Movie Length - (was: Re: Another casting for HBP)

[Steve]

---  "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> Missy Gallant wrote: 
> >...But you MUST remember, I'm not a fan of the fifth movie-
> I felt the whole movie was far too rushed.
> 
> Carol responds:
> I agree. The longest book gets the shortest film. What kind of
> logic is that? And key scenes were omitted that will cause 
> problems later. But I'm hoping that with Steve Kloves back as
> screenwriter and all the books in print, the sixth film won't
> be plagued by similar mistakes.
> 
> Carol, happy that this list is still accessible and wondering
> what's up at the main one
>

bboyminn:

I'm conflicted on the issue of the length and quality of the
latest (OotP) movie.

I often wonder if people who haven't read the books can make
any sense of the movies at all. Whenever one of the older
HP movies appears on TV, my brother, who has not read the books,
he more into history than fiction, invariably call me up during
the commercial break to ask me to explain something. Though I
must say that sometimes the TV versions are cut even thinner
than the theater versions.

I think 'whats his name', the guy who directed OotP, showed that
he can craft an excellent movie. I thought the look and flow
of OotP was much better than the other movies, but with out
a doubt, it was cut too short. 

Why should I care about any given situation or person when 
that situation or person is so poorly developed? More important
than 'why should I care' is 'how can I care' about a person
or situation that is so remote and foreign to me? 

I mean, why should I even care about Harry, other than he 
provides a nice distraction every couple of years? Ron had
been reduced to a 'tag along'. Hermione is an annoying 
super hero, though not a very good one. Neville, who I dearly
love, has been reduced to a shadow moving around in the 
background. 

Further, without a doubt, there are many aspects necessary for
the final book that have been very short changed or eliminated
in the previous movies. They are running out of time and
movies to get thing back on track. Now that the series is
finished, it should be clear what is important and what is 
not. Even more so, it should be clear to them WHO IS 
IMPORTANT and who is not. Neville, Kreacher, and Mundungus
do seem important.

Each adventure in the final book, while on the surface may
seem a waste, actually bring the Trio closer to the truth,
and to the resolution of the plot. I think they need to edit
with extreme caution from this point on. 

One of the reasons some fantasy movies work and some don't is
because some writer/directors believe they need to tell the
story faithfully. Those movie work - Narnia, Potter, LotR, 
though they just barely manage to tell the story. Yet, movie
like Eragon that I thought had great potential were a flop
simply because they couldn't be bother to actually tell the
story. By not telling the story, the failed to make the heroes
in any way sympathetic. In the books, I very much DO care 
about Eragon, but his character and the story were do poorly
developed in the movie that I didn't care because I didn't 
know him.

The Eragon series had great actors in it, and had great 
potential, but the writer/producer/director failed miserably
to realize that potential. The worst part is for both the
faithful readers and the movie producers is that by failing
in the first movie, they have in essence doom an entire
series of movies. Eragon could have been a big franchise
worth several billion dollars, if only they could have been
bothered to use the talent they had, and created a decent
introduction to the series.

The Harry Potter series just barely realizes that potential.
I'm not sure if I would care about these characters or movies
at all if I hadn't read the books. But since I have read
the books I am more than happy to support the movies. But
again, they are running out of time, things need to happen for
the final movie to work, and things need to happen IN the 
final movie for it to work. It would be a shame to bring the
franchise this far only to cut the heart out of it in the
final chapter.

Just a bit of rambling.

Steve/bboyminn