Yes another post...

[shirofan]

...but nothing worthwhile to say.

I was cajoled into taking my mother to see the new Harry Potter film (funny I thought people are supposed to take their eager kids, not their eager parents) and since I have nothing better to do I'll put thoughts up to prove I am paying more attention to this thing.

Comments

[lane]

Jason and I went to see the film and he was so horrified by how much was left out he offered to read the book to me. :P

I actually wondered what the point of Luna Lovegood's character was other than to introduce her to the story. I found she had very little screen and the way she described the death of her mother sounded almost comical.

I had the feeling that what should have been a tear jerker moment with the death of Sirius didn't have as much impact because his relationship with Harry didn't receive enough focus between the 4th and 5th films.

I think Chamber of Secrets is still my favorite of the films.

Incidentally, while the whole wizarding duels are fun to watch I constantly have to ask why the Death Eaters and Voldemort bother with anything other than that instant death curse.

[shirofan]

The purpose of Luna's character was to be a way of putting out Harry's account of what happened at the end of Goblet of Fire in the magazine that Luna's father is the editor of

[thejimi]

I've never read the books, but I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I have a hard time remembering the names of a lot of the characters (and I'm under the impression that a lot of the characters get a whole lot more time in the books), so at times I've felt I didn't understand a lot of inter-relationships. Sirius, for example--before this movie I had no idea how close he and Harry Potter were. If I'd have known, perhaps I would be more sympathetic to his death scene. Nevertheless, I thought Gary Oldman did a fantastic job with the role, and I also enjoyed the wierd girl (from your posts, I gather her name was Luna Lovegood).

Anyways, I feel that you hit it right on the head--it certainly does make me want to read the books. As it stand, I think the movie did a good job recognizing the fact that it would be impossible to include everything, and instead focused on making a clear, coherent, and interesting story that was just over 2 hours long. In my opinion, its what most book-to-movie adaptations should strive to do.

[shirofan]

The books are somewhat different to the films; mainly because Rowling's talent is more descriptive narrative and attention to detail in more mundane situations.

Her weak points tends to be describing action and use of coincidence to further the plot, which is somewhat odd when you consider that the films are more heavily based on her weaknesses than her strengths.

I only read the books because my mother was talking about them to me without any reference I could respond to; so she said I should read the first book or at least watch her dvd of the first film. I chose the book because it was faster; I have to read them now because otherwise she will and then ask questions I can't answer, so for the sake of expediency I just read them first.