Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (film)

[DaemonSeid]

Things I was mad about....

1. Cho being the snitch

2. Very little done about Occlumency and Snape...along with that, Harry didn't have a chance to really confront Sirius about it like he did in the book

3. I could have swore that Petunia got a howler this time around...what happened?

4. Ron and Hermoine becoming prefects

5. and someone said it earlier....Sirius' detah just didn't go over quite like it did in the book...it was done so.....casually....in the movie. Was kinda looking fo rthe same kinda impact like......maybe Obi Wan dying or Gandalf's 'death' in FotR ...u know?

Sigh...can't wait for midnight on 7/21/07

[Lady Pi Phi]

I saw the movie on saturday and I loved it.

I have to admit at first I didn't really enjoy, because there were a lot of things omitted from the movie. But as I discussed it more with mum (someone who has never read any of the books), it dawned on me that these movies are not really written for the book reader. They are written for those who have never read the books.

The non-reder is only interested in the jist of the story, not the intricate plot points that are in the book. They want the "Coles Notes" version of things. I understand this better now. Yes it's disappointing not to see certain things on the big screen, but they only have so much time.

My only complaint, and like many of you, is the little changes in plot, (i.e. Neville finding the room of requirement, or Cho telling on the DA) in the movie, did upset me, because they were not necessary.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Lady Pi Phi

My only complaint, and like many of you, is the little changes in plot, (i.e. Neville finding the room of requirement, or Cho telling on the DA) in the movie, did upset me, because they were not necessary.

But I think, from a story-telling standpoint in a movie, they probably are necessary.

Movies tell stories differently from books; if they had stuck to the book, the movie would have been at least 6+ hours long and boring because the style of story-telling is different.

Neville (or someone other than Dobby) had to find the Room of Requirement because otherwise, we would have had to go into the whole thing about how Dobby now lives at Hogwarts, something none of the movies has addressed so far. It's cleaner from a movie story-telling to let one of our established characters find the room, and here it coulf be used to develop Neville a little.

Likewise with Cho. As I said before, using Cho to tell on the DA prevents the need to introduce an additional character and provides a reason for Harry and Cho not to end up together without going into the additional Valentine's Day scenes and the like.

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

But I think, from a story-telling standpoint in a movie, they probably are necessary....

Neville (or someone other than Dobby) had to find the Room of Requirement because otherwise, we would have had to go into the whole thing about how Dobby now lives at Hogwarts, something none of the movies has addressed so far. It's cleaner from a movie story-telling to let one of our established characters find the room, and here it coulf be used to develop Neville a little.

I think it would have been better for Harry to have found the room, becasue after all, it was Dobby who showed Harry the room. I don't think it was really necessary to have Neville find the room.

Likewise with Cho. As I said before, using Cho to tell on the DA prevents the need to introduce an additional character and provides a reason for Harry and Cho not to end up together without going into the additional Valentine's Day scenes and the like.

I disagree. It could easily have been "Marietta" who ratted them out. In the scene with with Umbridge giving the students the Veritaserum, one of them could have been Marietta. They wouldn't have to give her lines or really identify who she was. The readers of the books would have figured it out, and those who didn't read the books, would have figured it was just another student.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Lady Pi Phi

I think it would have been better for Harry to have found the room, becasue after all, it was Dobby who showed Harry the room. I don't think it was really necessary to have Neville find the room.



I disagree. It could easily have been "Marietta" who ratted them out. In the scene with with Umbridge giving the students the Veritaserum, one of them could have been Marietta. They wouldn't have to give her lines or really identify who she was. The readers of the books would have figured it out, and those who didn't read the books, would have figured it was just another student.

I guess from a movie standpoint....it was easier making Cho the bad person because trying to explain the relationship they had in the book would have stalled the movie down altho I would have liked ot have seen that done....remember the spell harmonie put on the list?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Lady Pi Phi

I think it would have been better for Harry to have found the room, becasue after all, it was Dobby who showed Harry the room. I don't think it was really necessary to have Neville find the room.

Maybe. But that's an argument about choice once the decision has made to deviate from the book, not an argument about whether the deviation from the book was "necessary" to begin with, which is what I was responding to.

I disagree. It could easily have been "Marietta" who ratted them out. In the scene with with Umbridge giving the students the Veritaserum, one of them could have been Marietta. They wouldn't have to give her lines or really identify who she was. The readers of the books would have figured it out, and those who didn't read the books, would have figured it was just another student.

But then you still have the problem of Harry and Cho. If Marietta Edgecombe is the tattler, then how does the filmmaker tell why Harry and Cho don't work out after the mistletoe kiss? That was a pretty big moment, so it can't just get dropped or sloughed off.

In the book, we see Harry and Cho growing a little closer and we follow Harry's butterflies about it all, but then after the disastrous Valentine's Day date at Madame Puddifoot's, Cho is very hurt and she and Harry basically break up. If the filmmaker puts the Madame Puddifoot scene in, then he also has to give Harry a reason to have to leave and go meet Hermione elsewhere, thereby making Cho hurt and angry. In the book, the reason that Hermione wanted Harry to meet her was so that he could give an interview to Rita Skeeter, which brings in the whole Quibbler story, also not in the movie. Perhaps that story line was left out since the movie version of GoF didn't mention that Skeeter was an illegal animagus, so the filmmaker would have had to come up with reasons why she's no longer working for the daily Prophet as well as why Hermione could get her to write a sympathetic story. You see how it's not hard to get a snowball going.

Under circumstances like these, a filmmaker may find it works much better to let Cho be the tattler and let that betrayal provide the motivation for Harry and Cho to part ways.

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Maybe. But that's an argument about choice once the decision has made to deviate from the book, not an argument about whether the deviation from the book was "necessary" to begin with, which is what I was responding to.

But then you still have the problem of Harry and Cho. If Marietta Edgecombe is the tattler, then how does the filmmaker tell why Harry and Cho don't work out after the mistletoe kiss? That was a pretty big moment, so it can't just get dropped or sloughed off.

In the book, we see Harry and Cho growing a little closer and we follow Harry's butterflies about it all, but then after the disastrous Valentine's Day date at Madame Puddifoot's, Cho is very hurt and she and Harry basically break up. If the filmmaker puts the Madame Puddifoot scene in, then he also has to give Harry a reason to have to leave and go meet Hermione elsewhere, thereby making Cho hurt and angry. In the book, the reason that Hermione wanted Harry to meet her was so that he could give an interview to Rita Skeeter, which brings in the whole Quibbler story, also not in the movie. Perhaps that story line was left out since the movie version of GoF didn't mention that Skeeter was an illegal animagus, so the filmmaker would have had to come up with reasons why she's no longer working for the daily Prophet as well as why Hermione could get her to write a sympathetic story. You see how it's not hard to get a snowball going.

Under circumstances like these, a filmmaker may find it works much better to let Cho be the tattler and let that betrayal provide the motivation for Harry and Cho to part ways.

Ok, I see your point. But I think it could have worked if we had seen Cho at the DA meetings with Marietta, and then Marietta in the scene with Umbridge and the Veritaserum, and again with Umbridge and when she breaks up the DA meetings. She wouldn't necessarily have to be a major character, but the audience would see she was a friend of Cho's (but not necessarily know that her Character's name was Marietta - because for the non-reader of the books it wouldn't matter), and because of this, Harry no longer likes Cho.

We all know teenagers are illogical, so it would make sense for Harry to no longer like Cho because of what her friend did.

I can see why the writers would have done it that way, but I think my way would make sense as well, and be more true (can I say that?) to the book.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Lady Pi Phi

I can see why the writers would have done it that way, but I think my way would make sense as well, and be more true (can I say that?) to the book.

You can indeed say that.

[SSS1365]

Originally Posted by Lady Pi Phi

I disagree. It could easily have been "Marietta" who ratted them out. In the scene with with Umbridge giving the students the Veritaserum, one of them could have been Marietta. They wouldn't have to give her lines or really identify who she was. The readers of the books would have figured it out, and those who didn't read the books, would have figured it was just another student.

But that wouldn't have provided a reason for Harry and Cho to break up without going into the whole Valentine's Day thing. They killed two birds with one stone this way, whether the faithful book readers like it or not.

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally Posted by SSS1365

But that wouldn't have provided a reason for Harry and Cho to break up without going into the whole Valentine's Day thing. They killed two birds with one stone this way, whether the faithful book readers like it or not.

I explained myself slightly better in a subsequent post. In a nutshell, Harry could have started to hate Cho based on what her friend did. It wouldn't be completely far fetched, because we all know how illogical teens can be.

[SSS1365]

Originally Posted by Lady Pi Phi

I explained myself slightly better in a subsequent post. In a nutshell, Harry could have started to hate Cho based on what her friend did. It wouldn't be completely far fetched, because we all know how illogical teens can be.

I guess I can see that, but I think that would have actually annoyed me more than just having Cho be the one to out the DA, because either way it's still not true to the book and Harry would just be an idiot.

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Things I was mad about....


3. I could have swore that Petunia got a howler this time around...what happened?

They cut it. She received a howler from DD when she kicked Harry out saying 'remember my last'. I loved that part of the book and was seriously bummed when they cut it. But then again they have been making the Dursley's parts smaller and smaller and smaller since movie one.