“First sign of madness, talking to your own head” – Thoughts Before Harry Potter

I haven’t seen the new Harry Potter movie yet.

*ducks any flying objects thrown her way*

Don’t worry I do intend to see it. I’m even taking my mom who is also a HP fan. I am, however, extremely nervous about how well the film is done.

You see, I’ve watched the HP films with growing dislike. I’m a huge fan of the books. I’ve attended midnight release parties and waited in lines for ages. I’ve stayed up all night reading the just released book from cover to cover. I’ve devoured fanfictions set in the fandom and even written a few myself. Heck, I even entered (and won) a costume contest dressed up as Ginny Weasley in her seventh year at the last book release party.

And yet I can’t bring myself to like the movies. I’m currently rewatching them in hopes that I’ll be able to look past the bad taste that they put in my mouth and be able to enjoy the newest one. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.

For me, a self-proclaimed snob in regards to many fandoms, the movies simply leave out and change too much from the original source material. Yes, I realize you’re trying to cram larger and larger novels into a single movie not over 2 hours long but there are some things that are being left out that end up kinda crucial to the plot later on. Take the third book and movie “Prisoner of Azkaban” for example. In the book they reveal not only the authors of the Marauder’s Map (Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs) but also explain who those nicknames belong to. In the movie you see the author’s names on the map but you never hear who they were. It’s important to realize why each one of the “Marauders” had their particular name. In later movies, Pettigrew is referred to as Wormtail but there was never an explanation in the films about that name. Maybe they expect you to have read the novels. Maybe they expect you to just not remember the map authors or not question at all.

Maybe they just left out the wrong things in the movies.

As the movies continued I was more and more disappointed with the scenes they chose to leave out and the things they changed around. The fourth movie was especially disappointing with the complete lack of Snape’s scenes as he was rather important in the book. Now we’re to the final movie which has been split into two parts. The very fact that they split it into two full length movies gives me hope for it. Of course, I also had hope for the Star Wars prequels and we saw how those turned out.

I have friends that love both for being what they are. I sometimes wish I could share their views but I’m enough of a snob to be unable to separate the two. Instead I often describe the movies as being made by someone who just maybe glanced at the dustjacket of a Harry Potter book in the store.

So I’ll go see the new movie this weekend and that will determine if I’ll decide to see the final part in theaters next year or if I’ll wait for the DVD. (And I’ve done it. I didn’t see Revenge of the Sith until about a year ago.)

For those of you that might have seen it what were your thoughts on it? Did it do the final book justice? Are you looking forward to the final installment next year?

Written by: Elf Writer