thoughts on harry potter
Mar. 31st, 2010 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
archersangelWARNING! spoilers for all of the books & movies.
further HP thoughts can be found on my blogspot blog
since i'm re-reading the books & ABC ran the movies i had some thoughts about the stories floating around in my head.
first a random question; would the books/movies pass the bechdel test?
mostly they're about why some thing were changed from the books to the movies. why did they have an attack on the weasley home in the 6th movie when it wasn't in the book? some think it was because it was in several fan-fics. if that wasn't there, they could've had dumbledore's funeral or the attack on hogwarts. while i'm on the subject of the 6th book, why did they not have dumbledore put the hex on harry to "freeze" him & cover him with his invisibility cloak at the end because he wanted to make sure harry stayed safe? instead they had harry hide and do nothing while his mentor was killed. that was out of character for harry.
why was the house squeezed in the 5th movie? it was magicked, so it only appeared to be squeezed together.
why are both of the patil twins in griffindor? in the books padma was in griffinfor & parvati was in ravenclaw.
speaking of ravenclaw, why are their colors in the movies blue & gray and in the books they were blue & bronze?
why in the 4th movie they made it seem as if only girls went to the beauxbatons school & boys went to durmstrang? when in the books it's strongly hinted that they're both co-ed.
why is it in the 6th movie they have luna descover haeey stunned under his invisibility cloak on the train & in the book it was tonks? that could've been an opportunity for the character to be in the movie. are they saving her for the big 2-part 7th movie?
i drive my brother crazy pointing out the differences between the books & the movies.
the casting of these are pretty good, although some fans still bitch about daniel radcliffe having blue eyes & harry has green ones. the other two members of "the trio" emma watson as hermione & rupert grint as ron do well in their roles. i think richard harris was spot-on with dumbledore, too bad his time was up before the movies could all be finished. nothing against michael gambon who does nearly as well. i defy you to find a better snape than alan rickman. tom feldon does well as draco. evanna lynch is well-cast as luna.
there's foreshadowing with dumbledore saying that only a true griffindor could pull that sword from the sorting hat & in the last book neville does. in the second one harry tells dobby not to try to save his life again and he dies doing so. i teared up over that damned house-elf!
and there's a star wars element to these stories. an orphan boy raised by his aunt & uncle finds out his destiny is to face the big-bad guy. a bearded wizard becomes his mentor & is killed. there's 3 of them who go on this journey together. the other boy gets the smart, strong female. the orphan ends up with a redheaded woman. they use wands instead of lightsabers. no droids, maybe dobby the house-elf & harry's owl fill those roles? when voldemort & dumbledore had the big showdown in the minstry of magic in #5 (movie version) i half-expected voldemort to say; "when we last met i was but a student now i am the master" (or however the line went) snape is like vader in that he got some redemption at the end & wasn't exactly 100% evil.
rating the books. i thin 5 is my least favorite, harry was kind of whiny in that. 4 was a bit weak IMHO.
as for the movies; 4 was the weakest IMHO. it seemed very choppy & the boys all had long hair. it was a privite school, i don't think that would be allowed. was that some for of rebellion on the part of the actors? i wish chris columbus could've directed them all.
i keep wondering what will be in the 2-part seventh movie;
based on the one sneak-peak trailer i saw they will have at leas some of bill & fleur's wedding. they walking quickly down the street in dress clothes is what i'm basing it on.
will they short change the "raid" at the ministry of magic in favor ot the big battle at hogwarts?
and on that note; will the venture into gringott's bank get the short end of the stick?
will the search for all the remaining horcruxes be included, or will the number be whittled down?
will all the deaths in the book be shown or at least mentioned?
one presumes that all the deathly hallows will be included.
i bet the side trip to godric's hallow will be cut.
the weeks-long hiding of "the trio" will be greatly reduced, i'm sure. ron running off might be included.
dumbledore leaving theme the stuff in his will should be included, since it's what starts the search for the hallows.
i'm sure they will have the "19 years later" thing. i wonder who they will get for the oldecharacters?
i couldn't adapt a book for a movie, or in this case movies, i wouldn't know what to leave out. i wouldn't add stuff like the fight at the burrow in favor of dripping dumbledore's funeral & the fight at hogwarts like in movie #6.
further HP thoughts can be found on my blogspot blog
since i'm re-reading the books & ABC ran the movies i had some thoughts about the stories floating around in my head.
first a random question; would the books/movies pass the bechdel test?
mostly they're about why some thing were changed from the books to the movies. why did they have an attack on the weasley home in the 6th movie when it wasn't in the book? some think it was because it was in several fan-fics. if that wasn't there, they could've had dumbledore's funeral or the attack on hogwarts. while i'm on the subject of the 6th book, why did they not have dumbledore put the hex on harry to "freeze" him & cover him with his invisibility cloak at the end because he wanted to make sure harry stayed safe? instead they had harry hide and do nothing while his mentor was killed. that was out of character for harry.
why was the house squeezed in the 5th movie? it was magicked, so it only appeared to be squeezed together.
why are both of the patil twins in griffindor? in the books padma was in griffinfor & parvati was in ravenclaw.
speaking of ravenclaw, why are their colors in the movies blue & gray and in the books they were blue & bronze?
why in the 4th movie they made it seem as if only girls went to the beauxbatons school & boys went to durmstrang? when in the books it's strongly hinted that they're both co-ed.
why is it in the 6th movie they have luna descover haeey stunned under his invisibility cloak on the train & in the book it was tonks? that could've been an opportunity for the character to be in the movie. are they saving her for the big 2-part 7th movie?
i drive my brother crazy pointing out the differences between the books & the movies.
the casting of these are pretty good, although some fans still bitch about daniel radcliffe having blue eyes & harry has green ones. the other two members of "the trio" emma watson as hermione & rupert grint as ron do well in their roles. i think richard harris was spot-on with dumbledore, too bad his time was up before the movies could all be finished. nothing against michael gambon who does nearly as well. i defy you to find a better snape than alan rickman. tom feldon does well as draco. evanna lynch is well-cast as luna.
there's foreshadowing with dumbledore saying that only a true griffindor could pull that sword from the sorting hat & in the last book neville does. in the second one harry tells dobby not to try to save his life again and he dies doing so. i teared up over that damned house-elf!
and there's a star wars element to these stories. an orphan boy raised by his aunt & uncle finds out his destiny is to face the big-bad guy. a bearded wizard becomes his mentor & is killed. there's 3 of them who go on this journey together. the other boy gets the smart, strong female. the orphan ends up with a redheaded woman. they use wands instead of lightsabers. no droids, maybe dobby the house-elf & harry's owl fill those roles? when voldemort & dumbledore had the big showdown in the minstry of magic in #5 (movie version) i half-expected voldemort to say; "when we last met i was but a student now i am the master" (or however the line went) snape is like vader in that he got some redemption at the end & wasn't exactly 100% evil.
rating the books. i thin 5 is my least favorite, harry was kind of whiny in that. 4 was a bit weak IMHO.
as for the movies; 4 was the weakest IMHO. it seemed very choppy & the boys all had long hair. it was a privite school, i don't think that would be allowed. was that some for of rebellion on the part of the actors? i wish chris columbus could've directed them all.
i keep wondering what will be in the 2-part seventh movie;
based on the one sneak-peak trailer i saw they will have at leas some of bill & fleur's wedding. they walking quickly down the street in dress clothes is what i'm basing it on.
will they short change the "raid" at the ministry of magic in favor ot the big battle at hogwarts?
and on that note; will the venture into gringott's bank get the short end of the stick?
will the search for all the remaining horcruxes be included, or will the number be whittled down?
will all the deaths in the book be shown or at least mentioned?
one presumes that all the deathly hallows will be included.
i bet the side trip to godric's hallow will be cut.
the weeks-long hiding of "the trio" will be greatly reduced, i'm sure. ron running off might be included.
dumbledore leaving theme the stuff in his will should be included, since it's what starts the search for the hallows.
i'm sure they will have the "19 years later" thing. i wonder who they will get for the oldecharacters?
i couldn't adapt a book for a movie, or in this case movies, i wouldn't know what to leave out. i wouldn't add stuff like the fight at the burrow in favor of dripping dumbledore's funeral & the fight at hogwarts like in movie #6.
