[HPFGU-Movie] My OotP Review

[Karen]

On Jul 15, 2007, at 6:49 PM, Phyllis wrote:
> why she saw the Dementors when Fudge said
> Muggles can't see them.  She also seemed to lack a sense of urgency
> when she approached the boys after the Dementor attack.

Yeah, really agree here. This is, for some reason, the most  
disturbing choice made to me.
>   They also
> never explained that only the people to whom the prophecy refer can
> left the record from the shelves, which explains why Harry had to be
> lured to the Hall of Prophecy to retrieve it.

No, Harry asks Lucius and he explains it when Luscius and Bellatrix  
are facing down the DA sextet in the Hall of Prophecies.
>
> I didn't like that they turned Cho into the one who betrayed the DA.
> If they're going to make up new characters such as Nigel, why not
> instead include real characters such as Marietta?  It makes much more
> sense for Marietta, with her Ministry mother and lack of desire to be
> part of the DA in the first place, to be the sneak.

Now, see, I thought that was a good bit of character squishing since  
in the books he and Cho just kind of fall apart anyway.  Hermione  
says after the kiss scene she is worried about her mother being  
sacked from the ministry, so they merged the two there. It's just if  
you included Marrietta, you would then have also had to have extra  
scenes of Marrietta not wanting to join and extra scenes with Cho and  
Harry fighting about Marrietta.  They just threw in that she wasn't  
REALLY  a sneak because of the veritaserum. OK, not the best plot  
device in the world, but for me, it worked.
>
> I didn't think the Occlumency scenes were handled well.  Having Harry
> seated and wandless made him look as if he was just taking whatever
> was being thrown at him without attempting to fight it.  And while it
> would have been fine to show the memory of Harry's father tormenting
> Snape via Harry breaking through Snape's mind rather than by entering
> the Pensieve, it didn't make sense for Harry to be a part of the
> memory.

Except they had set a precedent having Snape being present in Harry's  
memories. (I thought a good addition was seeing Harry and Sirius hug  
and Snape is standing there and says, "I think I may vomit". )

> And I thought that part went by too fast, and didn't explain
> how Harry was distraught after seeing how his father treated Snape.
> I also think they lost another opportunity to build on Snape and
> Harry's hatred of one another, and how Harry is convinced Snape
> hasn't really changed sides.

I do agree that this could have been done with only a line or two  
when Snape snaps him out of it.
>
> Grawp.  I don't get why he's in the books in the first place, and he
> seemed just as out of place in the movie.  Is it just to reinforce
> the significance of being true to and loving one's family?  Someone
> at Phoenix Rising said that Rowling insisted on the moviemakers
> including Grawp, so there must be something significant about him.

Somehow the Giants are going to play a role at the end I think. I  
know, I've never been a Grawp fan either. I actually liked him better  
in the movie though.
>
> I didn't like that Hermione said she was "improvising" when she took
> Umbridge into the forest.  In addition to deviating from the book, it
> was not at all in keeping with her ultra-organised character.

But she is improvising in the book too? I mean, she didn't really  
have that planned.

>
>
> I was surprised that they left out the circular room with the
> rotating floor and the many doors from which to choose, as I think
> that would have made good theatre.  Although it would also take up
> time, which is presumably why it got dropped.

I personally wish a good bit of that had been edited out of the book  
as well!! I always felt that went on WAY too long. Mostly for the  
sake of Ron saying "I can see Uranus".

> My daughter asked how Fudge knew to show up at the end, which was a
> good question, since they omitted having the goblin and house-elf
> statutes come to life and Floo out to get him.

haha. I guess I just assume there is some kind of major alarm that  
goes off when the Main hall begins to explode.

>
> I thought Dan Radcliffe did a good job.  He's come a long way as an
> actor.  I thought Evanna Lynch was good, too.  I like how she
> skipped, rather than walked, everywhere she went.  Emma Watson needs
> to slow down her dialogue.

I think I'd be OK with Emma if she would just stop PANTING when she  
gets emotional. :D