Sacrilege:two bits I liked more than the book/Neville killing Nagini/Hallows

[Phyllis]

Dumbledad wrote:

<<But there were two changes (possibly three if you include Harry's
Cruciatus) where I preferred the movie over the book.>>

I don't think it's sacrilege to believe that some of the movie changes
worked better than the book.  For me, I enjoyed seeing Hermione and Ron
destroy the cup in the Chamber of Secrets first-hand - in the book, we
only hear about it after the fact, which seems rather anticlimactic for
such an important event.  We didn't see this scene first-hand in the
books because everything in the books is from Harry's POV, but the book
would have worked better (IMO) if Harry had gone down to the Chamber to
open it up for Ron and Hermione (having Ron mimic Parseltongue to open
the Chamber never quite worked for me - not after the stress on the
"heir of Slytherin" being the only one who can open up the Chamber). 
And it made more sense for Ron and Hermione to kiss for the first time
in private - I thought Harry's knowing expression that said (without
words) "It's about time" when he saw Ron and Hermione holding hands was
perfect.

Julie wrote:

<<Did anyone think Hermione was going to kill Nagini? I was prepared to
stand up and scream obscenities at the screen if it happened! And from
the roar of applause and approval when Neville finally did the deed, I
think the rest of the audience would have joined me!>

Yes - I was very afraid that either Hermione or Ron would kill Nagini
when it had to be Neville (he's the one who wins the final 10 points in
Book One to ensure the Gryffindor defeat over Slytherin, so he had to be
the one to finish off the final Horcrux to ensure the victory of
Gryffindor Harry over Slytherin Voldemort).  Neville's killing of Nagini
worked much better in the book - having him pull the sword out but not
do anything with it right away doesn't make sense, nor does it make
sense for him to rise dazed from his hospital bed and go in pursuit of
Nagini when Harry never told him the snake must be killed.

md wrote:

<<What muddied everything was the Hallows, a pointless plot that never
paid off>>

The movie definitely downplayed the Hallows - the whole point of Harry
choosing to pursue Horcruxes over Hallows wasn't mentioned, and they
left out Dumbledore's explanation of how Harry is the true master of
death by not using the reunited Hallows for his own selfish purposes. 
As someone mentioned previously, the Cloak wasn't even seen again after
Gringotts while it features prominently in the book.

~Phyllis



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