OoP omitted scenes (spoilers)

[julie]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> 
wrote:
>
> Spoiler space. Don't read this post if you haven't read the reviews
> and don't want to know what will and won't be in the OoP film.
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> Does anyone else get the idea from the reviews posted so far that
> certain favorite (or important) scenes are going to be omitted? With
> no Mundungus, we're not going to see Figgy battering him with 
catfood
> cans. The touching scene in which Alice Longbottom gives Neville the
> gum wrapper is also being left out. So, apparently, is the delicious
> confrontation between Sirius Black and Snape at 12 GP, in which 
Snape
> gets Sirius's goat yet manages to inform him (snidely) that he's 
been
> seen in dog form by Lucius Malfoy on Platform 9 3/4.
> 
> I don't mind the omission of Dobby (one house-elf is enough, and 
they
> do need Kreacher), but the Longbottoms are important in relation to
> the Neville/Bellatrix conflict (will she Crucio him in the film?) 
and
> the Snape/Sirius confrontation is important because it provides 
Harry
> with his excuse for blaming Black's death on Snape. Figgy battering
> Mundungus isn't important, true, but it's a great bit of physical
> comedy (and Mundungus deserved it).

Julie:
I will miss these scenes too. I agree that the Sirius/Snape
confrontation is important in the books, though in the movies
there has been much less personal antagonism between Snape
and Harry than in the books. It makes me wonder how--or if--
Harry's hatred of Snape will come across in the HBP movie--
or will his hatred suddenly erupt at the moment Snape "kills"
Dumbledore? 

Carol:
> 
> More important, they've omitted Harry's excursion into the Pensieve
> and made it into a memory revealed by Harry's Protego, apparently--a
> bad decision, IMO, because it isn't really a plausible mechanism 
since
> Snape would certainly have stopped that memory immediately had he 
not
> put it in the Pensieve and writing it this way removes Harry's
> responsibility for invading Snape's memories. At least they're 
keeping
> "Snape's worst memory." And, IIRC, the scene where Harry informs 
Snape
> that Padfoot is being held where it's hidden (bad paraphrase, sorry)
> is also being kept--very important since it's Snape who sends the
> Order to the MoM.

Julie:
I don't like this change either. In the books Harry is at
least partially responsible for the Occlumency lessons
ending, while in the movie Snape apparently ends the lessons
in a snit after Harry sees this "worst memory." Unfortunately
the movies simply aren't able to portray the same character 
complexity as the books, and it shows strongly in movie!Snape,
who has been pretty much defanged through GOF, and in OotP
it sounds like he may just come off as petulant. (Even though
I love Alan Rickman in the role, I still think movie!Snape
and book!Snape bear almost no resemblance--except I do
imagine them both having that same beautifully silky voice!)

Additionally, in this worst memory, while Lily is present,
she does not defend Snape, nor does he call her a mudblood.
Which makes me wonder how much input JKR had. I know
she has asked in the past for scenes to be altered to 
reflect canon (or canon in upcoming books). If she had
oversight here and found Lily's noninvolvement unproblematic,
then one must assume this memory being Snape's worst (or
one of his worst) has no relation to Lily defending him
while he's in such a humiliating position, nor him calling
her a mudblood. At least in the movie, this worst memory
appears to be all about James and Sirius, and not Lily.

Carol:
> I can't remember whether Molly's Boggart is shown. I think that's 
cut,
> too. I can understand why since it takes time and might be confusing
> to people unfamiliar with the story, but it's a great scene as it
> reads in the book.
> 
> Carol, who can happily live without extendable ears and dung bombs 
and
> wishes it were possible to eliminate Grawp
>

Julie:
I could have done without Grawp too, though perhaps he has 
a role to play in DH, necessitating his presence in the OotP
movie. Or it could just be the director's choice for a visual
medium, figuring the special effects laden monster would
play better for the general audience than small moments like
Neville visiting his parents or Snape and Sirius spitting at
each other, or even Molly seeing her children all dead. I 
suspect the latter is actually the case.

Julie, still deterimined to enjoy the movies for what they are
and as a completely separate entity from the books.