Hermione Granger and the Prisoner of Azkaban

[Tim Regan]

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<Ali>But, my biggest problem with the film was (IMO) the enhanced 
role of Hermione. She seemed to take the lead in so many things. In 
the book Hermione becomes a bit of a wreck, in the film she takes 
the lead in a lot of the action</Ali>

Yes, and no.

The "yes" bit that got under my skin was when Time-Travel!Hermione 
and Time-Travel!Harry went back to fix events. In the book (and the 
film) Hermione repeatedly drums it into Harry that they cannot 
interact with themselves: "Professor McGonagall told me what awful 
things have happened when wizards have meddled with time. Loads of 
them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!" Thus, 
when Time-Travel!Harry chooses to step forward and conjure up an 
amazing Patronus, it is a really astonishing moment. But in the 
film, Time-Travel!Hermione has already thrown stones into Hagrid's 
hut as an alert to her non-time-travel self, and she has made 
werewolf calls to distract Lupin. So in the film TimeTravel!Harry's 
Patronus is only the third intervention with the non-time-travel 
characters. In CoS she took Dumbledore's words, now Harry's thunder, 
what next?

The "no" bit that got under my skin was Hermione's storming out of 
Divination. Here's the book:

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" said Hermione loudly. "Not that ridiculous 
Grim again!"
Professor Trelawney raised her enormous eyes to Hermione's face. 
Parvati whispered something to Lavender, and they both glared at 
Hermione too. Professor Trelawney stood up, surveying Hermione with 
unmistakable anger.
"I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this 
class my dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the 
noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever 
meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane."
There was a moment's silence. Then --
"Fine!" said Hermione suddenly, getting up and cramming Unfogging 
the Future back into her bag. "Fine!" she repeated, swinging the bag 
over her shoulder and almost knocking Ron off his chair. "I give up! 
I'm leaving!"
And to the whole class's amazement, Hermione strode over to the 
trapdoor, kicked it open, and climbed down the ladder out of sight.

Now, though it's not explicit in the text, I get the impression that 
Hermione has got the upper hand here. She's clearly not mundane, so 
it is Hermione's interjection and Hermione's departure that stayed 
with me as the powerful elements of the scene. But in the film 
Professor Trelawney is given a different rebuttal to say. She is 
given far more eloquence, and hence it looks like Hermione is 
defeated and leaves in a sulk. Perhaps Cuaron's personal beliefs 
prevented him portraying Hermione's quest against Divination as a 
victory.

Cheers,

Dumbledad.