I went to see the newest Potter movie tonight, and was not disappointed. It was very well done, and a fair adaptation of the book - and I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical going in, because book 6 is so full, I didn't know how they'd do it justice in a 2.5 hour movie.
The one thing I would question is that the book spends a lot of time helping Harry and the reader understand the psychology of Voldemort, which the movie spends virtually no time on at all. I can understand, I suppose, why they'd want to cut a lot of that out, because it's more heady and dialogue-y and doesn't lend itself so well to action and keeping the story clipping along. But it's kind of important to undergirding the 7th book, or at least, I think it is.
They also added an attack that's not in the book, which I find kind of curious - given all they had to cut out, why would they "waste" minutes on something that wasn't originally part of the story? Unless it was an attempt to convey the terror and danger of the times, that no one and no place is really safe (admittedly, you don't get a strong sense of that in the rest of the film).
Not related to the quality of the movie, but rather the quality of the movie-viewing experience: somebody brought their small child with them (like, 3 or 4 years old), who kept talking, loudly, through the first half of the film. I think they finally just left so they would quit annoying the other patrons, but I seriously wonder why on earth they would have brought a child that young to this movie in the first place. Yes, the Harry Potter series was written for children, but the intended audience was 'tweens and older - not toddlers.
People - it's a series about the epic battle between good and evil, and even if you don't know any better because you haven't read the books, the tone turned distinctly darker in the fourth movie (and book), when Voldmort returned in the flesh. The last two movies have seen the death of a Hogwarts student, and of Harry's godfather - you don't think it's going to get even darker before good wins the day? And you think it's appropriate to scare your toddler with this right before bedtime?
Sigh. . .Rich Melheim is so right. . .the world needs more parents raising children, not children raising children (a comment that has everything to do with maturity and nothing to do with age).
Ok, getting off the soapbox now,
C.
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