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Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 04:39
by TheCraw
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So, being a gen-you-wine “Potter-Head” I was first in line today to see Half-Blood Prince.

So sad, so… very… sad.

It was an interesting movie. Nice special effects.
Disjointed enough however that one needed to have seen all the previous movies and/or read the books to follow the plot.
...HOWEVER, it bears little resemblance to the aforementioned books.

Really. I can forgive replacing the actions of one character with another character, to save time, I can even forgive eliminating whole chapters for the sake of brevity, but to change scenes, edit whole parts, and invent whole chapters???

Beware, below, there be SPOILERS! Don’t read if you haven’t watched!


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Some examples of lost scenes:

Dumbledore confronting the Dursley’s? Gone.

The invention of a fight at the burrow, including the destruction of the whole house? Really? Where’s Bill & Fleur going to get married next movie? (Oh that’s right, in the movies, they AREN’T! Heck, they aren’t even in –this- movie!)

The “Meeting of the Ministers” scene? Gone. Heck there’s absolutely NO sign of Scrimgeour –anywhere- in the whole movie!

Tonks rescuing Harry from the train? Nope, now it’s Luna, looking for Wrackspurts! (???)

The slow build up leading to the Quiddich victory kiss? Gone. Now just a “close your eyes” peck in the Room of Requirement, and that was –nothing-!!

The two months of Harry & Ginny dating? Gone.

Harry breaking up with Ginny to protect her? Gone!

Harry’s ownership of Grimmauld Place and Kreacher? (Key for the next movie) Gone.

The Gaunt house flash-backs? Both gone. And with them any mention of Merope, Voldemort’s mother. Gone too the mention of her locket by Caractacus Burke.

The memories of Hokey the house elf, and of Dumbledore’s job interview with Voldemort? (Key for the next movie) Gone. In fact, all references to the valuable heirlooms such as Hufflepuff’s cup are gone.

Crabb & Goyle polyjuiceing into girls to stand watch? Funny, but… gone.

Snapes “Defense Against the Dark Arts” lessons? Gone.

Apparition lessons and test? Gone.

Hermione & Ron’s Prefect status? (Well, since it wasn’t mentioned LAST film, why mention it now?)

Harry’s appointment as Quiddich captain? (No mentions, only implied during the tryouts)

Mundungus stealing Sirius’ property? (KEY for the next movie) Gone.

Snap’s betrayal of Trelawney’s prophecy to Voldemort? (HUGE!) Gone!!!

Harry petrified by Dumbledoor to protect him? GONE!

The Hogwarts battle between Death Eaters and Order members? (and Bill’s disfigurement?) GONE!!

Dumbledore’s funeral? GONE!!!!

…oh sure, we’ll probably get to see a few of the minor bits I’ve mentioned in the “deleted scenes” portion of the “Deluxe” version of the DVD, but for the screen version, We get such add-on scenes as:
Harry wandering the underground, and chatting up a waitress??
The aforementioned Burrow fight and subsequent burning??

Not to mention, Harry NOT petrified, but willingly hiding and watching Dumbledore’s assassination? (Does anyone besides me see how that fundamentally would change Harry’s view of himself?) Yeash!

All in all, I am happy they are making Harry Potter movies, but they are –nothing- compared to the books, and THIS one should be prefaced with “Loosely based on the novel by J. K. Rowling”!!

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Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 05:10
by ak47
As a fellow potter hed i agree on all acounts. The movie was a good movie, but did nothing towards the actual series. They are either going to have to be very clever to make the next movies (yes movies, gaddamn you warner brothers) make sense with the previous ones

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 05:27
by rshivy
Go back to your old avatar! The wise old man! :D

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 06:19
by TheCraw
rshivy wrote:Go back to your old avatar! The wise old man! :D

Um, a -bit- off-topic, but I suspect I will have to take a poll soon on which avatar to use. (Look for it soon in your local grocer’s freezer!)

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 06:36
by Firestorm94
Hmm, makes me not want to see it.

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 06:38
by cs
That's sad, but not particularly surprising. The trend in all of the HP movies has been increasingly to leave out things integral to the books. Frankly, it's inevitable--the books have gotten longer and more complex, and there's no way to go LOTR and make 4 hour movies when a big chunk of the target market is young. All you can do is cut 'em down to movie size.

I'm actually pretty happy they decided to turn the seventh book into two movies--it will probably far surpass the more recent movies simply b/c they can get more of the plot into the movies.

Frankly, I tend to think of the movies as an impressionist version of the novels. The elements are there, and, if you look at them from distance (or while slightly intoxicated, which I find more doable), they do sort of look like the books.

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 07:06
by cs
TheCraw wrote:.
So, being a gen-you-wine “Potter-Head” I was first in line today to see Half-Blood Prince.


And should it be Potter-Head or Pothead? That would go well with your title: Harry Pothead and the Half-Baked Prince.

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 10:48
by Martz
Read the book but not going to bother with the movie just because I'm going to get frustated by the lack of story line.

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 15:36
by TheCraw
Martz wrote:Read the book but not going to bother with the movie just because I'm going to get frustated by the lack of story line.

Director: “Storyline!!??! (smacks forehead) I knew I forgot something!!” :roll:

Re: Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie

PostPosted: 17 Jul 2009, 17:51
by Martz
Yeah they do just seem like a random series of events these movies. ;P