The Problems with the DH movie

[Carol]

md:> 
> What it tells me is that they will be making DH a very, very simple film. 
> 
Carol responds:
I'm sure they would have done that if it were only one film, but the whole point of making it two films (apart from money) was to make it as faithful as possible to the book--to include as much as possible, I mean, and, please, please, no added scenes.  

md: 
> I saw a preview special that showed DD in the Dursely's in HPB but it was not in the film. I presume that scene would have covered Sirius's will. They can certainly go to 12GP without stating it belongs to Harry. 

Carol:
Or provide that tidbit in dialogue. It's important, I think, that we know that Kreacher is "Master Harry's" house-elf and has to obey him. They're bringing in Mundungus, IIRC, and it would be a pity not to have Kreacher hit him on the head with a saucepan. And they're definitely including Regulus. It only makes sense that we'd get Kreacher's transformation as well. (They also need Phineas Nigellus' portrait. How they'll get around that, I don't know.)

md:
Snapes role in the prophecy and his relationship with Lilly with simply vanish, it will come down to the one memory of DD telling Snape that Harry must die by Voldy's hand in the end and it will be played off as nothing more than Snape relaying DD last order.

Carol:
Good God, no! If it weren't for Snape's love of Lily, Harry wouldn't even *be* the Prophecy Boy. LV's promise to Snape to spare her gave Lily the choice to live that made her sacrifice possible (gave it magical power, I mean). And why on earth would Harry (who obeyed Snape in the HBP film only to see him "murder" Snape) act on that single memory with no proof that Snape was DDM from the moment that LV targeted Lily? Snape has to have a motive, and Lily is it, not to mention that she's the reason he has a doe Patronus. The filmmakers missed the boat by not making Snape more central in HBP (and making it clear in OoP that he sent the Order to the MoM). Now "The Prince's Tale" is all they have to make up for being remiss. I agree that it will be curtailed; some memories, such as Petunia on Platform 9 3/4 and James and Sirius being brats on the train, will be cut and others shortened, but Snape/Lily is absolutely central to the whole story. JKR will never agree to cutting "The Prince's Tale" to a single memory.

md:
 Dobby should have brought the gilly-weed in GOF and he should have been around in OOTP and HBP as an 'extra' as only a single line "now that he's free, Dobby works at Hogwarts" for an explanation.

Carol:
I agree that Dobby should have brought the gillyweed in GoF. It was completely out of character to have Neville steal it (as he must have done since Snape indicates that its missing, along with the Polyjuice ingredients). I suppose that they can work their way around that, maybe having the characters wish that they had Dobby rather than Kreacher at 12 GP. I'm more concerned about their not having Sirius mention his DE brother in the tapestry scene in OoP. That was a "sirius" oversight, especially given RAB at the end of HBP. (*DH* was almost ready to come out when OoP appeared in theaters. The writer and director *must* have known that he would be important; how could they not guess that he was Regulus?

md:
> Don't need to mention Fleur and Bill in HBP, the wedding will happen in DH as both Bill and Fleur are in the film and there's no reason to include Fleur without the wedding. 

Carol:
Still, they should have had Bill attacked by Fenrir Greyback, if not in the fight with the Order that they inexplicably cut (it would *not* have duplicated what happens in DH, which is on a much larger scale), then in the added attack on the Burrow, which *does* duplicate what happens in DH but would be somewhat justified if it included that attack. (Bill seems to be lightly scarred in the Shell Cottage scenes, but nothing like what I pictured from HBP, the book.) 

md:
> I do not know if Ted Tonks will happen in DH though, nor Harry, the 17 yr old, being the godfather becomes the parent for Ted before he's even 18. 
> 
Carol:
I think they'll have Ted Tonks just because his conversation with Dirk Cresswell and the two Goblins is almost the only source of news for HRH and tells them, among other things, that Snape has sent the (supposed) Sword of Gryffindor to the DEs for safekeeping. It sets up the later scene with the real sword and provides a hint (Snape's "cruel" detention, sending Neville, Ginny, and Luna to work with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest) that Snape is on the good side. If DH were a single film, they'd cut him, but I think he'll be in the two-film version. They may skip Andromeda, though.  

md: 
> Everything in the films has been "simplify, simplify, simplify" completely loosing the "put-the-clues-together" parts of the books. My favorite parts of re-reading the books is putting all the pieces together from book-to-book and films lack that.
> 
Carol:
I agree that all the films (except the first, which was about the mystery of the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone and why "Snape" wanted it, have skimped on the mystery element (though the question of who put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire and why does loom in the background of that film). But I think and hope that DH will be different. It should have bits about Dumbledore's past (though not in as much depth as in the book--for example, Harry has to find GG's portrait in Bathilda's house and drop it, providing Voldemort with the clue he needs to find the identity of the boy who stole the Elder Wand from Gregorovitch (who will definitely be in the film, as will the young GG). It also needs all the Snape scenes (with some memories condensed and others eliminated).

In my view, it has to include the opening DE meeting, the Seven Potters scene, the wedding, the confrontation with Rowle and Dolohov in the Muggle cafe, the flight to 12 GP, Kreacher's tale (complete with Regulus), Mundungus telling them about Umbridge and the locket, the MoM scene in which they Stun her and take the locket, Yaxley nearly catching Hermione and forcing them to go into hiding on the prolonged camping trip, Ron's struggle with the locket Horcrux and his departure, Godric's Hollow and Bathilda Nagini (I think HH will be under the Invisibility Cloak, no Polyjuice Potion involved), the memory of Voldemort killing the Potters, LV finding GG's photo, Harry's broken wand, the doe Patronus with Ron's return and his destruction of the locket Horcrux, Xenophilius Lovegood, the Snatchers, Malfoy Manor, Wormtail dying literally by his own hand, Dobby rescuing Harry and friends and being killed, Shell Cottage (maybe Lupin making Harry Teddy's godfather; why not?), Polyjuiced Hermione and the Gringotts break-in, Harry's vision of Voldemort's fury as he finds out about it and LV's search for the Horcruxes, Aberforth (how they'll deal with the mirror fragment is anybody's guess) and Portrait!Ariana, Neville and the DA, the "sacking" of Snape, the diadem and Fiendfyre, Snape's last scene with Voldemort and the attack by Nagini; Snape's amazing last bit of wandless magic, leaking multiple memories, not just one; Harry's visit to the Pensieve (curtailed); Fred's death and the first part of the battle of Hogwarts; Harry's walk to his "death" with his loved ones, Harry's willing self-sacrifice, "King's Cross" with Dead!DD, the battle of Hogwarts resumed (possibly with Slughorn and the House-Elves reinforcing the good guys), Bellatrix's battle with Molly, Harry's confrontation with LV, hopefully with some taunting and Snape's public vindication thrown in; the final spells, Expelliarmus and AK, and the epilogue.

I may have missed some crucial elements (Rita Skeeter's biography of DD has to fit in somewhere and we should get a glimpse of DD as ruthless manipulator in Snape's memories), but those are the scenes that strike me as crucial, and from what I've read, most of them will be in there. 

Carol, thinking that the screenwriter and director have done themselves a (and viewers) a great disservice by changing and cutting so much material in the earlier films (especially HBP and OoP) and hoping that they'll make up for it in DH