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Saturday, July 18, 2009

The gratuitous Harry Potter movie review

For those that don't know me well, you should know one thing: I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I don't get freaky with it and dress up or anything, but I did go buy Deathly Hallows the night it came out, and I stayed up all night that night reading it through to the end. I've read each book multiple times even, and know them backwards and forwards. So at times, watching the movies is hard. Because you know movies are always disappointments in comparison to the books. Some worse than others, as the instance with Battlefield Earth. (Tangent-if you saw the movie Battlefield Earth, but have not read the book, the book was NOT that horrible. In fact, the book was amazing and awesome, and the movie made me weep openly with it's terribleness. Well, not really, but it WAS that bad. So go read the book.)

So anyways, I try to not get too wrapped up in the discrepancies. Sometimes I am able to do that, other times I am not. (Don't even get me started on Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, unless you want to hear ranting.)

The hubby surprised me with tickets last night to go see HP6. I had been hoping to take Ryan along with me, and the hubby graciously allowed me to do that. We got there early, because I didn't know how crowded it would be, and I am picky about where I sit in the movie theater. We were the first ones in the theater, and found just the right spot to sit down. It turns out that I needn't have worried though. Including me and Ryan, there were only six people in the entire theater. Seven if you count the cricket who chirped loudly through the first twenty minutes of the movie until a theater worker came in with a flashlight.

Now on to the nitty gritty. The obvious disclaimer-if you have not seen the movie, and have not read the books, MAJOR spoilers ahead.

First off, I have to say it was nice to see some decent quidditch screen time again. It was such a fun part of the first two movies, and only touched on in the third. So I must admit I grinned like a fool through that sequence.

Second, the Harry and Ginny stuff. Something about it just didn't sit right with me. They didn't play that one right, although I need more time to think on what exactly I think they should have done with it. Maybe they underplayed it on Harry's part? I dunno.

Third, Tom Felton as Draco. When reading the book, I had loved watching the transformation of the Malfoys in the sixth and seventh books. Seeing that they really aren't as evil as they want to believe, and in the end, realizing that they care about their family more than anything else. I think Tom Felton played the role well in this movie, showing the stress of his task in a believable way. I kind of missed him befriending Moaning Myrtle, but it wasn't a super important part of the story, so I understand why it was left out.

Now, a major gripe a lot of people had with the film. Dumbledore's death, and the lack of a funeral. The fact that they just had Dumbledore tell Harry to not interfere, and him obeying, totally undermines the character of Harry. I mean, would he really have just stood there watching as Draco threatened to kill Dumbledore? Really? The answer is a firm no. Which is why in the book, Dumbledore was holding Harry still with an unspoken spell. Because Dumbledore knew Harry, and knew he would not just stand aside and let someone kill Dumbledore. So that part was totally done wrong.

The part with lighting the wands and making the dark mark go away was very nice, however, where was the huge funeral? The phoenix just flying away at the end of the movie? Where was his heartbreaking song, that when it was over Harry finally felt the full effect of Dumbledore's death? I have to agree with Aimee's post that the funeral was such an emotional part of the sixth book, and leaving it out was a travesty. Surely they could have left out the part with burning down the Weasley's house to put in a proper funeral. (and for those that haven't read the books, the Weasley's house thing was totally made up and didn't happen. So adding something that big in, and leaving out something so important, is kind of adding insult to injury.)

I also would have liked to have seen Bill. I understand why they would have left the Bill and Fleur stuff out, but I still would have liked to have seen it. I'm not sure how they are going to get around not having Bill and Fleur in the last movies, because a few important things happen at their house. It will probably be dealt with in a way that I won't be happy about.

Anyways, the movie wasn't bad. I enjoyed it, and am eagerly anticipating the last two movies. Although I will say if you haven't read the books, you'll probably be completely lost and confused through this movie, because they do rush through the important stuff. They really only linger on the teenage romance and angst drama. Which was a big part of the book, but I am still confused why they couldn't have left a scene or two out to devote more time to something more important. Like ahem, a funeral.

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