LOT because they're somewhat expendable and also take a lot of CG to put together, so they're one of the first things to go out the window. So Dobby doesn't show up in this movie at all, and he's also been missing in some of the other movies he would have been in. But...he really SHOULD be in one of the movies for DH, and now I'm worried that either they'll skip that part (which I'd be REALLY pissed about) or even if they do it, it will be hard for them to make it as touching as it should be because in the movies we haven't seen enough of Dobby and haven't seen how loyal to Harry he's always been.
Along the same lines...Neville and Luna. I always loved the part of the book where they're the only two who respond when Hermione signals the D.A. because they're the only two who were still checking the coins regularly because it meant so much to them. With the major fight scene missing from the movie, we miss out on that bit of cuteness, but we also miss out on some set up for the next movies. They should have been fighting alongside the others this time because they'll be fighting alongside them next time, and I think it's important to see how loyal to Harry they've been as well. And especially Neville - after everything he does in DH and all the huge changes we see in him from the kid who kept losing his toad and forgetting the passwords but still stood up to his friends when he felt it was right? I freaking LOVE watching Neville grow up and so in DH when he comes striding up and we get to see what he's been up to since Harry's been gone - oh man I just want to do little dances of Neville-awesomeness. And the fact that the D.A. means so much to him and all that really sets up that storyline, so I'm kinda sorry that was missing.
There's some other small stuff that I wish hadn't been left out, but nothing awful. I would have liked to see some of the touching scenes with Harry and Dumbledore - the whole "Dumbledore's man through and through" bit and then the part at the beginning when Dumbledore tells Harry he'll be safe because "you are with me" and then at the end he says he isn't worried because "I am with you." SO SWEET and really significant, so I'm sorry it got cut.
I wish the Quidditch didn't get sacrificed as usual - just like the house-elves, it's somewhat expendable and it's expensive because it's CG-heavy, but I hate that it ALWAYS gets sacrificed, movie after movie. And I don't understand why the Order was like...nonexistent in this movie. Hardly got mentioned, and a lot of the scenes where the Order came into play got changed - like Luna finding Harry on the train instead of Tonks. However, that specific scene I kinda liked - I always love the parts where Luna turns out to be right - she knows what's up with the thestrals, she had the right idea about Voldemort being back even when hardly anyone believed it, and after all she's in Ravenclaw so it's obvious that the Sorting Hat (and presumably therefore Dumbledore) know she's not just a kook. And in this scene she got to be right about the Wrackspurts - at least to some degree - which was cute.
I really LOVED the scenes with Ron and the love potion and Harry and the Felix. Rupert nailed the love potion scene out of the part - his love-struck facial expressions were perfect, and then everything else too. Ron cramming his way onto the narrow bed while Harry backs away awkwardly, toppling backwards off Slughorn's couch, and of course "These girls...they're gonna kill me!" And Harry on Felix was hilarious as well - I love "HI!" and "SIRRR!" and "Well then by all means come along!" and of course his impression of spider-pincers.
I loved all the scenes with Luna, of course - "It was like being with a friend!" and her dress for the Christmas party and the fact that she wears shoes to bed because she sleepwalks. Evanna is, as usual, so incredibly PERFECT as Luna. And at one point I said "I love her!" referring to Luna and Max goes "You ARE her!" Hahaha.
I thought Lavender was very good and all of the scenes involving her were well done. I especially liked the elaborate heart she drew on the window in the train, mostly because of Harry's awkward fidgeting with the armrest and then "...lovely!" And Cormac was good as well, although honestly I think Freddie would have made a better Cedric and Rob would have made a better Cormac!
The relationships were handled pretty well in my opinion. I wish the Quidditch scenes had been there so Ginny and Harry's kiss could have happened the way it was supposed to, but apart from that they were good. The scene where Harry is comforting Hermione and they're both being pretty open about their respective crushes was sort of weird. It was sweet, but it's pretty out of character. But it didn't bother me TOO much - J.K. Rowling is so bad at writing relationships that I don't mind if the movie strays from the book a bit in that area!
I really liked the way Fred and George's shop was depicted - I thought it looked exactly as it should and I'm really glad they didn't cut that scene. As always, I love the twins - "How much for this?" "Five Galleons." "Yeah, but how much for me?" "...five Galleons." "But I'm your brother!" "...ten Galleons!" (And Arnold was cute!)
Dumbledore's death was well done also. I thought it was kinda weird that everybody just hung back and didn't go near him until Harry showed up. Like apparently all the teachers just stood around like "Should we do something?" "Nah, let's wait for some kid to show up and do something." But the scene where everyone held up their wands in tribute was touching. And I'm glad they included a scene with Fawkes flying away from the castle. And of course the entire thing was so sad - I was literally SHAKING with sobs and I could hear other people sniffling and when we walked out of the theater everyone was wiping their eyes. Max was just laughing at me - he was like "you doing okay over there?" and I laughed and said "ha, clearly" or something like that and he jokingly goes "I thought you knew! Snape kills Dumbledore!" and I was still laughing but just said "Shut up!" as I mopped my face off with my sleeves and got eyeliner all over me in the process. Hahaha.
Hmm, what else? Tom Felton did really well. After five years of Draco being such a one-dimensional character it takes some seriously good acting to not only show another side of him and make it believable, but to actually make you feel SORRY for him. I really liked the way they portrayed Greyback - I think it makes sense to have him a little less human than Lupin. I loved Ron's Quidditch helmet and the tryout scene where McLaggen is making all these flashy saves - smack one away with his hand, kick one away, etc. - and Ron is stopping them all as well but it's the opposite of flashy - get bopped in the head with one, take another directly to the gut, etc.
I could probably go on much longer naming bits that I liked (and I'm sure there's other stuff I didn't like that I didn't mention) but I'm getting tired of writing so I'll end it here. Overall, I was very happy with it!