Thursday, July 12, 2007

All I'm asking for is a little bit of continuity

I am a reasonably intelligent person. I have read the Harry Potter series 4 times through now, and I am a good reader. I take in what I read; I remember it. I have had countless discussions with friends and loved ones about these books. I love the Harry Potter books. I feel like I know them fairly well. I actually pride myself in the Harry Potter knowledge that I feel I have.

I watched a little movie tonight called Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. The title is one of the very few things that this movie and the actual book of the same name have in common.

I HATED IT.

What a complete disappointment! I was so excited about this movie. I couldn't wait to see how they played off Umbridge, Fred & George, Cho, the DA, the big fight at the Ministry of Magic....it had all the makings of a really great movie.

It's REALLY not that difficult to read a book and then write a screenplay closely related. I mean, if all else fails, when you write a scene the book is RIGHT THERE to reference. So it would be quite easy for someone to say "Hey! That doesn't even happen in the book - why are we putting it in the movie?" or "No, that's not who does/says/thinks that in the book, so-n-so is." Or even "Hey, remember in the last movie how that WASN'T LIKE THAT?" Seriously...who is the moron they have watching over production to make sure that it kind of sort of resembles the book they are trying to bring to life??? Was he/she/it on drugs??

I get that it would be impossible to make a movie that was word-for-word like a book, especially one as lengthy and in-depth as this book was. I'm not stupid - I know studios aren't going to fork over that kind of cash and even if they did, I'd be one of the only people out there would would actually sit through a 6 hour movie. But come on. At least take the parts that you are actually putting in the movie and make them accurate! Even just a little bit. Don't screw things up so bad that when the credits roll I actually have to ask outloud what book they based that on.

I'm sure if you've never read the Harry Potter books then you'd probably be stupid enough to actually enjoy this movie. You might even think that you have no need to read the book now because you've seen the movie. You'd be very wrong.

No Quidditch. No St. Mungo's. No Dobby. No Pensieve. No flying brains. No broken time turners. No Howler from Dumbledore. No swamps in the halls. Barely any Hagrid. Not even the great scene where McGonagall's class is observed by Umbridge and the two have words.

Utter disappointment. I hated this movie so much that I don't even think I can bring myself to watch the next one that comes out. Not if they're going to make it without any regard whatsoever to the book.

1 comment:

{S} said...

WOW!! I'm so sorry you were so disappointed. I haven't read the book or seen the movie yet. But my husband did and he hated it too. He was so bored with it he fell asleep and was in a rotten mood when he got home. :~(