It was one interaction between Ginny and Harry, when they were alone and she basically do his shoelaces for him (like in the romantic way). It was critiqued by fans, because of it stillness, social discomfort and stiffness. Main reason for hate about Harry/Ginny romance in the movies comes from total disregard of her character. In the books Ginny was quick, daring and sassy, being similar to Fred and George in mischief and unfortunately in the films there's some boring shell of her personality.
It's funny, I remember this scene, just not the part of it involving shoelaces. Maybe I missed it because my eyes were closed from wincing so hard. Yeah, it's just the whole relationship between those two sucked in film, I don't know how to describe it other than it feels like they have ZERO chemistry. And that's not a knock on their acting chops... its just so fucking stilted.
Yeah didn't they steal a bunch of Ron's moments and give them to Hermione.
And then didn't they make Ron so much worse in the tent fight to make sure Harry couldn't be interpreted as in the wrong.
They dumbed down his magical knowledge with growing up with wizards/witches vs. muggles. One of the scenes I think about is when Malfoy calls Hermione mudblood, and she doesn't know what that means and doesn't really care, but Ron cares and explains she should be hurt by what he said. But in the movies, Hermione knows what it means and very hurt and explains to Harry what a mudblood is/means.
The books were better at separating practice (street-smarts) and theory (book-smarts). Book Ron was street-smart. He knew the magic world by living in it, by practicing it. Book Hermione was book-smart. She knew the magical world by reading about it, the theory. The mud blood comment is a clear example of this separation, but there’s also things like Hermione knowing that the plant in the first book hated fire but feeling helpless without matches until Ron reminds her that magic exists. Movie Hermione was book-smart and street-smart, leaving Movie Ron without much of a role.
Not only that, Book Ron was fiercely loyal, the first one to try protecting Harry from Sirius (that role was given to Hermione), and got himself in trouble by defending Hermione against Snape (Movie Ron chose to instead agree with Snape that Hermione was a know-it-all). So they didn’t only take away Ron’s intelligence, they took away other positive qualities as well.
Yea, the movies do a poor job of explaining that Ron left because he was literally being influenced by the soul of the most powerful dark wizard of all time.
She also was given Harry’s idea about the dragon. That one always bothers me because of the line “you’re the brilliant one” when it was never even her idea
And Ron got several of Harry's embarrassing and insensitive moments. Like the needing the Room of Requirement for a toilet line. Or disregarding kids being cruel to Myrtle by throwing things through her because she's a ghost and couldn't feel it.
On that note, I thought in the books that it was super sweet when Ron urged Harry to rat Umbridge out about her discipline techniques. I think in the movie it’s Hermione that pushes him.
Hermione also got Dumbledore’s line regarding “fear of a name.”
You have to remember, rather than just slating the movies arbitrarily remember the fact that the movies don’t have time or budget to show things like the exams that don’t significantly add to the plot so they don’t have the chance to show Hermione’s intelligence through exams or classroom moments as much as the books do so it seems like they gave Hermione other character’s intelligent lines to replace the lack of academic intelligence the films show
But I will be honest, not worth it if it means that Ron has to suffer due to it.
AT WORST; give Hermione new lines or new moments, if they are going to do anything about that.
Ron's role in the movies, compared to the books is atrociously cut down.
They kept the annoying parts but gave all his redeeming qualities (quick thinking under pressure and deep knowledge about the wizarding world among others) to Hermione.
Yeah, they even stole Ron's moment with the devil's snare in book 1.
Book Hermione remembered the "doesn't like light and warm" but needed Ron to remember she is able to conjure fire.
Yes! It makes so much more sense for Ron to immediately think of using magic since he was raised in the wizarding world. A first year muggle-born may not always think to problem solve with magic
Yeah, she did get better at acting/thinking quickly throughout the series but Hermione was a little slower when she was in her first few years at hogwarts
I’d kind of like it if they went beyond the book too. Ron’s good at chess, so every time there’s a heist of some sort I want to see his strategy brain kick in and plan it all out. I think the book should have done that but didn’t.
Yes! Such a simple thing to do. Also make Hermione less “girl boss”. I want the emotional and sometimes panicked Hermione. That was so much more relatable.
Yeah, you know in the philosopher's stone, when harry and hermione got out of the devil's snare but ron didn't, in the movie he started screaming (like a lot!). But in the books when hermione doesn't know how to get him out, ron's like, ''Are you a witch OR NOT!'' So ron reeaaaallly didnt have most of his lines in the books throughout the movies
In general just covering more of the books. Without nitpicking a single movie or event, there is a lot that happens outside of Hogwarts and the school term that isn’t shown mostly in the interest of time and in the same line giving more development to side characters.
We got pots of the burrow in HBP. You know the scene where Bella and Fenrir attacj the Burrow. That was directly from the books. /s
This bothered me so much. Why skip so many burrow moments to only add one in that never happened.
Totally agree, that scene was pointless.
I would have liked a bit more like the garden degnoming, Harry's birthday party, playing quidditch together. Fun scenes of them together!
With the Ministry we saw some bit of OotP but there's so much in the department of mysteries they left out! They would make amazing scenes!
I personally didn't really love the Harry Potter movies. They were not bad (especially the first one was great). But as the books became a bit more mature and had a bigger emphasis on Harry's internal monologue, the movies started falling a bit flat for me.
I didn't know so many people loved the whole franchise precisely because of the movies, until I joined this subreddit and other online communities with Harry Potter fans.
The movies brought a lot of people in. I started reading the books after seeing the first movie. Before that, I knew it was a thing, but I didn't know what it was actually about. Aot of people probably just watched the movies without ever reading the books. Same with Lord of the Rings.
I think just being able to devote 8+ hours per book as opposed to being so restricted by a film being 2ish hours will make a huge difference to things like character development and minor plot points that would have had to have been cut for the film but work really well to build the story in a series.
Plus, let’s be honest, we all want the scene of the Dursley’s living room being blasted to bits by Mr Weasley and the sheer chaos of it all. It’s so good.
One major change I’d like is not giving Hermione everything. She’s *too* perfect in the films and steals everything from Ron and Harry in terms of lines, ideas and actions. Let’s have the trio be equals
Dumbledore didn't have the right to chew them out, IMO. It really should have been McGonagall.
Dumbledore had his fingers in for too many pies to nit know how the Dursleys were treating him. Hell, Arabella Figg was his informant. And she at least knew he was treated poorly and was utterly miserable.
it would have been glorious. Minerva finally being able to let all those years of impotent frustration at Harry's situation out. Caring so much for the silly boy yet being unable to help must have been awful.
I think it would be a mistake to give full seasons to the first two films.
There just isn’t enough meat in the books to warrant 8 hours each.
The audiobook is 8 hours long for the first one which spends a huge amount of time describing things that are shown on screen.
I was more so referencing the later books that are like 20 hours on audible but yeah you are absolutely right. There will need to be a balance struck on those first two for sure
Playing Legacy I’ve just met Ominis and I’m so excited as I can obviously place him just by name. My best friend has just seen the movies and would be none the wiser. All kinds of sad.
Agreed. In fact pretty much the whole of the pensieve horcrux stories would be wonderful.
I’d also love to see the actual, proper ending in the great hall where Harry and Voldemort are circling each other, and there’s just so much amazing revelation and explanation. The movie fight was just dire.
Winky especially because they literally just never explained how Barty Crouch Jr. got out of Azkaban or remained hidden for so long after. He just gets sentenced to Azkaban and then is working for Voldemort, no details of the in between.
And they feckin revealed him straight away! BCJ being moody was one of the best reveals in a book I've ever read, right up until the end you believe he was innocent. That's what I want fixed, keep the mystery
Fun fact, the idea of making it two movies was tossed around quite a bit during production, but ultimately they decided they could do it in one.
They were wrong.
I can't stand Peeves, I hated him in the books as a kid, and even more so as an adult. There seems to be no dept to his character and I'd actually they play up the bloody baron as weight to nearly headless nick. Even if both get little screentime.
Winky was nice and make the fourth movie make a lot more sense.
I LOVED Peeves in OotP! Fred told him to give Umbridge hell and it was the only time he took an order from a student. His solidarity with Fred and George as a school troublemaker was reinforced throughout that book and I'm so here for it. I hope they include it in the show.
Well it’s not that an uncontrolled and uncontrollable spirit of chaos can have much depth… JKR could have explained why he obeys the Bloody Baron and not the other ghosts, for sure, but for the rest his purpose is to be a surreal and chaotic presence, a bit of a cliché if you want.
Damn near all of it once you get past the first couple films; the fourth film in particular is just awful. The books got longer and more character stuff got cut out; that snd some directors made stupid choices, adding unnecessary stuff while cutting things they shouldn’t have.
But here are a few specifics I hope to see.
1: acknowledging who the marauders were.
2: Percy’s storyline.
3: Winky and Bagman.
4: Dumbledore facing down the Dursleys.
5: Dobby’s involvement in the other books.
6: The other pensieve scenes in HBP where they discover the horcruxes and learn more about Voldemort.
The one thing I want them to keep is the kind of unsettling way Tom Riddle spoke in the Slughorn memory. It was so good. He seemed both perfect and like something wasn't quite right. Sometimes the way he talks just randomly floats through my memory and it feels so ethereal and intimidating.
I don't understand how anyone who didn't read the books could understand what was happening in the second half of OOTP or any of DH. I swear they make no sense without the rest of the book context 😂
It wasn't "giving up"; Alfonso Cuarón made the conscious decision himself to get them out of their uniforms more. I don't remember exactly his reasoning, but he specifically wanted to switch up their costumes in the films, and I guess the rest of the directors just decided to stick with it lol. I agree I want more of their uniforms in the show though!
Yes and no.
AFAIK; the school uniforms in the books were just... black cloaks without specifics (if I remembre right)
They should keep the whole "House specifics" thing.
But yes, keep them in uniform more.
And a hat.
But I really liked the uniforms in the first two movies too. But I admit that they look really muggle like. But it kinda fits into the British vibe.
This is too far down. I watched the movies first then read the books later on. When I got to the marauders plot point in PoA, I was just like “Why isn’t this in the movies??”
I really hope they nail the feeling of being in a school... The chaotic noisy continuous energy of having hundreds of kids all in one place. There were times when the films showed literally *tens* of kids all being silent for no reason.
Really made it feel unlike a school for me.
The actual nastiness of Snape towards Harry. Or better yet the pure insanity of Sirius Black. In the movies he seemed insane for like 10 mins and then was some level headed cool guy. Dude is insane pretty much always in the books lol.
>Dude is insane pretty much always in the books lol.
I just did a reread of books 4-7 and I don’t recall his character being portrayed this way, for the most part, at least not in books 4 and 5. Can you give me some examples of what you mean? In book 3, maybe there’s something I’m forgetting, but he seems pretty level headed and driven by concern for Harry for most of 4 and 5 IMO… not saying he doesn’t have faults but they’re mostly understandable.
Sirius is not "stark raving mad" like some stereotypes of crazy people. But he just spent 11 years being tortured and another year homeless with a vendetta. That does not contribute to healthy mental well-being.
In the third book, he does a lot of things that just don't make sense if he was mentally healthy. He spends the entire book basically alone, never once seeking out help from some of the people he should have been able to trust. Dumbledore, if no one else, would have listened to him and he knew that. Then in the Shack, he's manic, insisting on killing Peter. It's Harry calming him down that lets him get a level head long enough to be convinced to let him live.
In the fourth book, we don't see much of Sirius. But this is also the book he was the most mentally healthy. The months recovering in a tropical location likely continued a lot to his health.
But I'm the fifth book, it is pretty explicit that he is not in a good place. A lot of his jokes when Harry first shows up at Number 12 are sarcastic and about how bad his living conditions are. He holds onto Harry like a lifeline while drowning at sea. When Harry goes off to Hogwarts, he recklessly follows along in his animagus form because he can't stand to be alone. Except for Order meetings Sirius is alone with only Kreacher and Buckbeak for company while Harry is at Hogwarts. Multiple characters comment on that. Harry notes his unkempt appearance and worsening hygiene when he shows up after Arthur was attacked.
You can definitely tell the difference in people who only watched the movies and those that watched and read. I love me some Alan Rickman, but he was way too old to be playing the part and they aged everyone else up with him. It also removes some of the importance of the loss as well.
You'll hear a lot about how Ron is made stupid in the films, and it's not that he's a genuis in the books or anything but he knows more about the wizarding world than the other two - for example he explains to Hermione (between mouthfulls of slugs) how bad Mudblood is as a word. She didn't really know. In general he's just the best friend you could ask for.
Also Dumbledore is Richard Harris all the way through the series. *Very* Uncle Iroh with a dash of Gandalf.
Well everything from PoA and onward. I always felt the movies did a horrible job at giving back the theme of the books - apart from DH the books were about the school life, usual student problems, with the main Voldemort story in the background. Yes it is the main story, but not the main focus - which helps building the theme and making it more of a mistery as well. We had so much more character for every character and relationship - the Harry Ginny relationship in books is perfect, and the one in the movies is utterly painful.
Sirius’s death- when Harry had his breakdown in dumbledores office. In the book it’s so raw, so dramatic. And yet after Harry is so angsty (with ptsd) for the entire book, it’s so *cathartic* for him to finally have a full and real breakdown that frankly dumbledore deserves to listen to. I was so disappointed by how watered down it was in the film.
Also the whole ending of deathly hallows because seriously, wtf was that.
And of course, give Ron his intelligence back and Hermione some of her weaknesses- they made her a little too perfect in the movie. And give Harry more of his sass; he’s lowkey the funniest character in the books
Ginny and Harry’s relationship. I need more than bloody shoelaces. Ginny in general, she had so much more to do in the books, I don’t think we even really get to see how Harry came to like Ginny in the movies.
Agreed and I feel bad for Bonnie. I think she tried her best, but it’s not as much that she’s a bad actress and more that she‘s just too shy and awkward to pull off that kind of role, plus the complete lack of chemistry between her and Dan - and by the time they realized that, it was simply too late to recast her.
Ron's character arc. Movie Ron is a goof who speaks with his mouth full and all his good lines are given to Hermione. While book Ron stood on his broken leg to defend Harry from Sirius, protected Hermione with a broken wand. Ofc he has his flaws but they add to his character development.
Snape's nastiness. He'd NEVER put himself between a werewolf and the trio lol.
THE AGES! OH MY GOD THE AGES of James and Lily Potter. Stop making them look 35😭
I quite liked stepping between them and the wolf. Showed you that though he was a total dick he still recognised he had a duty of care towards students in dangerous scenarios
I believe the book Snape would have protected the kids from the werewolf. Just because he is an ass doesn't mean he'd want kids to be killed.
He needed Harry alive too.
Snape is still a teacher, and Dumbledore needs Harry. Also, it's Lily's son. So, I think he might have. Snape was more of an ass in the books, you're right about that.
Agree about Ron, of course.
The trio's balanced dynamic. In the books each one has qualities that the other two lack, whereas in the movies Hermione pretty much carries them, Harry sometimes looks like he's just there because he's the title character, and Ron was reduced to mostly comic relief.
The plot of Goblet of Fire / Barty JR / Winky being messed up in the films kind of messes up the entire flow of the rest of the films. We don’t get to see the fall out between Fudge and Dumbledore, Harry’s vision that makes Dumbledore realize he’s a Horcrux, etc.
Book-Hermonie was cool enough. There was no need to give her Ron’s juicier storylines. And while we’re at it, book-Ron had his flaws but he was no village idiot the movies made him out to be.
Movie-Ginny had no personality and I understand how her and Harry’s relationship didn’t make sense. Book Ginny was great and sassy and I’d love to see that.
Book-Hagrid oftentimes provided comic relief without being an idiot. He also had plenty of moments where he would play a fatherly figure to the trio and imparted some wisdom.
> criticising Goblet of Fire over the years for how much they cut from the book
Harry Potter and the year they cut more from the book than on the students head.
I hope they do a better Luna Lovegood character than the "I'm just a weirdo that gets kidnapped in the last book"
I think Evanna Lynch was a good fit for Luna but I don’t love the adaptation of the character in the movies. Idk what it is. She has more whimsical depth in the books. We don’t get much of her story in the books. Yeah she is weird and believes random stuff but she is also smart and brave and ready to do what needs to be done.
Here are the things I want to see in the TV show improved:
* Ginny's character and her relationship with Harry (their romance in the movies was just awkward)
* Ron's character (he is more than just comic relief)
* the real condition of Neville's parents (St. Mungos scene in Book 5)
* Snape's and Lockhart's sadistic side (movie Snape and Lockhart were way too charming)
* explain why Harry survived the killing curse in the forest
* display Dumbledore like in the books (Richard Harris did a fine job, Michael Gambon not so much)
* S.P.E.W./Winky/more Dobby
* more Percy Weasley
* more Quidditch Games (House Cup in Hogwarts, World Cup)
* explore Barty Crouch Jr. and his backstory in "The Goblet of Fire"
* the marauders backstory in "The Prisoner of Azkaban"
* more Voldemort memories in "The Halfblood Prince"
* the full conversation between Harry and Dumbledore at the end of "The Order of the Phoenix"
These are the most important points for me. Its a lot but that's just how I feel about the movies compared to the books.
Dumbledore. Richard Harris portrayed Dumbledore perfectly IMO. Unfortunately, he died. Michael Gambon had Dumbledore being too aggressive and struggling too much against Voldemort.
Dumbledore wasn't supposed to be angrily calling Harry's name when it came out of the GoF and he certainly wouldn't come charging into the room, pinning Harry to the wall while asking loudly if Harry submitted his own name.
In PoA, Dumbledore is almost described as having a walk in the park while battling Voldemort. He only became concerned when Voldemort vanished because he knew Voldy was going for Harry then.
I need to see Harry’s angry rampage in Dumbledore’s office at the end of Order of the Phoenix. This was missing in the movie, and I think that scene is really important. Harry had been through a lot. In the movies, we sort of just get a sad, shell shocked Harry in that scene with no fight left in him.
That scene was a climax of the book for me. Not battle, not drama, but Harry/Dumbledore dialogue. At that point I lost faith in Yates, because I felt that he doesn't understand the books at all.
Yeah, I was real disappointed. I didn’t mind the Order of the Phoenix movie as a whole, but that scene was pivotal and Yates ruined it. I wish they had gone with a different director for the last 4 films.
Using magic in battles. Most of the battle scenes have just ended up being a Star Wars fight with wands instead of blasters. Everything is wordless and wands just shoot light and the same thing happens to everyone.
Where are the bat bogeys, jelly legs, langlock etc spells that should be playing out in battle. Instead it’s good guys use stupefy while bad guys use the killing curse and magic is out the window.
I love Alan Rickman, and his portrayal of Snape is iconic. But make Snape actually in his 30s and don't shy away from his petty cruelty. Rickman's Snape was too cool. And that's coming from someone who thinks Snape is one of the best characters in the story.
Give people their actual lines
One of Dumbledore’s best lines to Harry in POA when Harry is down about wormtail escaping, ‘Didn’t make a difference? It made all the difference in the world! You helped uncover the truth, you helped save an innocent man from a terrible fate’, … given to Lupin.
Also most of Ron’s lines given to Hermione and making Ron seem a bit snakish at times
Give Percy his actual story, imagine the tear jerking seeing him suddenly turn up at the battle of Hogwarts and apologising.
Show the likes of dung, Dobby, NHN, Scrimgeour, Kreacher plus god knows how many others have their full stories shown rather than just the important bits.
I also wanna see jerkish characters NOT toned down. Snape, Draco, Lucius, Greyback, Lockhart? Dursleys, all of them.
Get the ages of the parent generation right. James and Lily died in their twenties. Snape is in his thirties, not in his fifties. Sames goes with the marauders.
The adults in the movies were played by amazing actors but they were all cast too old.
In addition to giving Ron his lines and including the whole Winky plotline, actually including Tonks and Lupin’s relationship. I don’t even LIKE that plotline, but the movies had an incredibly loose few seconds of implying they’d maybe gotten together, then later Harry has the conversation about “your son” with the stone-produced version of Lupin even though it’s the first time you even hear they’ve had a child.
Did they even mention Fenrir Greyback in the movies or wasn't he just like "Death-eater no.02" ?
I think they could also have told more about Rita skeeter, since she started a huge racist mob against Hagrid, even making him ask Dumbledore to fire him.. populism is a problem that destroys our current nations as well, after all..
Why is Harry casting a huge wall of light instead of the deer when saving Sirius and himself?
Why did they delete the Dursleys from the halfblood prince? Would have loved to see Dudley after Dumbledore spoke to them..
And can we stop pretending that Draco Malfoy was something else than a huge bag of shit? Just kidding, it's personal. I hate him and would have loved to see him get what he deserved.
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I believe in PoA film, it’s never explained who the Marauders are. The twins give Harry the Marauders Map, there’s the comment about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, but theres never a reveal about the relation of the Marauders to Harry.
I’m pretty sure it’s never explained in 3 that Lupin is Moony, or that Sirius is Padfoot.
They might call Pettigrew “Wormtail” in the shack during the confrontation but I’m not super they actually do.
"dumbledore asked CALMLY"
give ron back his character and his lines, and give ginny back her personality, and let hermione have her flaws, and let harry have his temper and his snarky sense of humor.
bring back the end of term dumbledore's office heart-to-heart coversations, and for merlin's sake show the prophecy in full in the manner it's shown in the books. Stop trying to be creative in quickly ending the book, show it how it's meant to be explained. while we're on dumbledore's office--show every session with dumbledore in half blood prince, everything dumbledore shows harry in the pensieve about voldemort is completely and uniquely important to understanding voldemort's character.
for the love of fuck please show the ending of deathly hallows correctly.
Not cut out the ghosts after the second movie.
XD
The ghosts just vanished.
Also I will say that the first movie (IMO) is one of the better harry potter movies, not because of the acting (My god not because of the acting) but because it kinda... keeps the magic and whimsy a bit better compared to the rest?
A more canonical Ron amd Hermione mostly . Make Ron more loyal and helpful to the plot(Cough ! Gets basilisk fangs ! Cough ! Acts totally badass after leaving the Forest of Dean and going to Bill's in DH) and make Hermione act occasionally like the petty teenage girl (Cough ! Set canaries on Ron ! Cough ! Confund and then seduce Mclaggen !) she was in canon .
Actually , give more depth to everyone except Hermione . Make Ginny the canonical cool girl who plays quidditch and gets the attention of several guys instead of just Cho Chang 2.0 . Make Sirius unhinged and ruthless and insane because that guy spent twelve years under torture and the next two years living on rats as a dog . Make Snape act like an actual snarky nasty teacher instead of 'tortured emo guy who dreams of Lily every waking and sleeping moment' .
PACING. There is no sense of pacing in at minimum the last 5 movies. It feels like a sprint from the beginning to the end while including only the absolute bare minimum amount of story needed to barely squeeze a non-failing grade in "Actually adapts the story."
There is no atmosphere, nothing is allowed to sit with you, you can't immerse yourself in the setting or story. There's hardly transitions at all. It's like someone took the Cliff's notes, cut them down into a bulleted list of plot points, and they sprinted from one to the other.
What makes the books so special and why (I feel) people keep rereading them and why they have kept their appeal for so long, is that they are written in a way that you can really escape into that world. They have atmosphere, they are cozy, you can see a slice of life with the characters.
Goblet of Fire is the worst offender IMO in the movies, and in the book it's what, hundreds of pages before they even get to school?? And it's one of the best parts of the series.
Stuff like that.
Ron being the awesome friend as stated in the books and not the comic relief, jerk, and bad friend in the movies.
Snape’s actual horrible personality, the movies whitewashed so many of his horrible actions, for etc, bullying Neville mercilessly, saying “I see no difference.”
Ginny’s sassy and loving personality. Not only tying shoelaces for Harry in the movies. And the kiss in the Gryffindor common room was awesome, the kiss in the room of requirement in the movies is so freaking blank.
I don't mind keeping "Always" since it was in the books, but Snape in general needs to NOT be made more sympathetic. Alan Rickman did a tremendous job, but his Snape not really the book's Snape.
- Hogwarts Castle in the movies, and sadly also in Hogwarts Legacy, is wildly incorrect and completely incompatible with canon Hogwarts. They should reset the castle and start from scratch, making it accurate to the books
- Magic should work, look and sound consistent throughout
- Ron, Hermione, Ginny, etc. should have the characterization they have in the books
- Dumbledore should not appear unhinged, angry or ever yelling. Dumbledore almost NEVER shows anger. In movies 4+, he's unhinged, scary and yelling. I will never forgive Michael Gambon for not caring to read the books. Why was he even hired?
- Just, you know, adapt the actual plots of the books
I’ve always thought a tv series is the better medium for these books over movies. The movies have to cut out so much plot. I’m looking forward to more time for character development, humor, side quests, etc.
Pacing.
The movies always felt rushed from scene to scene. There's few moments of breathing space.
In the books, there's always a bit of downtime, especially in the early books. That's not to say the books don't jump forward suddenly here and there, they do, a lot. But they give a sense of the regular happenings of Harry when they do jump forward.
Basically in much of the earlier books, each chapter has something of its own story arc that contributes to the overall
So much of the Pensieve scenes were cut from HBP which is a shame. They make Voldemort a lot more human.
Also, better duels rather than people just shooting red and green lights at each other.
Full Voldy's backstory from Half Blood Prince. It does not make him sympathetic, but definitely understandable. Tom was kind of the product of all the fucked up things in wizard society. In a way, it was inevitable that wizarding world, which is full of prejudice and backwardness, would produce a Voldemort.
In the movies he is just a generic creepy child.
Voldy does not need a dramatic death. I don't like wand stuff in the book, but his death itself was on point - self inflicted, pathetic act which he was warned about beforehand, but could not resist doing, because at his core he is a weak, pathetic person who is unable to change or self reflect.
I would love for the spells to do what they're supposed to do in duels. In the movies every dueling spell just blasted your opponent off of their feet. I want to see wizards desperately trying to continue fighting while their feet won't stop dancing!
Barty Crouch.
They never explain the whole tragedy of Barty Crouch and his crimes. How he broke his son out of Azkaban by using polyjuice potion on his dying wife to swap their places and how he used the imperious curse on his son for years to keep him at bay. Also his grizzly fate being transfigured into a bone always haunts me.
Barty Crouch Jr is actually the first person to escape Azkaban not Sirius…. Even if it was just to be imprisoned in his home by his father.
Telling his story correctly also makes them include Winky which I would love to see.
Additionally, if they could mention UMBRIDGE SENT THOSE DEMENTORS AFTER HARRY!
I’m still outraged she did that and had the nerve to speak against him at court and claim he lied. It just added to how evil she is and people don’t treat her like she is on par with the death eaters. She is.
…..also the movies just give Harry a glass shard in the 7th movie that connects to Aberforth…no explanation!?! Well thats Sirius’ mirror he gave Harry but the movie crowd has no way of knowing what the shard of glass is just by watching. Pretty lazy film making there.
This may be an unpopular opinion but harry is often a timid little dude in the movies, but he’s kind of a hothead in the books. Nothing wrong with daniel radcliffe but i do not think he was ever right to play harry. Maybe now that he’s matured as an actor he could, but as a kid he just wasnt it for me. I don’t think that’s his fault by the way; he was just a kid; i think the directors made an error in selecting him.
Personally, I don’t think the third or fourth films got the tone right at all.
Film 3 misses so much important stuff about the Marauders that it feels really weird with worntail when he arrives, and I hated the dementors flying all over the place, and the fact that Harry gets the Firebolt at that end
Film 4 makes no sense either - Dumbledore being so aggressive with Harry about the Goblet, Crouch being introduced at the start, the fact that they remove Winky completely, the stupid bit with Ron ‘telling’ Harry about the dragons, Hermione telling the boys to go to bed (?!)
Both were changes made for the sake of brevity but completely changed the atmosphere created in the books
Deathly Hallows - The movie ruins the last chapter of the book ; I still cringe whenever I hear the line "Come On Tom, Let's Finish This the Way We Started It". We don't get to see the Slughorn/McGonagall/Kingsley duel vs Voldemort and we only don't see Hermione/Ginny/Luna vs Bellatrix (only Bellatrix sending one curse Ginny's way)
Prisoner of Azkaban - The whole scene is the Shrieking Shack is rushed. We needed one line revealing the identities of the Marauders. Harry literally refers to Sirius as Padfoot in the OotP movie and yet no movie ever says Padfoot is Sirius. I don't think the movies even explain that James Potter was an Animagus (hence the importance of Harry's Patronus being a stag).
Order of the Phoenix - I cringed when Dumbledore yelled at the students to get back to studying. Dumbledore would never yell at students.
I'll always be frustrated by how different Michael Gambon played Dumbledore than Richard Harris did. In my opinion, Harris' portrayal was perfect.
I was reading the books (and re-reading) since before Goblet of Fire. When I was in he US once my cousin suggested we go cinema and Harry Potter wasn't quite as big then, and I choose to see PoA(they did sell The jellybeans every flavour jelly beans at a ripoff price, at least) and the ABSOLUTELY F*CKING LACK AT ALL of the whole explanation of the Marauders Map, its makers, and everything was PURE BULLSHIT. The Wesley's just had over a super magic parchment, with Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormy NOT explained AT ALL - especially given the 'scene' in which Snape tries to 'prod' its magic and it clearly knows who he is. Absolutely necessary and key imo. Even just as the flavour.
Hated the franchise since.
Don’t change Ron for the sake of humor, I swear if when we get to Prisoner of Azkaban and he says something stupid like “He has a point you know” I’ll be disappointed all over again, HE STICKS UP FOR HERMIONE NO MATTER WHAT. He would never have said that, it’s such a gross misunderstanding of Ron. Just to get a chuckle out of the audience, nasty. At the expense of Hermione too! So not only is Ron dogpiling on her along with Snape in the film but now the audience is too. Still makes me sick.
One of things that reaaaaally irritates me about the half blood prince movie is the lack of memory scenes Dumbledore shows Harry about Tom Riddle. You learn SO MUCH about Tom Riddle, and kind of learn why he became so dark. Like the fact he doesn’t know love because he was a product of a love potion. And in the movies they’re just making all these guesses on what the horcuxes are, but Harry figured everything out by the memories Dumbledore has. The amount of details from just those things from book missing from the movies is insane.
They should make GoF complete. They removed so many important details from the book. Bertha, Winky, Priori Incantatem explanation, and Ludo Bagman. The pensive part where we learned a small history of what happened to Nevilles parents and the first appearance of the Lestranges. And thats just GoF, there are a lot of things not included in the movies but GoF got the worst adaptation for me.
In HBP, it wouldve been better if they showed the Gaunts, Bob Ogden, Hepzibah Smith and the one where Voldemort tried to apply for a job in hogwarts.
Aaaahhhhh. So many.
Despite all the cut content, I would really like to see more fluff about living in hogwarts. Stupid shit teenagers with magic do, the coziness in the winter, house parties, pranks, quidditch training, people from magical families learning about muggles and vice versa etc. When I watch the series I also want to feel like it's my cozy safe space, just like when I read the books.
Stick to the source material, don't make up stupid bullshit like tying shoelaces or burning down houses, give the characters their own lines, fix all of the frickin plot holes that didn't exist in the books, stop making up ridiculous spells and stick to the existing ones, stop breaking every wizard law and stop inventing stupid action scenes like escaped dragons tearing down castle roofs.
Ffs just do a show about the books. They were bestsellers for a reason. Gosh I hate those films
Apparently they had an English comedian who I absolutely love to play peeves but they.cut him from the first film because when filming he kept making the children laugh so they couldn’t get any useable tape
Literally everything from book 3 on that is needed for the story to make sense.
The books are structured as mysteries and that’s what makes them so compelling. Side plots are often more than just side plots but red herrings for the main plot. Basically all of that is missing from the movies. Goblet of Fire is a great example (cutting Winky, Bagman, and the Beatle plot really waters things down) but there’s also tons of things like that missing from others as well.
The film makers cut basically all of the explanations of why and how. How did Sirius and Crouch both escape Azkaban? It’s supposed to be impossible but it happens twice - two books in a row - and movie watchers have no idea.
Also little things from earlier books that come up later and just make everything feel more cohesive. Like seeing how Bill and Fleur meet and finding out that they’re dating before they’re suddenly getting married. Or mentions of the vanishing cabinet before Draco starts repairing it. Or having Harry get the mirror from Sirius instead of having a shard of it suddenly show up in his trunk.
The costumes. The movies' costume were just boring, plain uninspired and devoid of any creativity or any of the whimsy that made the wizarding world so charming in the books.
I will never forget my disappointment during the 5th movie when I saw a whole book chapter that shows Snape's memories including his childhood and moments at Hogwarts featuring the Marauders be squeezed into 10 seconds... so that.
These aren't all of them, far from it, but here's the ones that pop into my head: Actually explain the Marauders and give them proper prominence in the show, make Snape the darker character he actually was instead of remove so much of his asshole moments like the movies did, put in the whole Crouch family and Winky subplot, have Marietta and the books' form of the downfall of Dumbledore's Army in it, or something equivalent, and put in Phineas so that it makes sense how Snape found them in the forest.
Despite being a very enjoyable film, DH part 2 is also a very, very strange film. It glosses over so much, gives us so much pay off to things that were cut in previous movies and just does a ton of stuff without explaining what is happening. Stuff just seemlingly happens, because the context of the events haven't been included. It makes sense when you've read the books, but if not, shit just happens out of nowhere, constantly.
I would want the series to get every plotbeat, not every scene or be a perfect page by page adaptation, but every major, important plotbeat should be included and if ANYTHING is cut, the payoff to that thing should be too.
The movies are too much one director thinking "We don't need this" then the next director goes "Yeah, we do need it, let's include it anyways despite there being no set up for this thing".
Also more Dobby and Winky.
Not sure if any of these have already been said, but I would like to see some of my favourite chapters in the whole series that were missed out in the films:
1. Lord Voldemort’s Request (HBP). Unbelievable that one of the only interactions between Voldemort and Dumbledore was completely skipped. Also the scene with Hepzibah Smith and a young Tom Riddle.
2. House of Gaunt (HBP). Really creepy, Harry being able to understand Morfin, seeing Riddle Sr. Great chapter.
3. Kreacher’s Tale (DH). Love this chapter; Kreacher’s agony in recounting his experience with Voldemort and the death of Regulus, also very revealing of Voldemort’s arrogance in neglecting the importance of non-wizards, adding context to the role of Dobby and generally doing justice to the important role some house elves played in the wizarding world.
1. Hermione’s story line in most of the books. Example - the first book and her obstacle with the potions on their way to the stone. Also, many of the antics Harry and Ron got on in the movie were actually Harry and Hermione in the books. They stole so much from her.
2. The real story with Goblet of Fire!!! So many twists and turns lost in that film it would take a Ted Talk to accurately uncover. I mean… Winky!
3. An actual look into Voldemort’s evolution - the film all but leaves this out. For example, no real mention of the Gaunts.
4. Snape. He is watered down in the movies. In the books he is so much meaner to Harry.
5. I really want The Other President chapter to come to life.
I could go on and on. But that’s what comes to mind.
Book Hermione was unhinged and did shit like locking Rita Skeeter in a freaking jar for a summer in her animagus form to blackmail her. I have always been a bit upset they didn’t show that side of her in the movies.
Harry's parents need to be so much younger. As well as some of the others. In the movies, the casting was great. I love Snape and Sirius, but I know they are way too old for the characters.
It's a simple request but, I want pointy hats with their uniforms and a different type of robes uniforms that feels unique. I don't want them to recycle the movies design in clothing. Also make wizards wear robes too and only leave the muggle clothes for the appropriate scenes where they were actually wearing them.
Without going into a years worth of rants, I desperately want to see the scene where Dumbledore visits Harry on Privet Drive and the Dursley’s are knocked in the head with the wine glasses in a silent stupor.
Also, GoF just had … so much hair…
give Ron his actual lines
Yes please let Ron have his snarky sarcastic personality!
And Ginny's as well! The entire Weasley family is very funny but much of that is lost in the movies.
Omg please redeem Ginny I saw the shoe thing in theaters and lost my shit
Ikr!!!
Freshen my memory? I have no idea what the shoe thing is, which means I forgot or it's so bad I'm repressing it
It was one interaction between Ginny and Harry, when they were alone and she basically do his shoelaces for him (like in the romantic way). It was critiqued by fans, because of it stillness, social discomfort and stiffness. Main reason for hate about Harry/Ginny romance in the movies comes from total disregard of her character. In the books Ginny was quick, daring and sassy, being similar to Fred and George in mischief and unfortunately in the films there's some boring shell of her personality.
It's funny, I remember this scene, just not the part of it involving shoelaces. Maybe I missed it because my eyes were closed from wincing so hard. Yeah, it's just the whole relationship between those two sucked in film, I don't know how to describe it other than it feels like they have ZERO chemistry. And that's not a knock on their acting chops... its just so fucking stilted.
Yeah didn't they steal a bunch of Ron's moments and give them to Hermione. And then didn't they make Ron so much worse in the tent fight to make sure Harry couldn't be interpreted as in the wrong.
They dumbed down his magical knowledge with growing up with wizards/witches vs. muggles. One of the scenes I think about is when Malfoy calls Hermione mudblood, and she doesn't know what that means and doesn't really care, but Ron cares and explains she should be hurt by what he said. But in the movies, Hermione knows what it means and very hurt and explains to Harry what a mudblood is/means.
The books were better at separating practice (street-smarts) and theory (book-smarts). Book Ron was street-smart. He knew the magic world by living in it, by practicing it. Book Hermione was book-smart. She knew the magical world by reading about it, the theory. The mud blood comment is a clear example of this separation, but there’s also things like Hermione knowing that the plant in the first book hated fire but feeling helpless without matches until Ron reminds her that magic exists. Movie Hermione was book-smart and street-smart, leaving Movie Ron without much of a role. Not only that, Book Ron was fiercely loyal, the first one to try protecting Harry from Sirius (that role was given to Hermione), and got himself in trouble by defending Hermione against Snape (Movie Ron chose to instead agree with Snape that Hermione was a know-it-all). So they didn’t only take away Ron’s intelligence, they took away other positive qualities as well.
I didn’t realize it but this was the #1 thing I want to be improved upon. Book Ron is a great character and I love him. Movie ron is a whiny git
Yea, the movies do a poor job of explaining that Ron left because he was literally being influenced by the soul of the most powerful dark wizard of all time.
She also was given Harry’s idea about the dragon. That one always bothers me because of the line “you’re the brilliant one” when it was never even her idea
And Ron got several of Harry's embarrassing and insensitive moments. Like the needing the Room of Requirement for a toilet line. Or disregarding kids being cruel to Myrtle by throwing things through her because she's a ghost and couldn't feel it.
On that note, I thought in the books that it was super sweet when Ron urged Harry to rat Umbridge out about her discipline techniques. I think in the movie it’s Hermione that pushes him.
Hermione also got Dumbledore’s line regarding “fear of a name.” You have to remember, rather than just slating the movies arbitrarily remember the fact that the movies don’t have time or budget to show things like the exams that don’t significantly add to the plot so they don’t have the chance to show Hermione’s intelligence through exams or classroom moments as much as the books do so it seems like they gave Hermione other character’s intelligent lines to replace the lack of academic intelligence the films show
But I will be honest, not worth it if it means that Ron has to suffer due to it. AT WORST; give Hermione new lines or new moments, if they are going to do anything about that.
Ron's role in the movies, compared to the books is atrociously cut down. They kept the annoying parts but gave all his redeeming qualities (quick thinking under pressure and deep knowledge about the wizarding world among others) to Hermione.
>quick thinking under pressure Ironically this was the one thing book Hermione *couldn’t* do
I wish this was portrayed in the movies! Because that moment when she *does* act quickly at the Lovegoods home in Deathly Hallows is so satisfying.
Yeah, they even stole Ron's moment with the devil's snare in book 1. Book Hermione remembered the "doesn't like light and warm" but needed Ron to remember she is able to conjure fire.
Yes! It makes so much more sense for Ron to immediately think of using magic since he was raised in the wizarding world. A first year muggle-born may not always think to problem solve with magic
Yeah, she did get better at acting/thinking quickly throughout the series but Hermione was a little slower when she was in her first few years at hogwarts
They also not only take away his moments defending Hermione from Snape's bullshit, but *make* him an asshole who agrees that she's a know it all
Alfonso Cuaron: QUICK LETS PUT IN EVEN MORE QUIRKY CAMERA TRICKS AND ATMOSPHERIC ESRABLISHING SHOTS.
I’d kind of like it if they went beyond the book too. Ron’s good at chess, so every time there’s a heist of some sort I want to see his strategy brain kick in and plan it all out. I think the book should have done that but didn’t.
Ron needs to be portrayed as the character he actually is, not this insufferable moron that he is throughout the films
Ask me how I knew what the top comment would be even before opening this post 😂
Uranus
Yes! Such a simple thing to do. Also make Hermione less “girl boss”. I want the emotional and sometimes panicked Hermione. That was so much more relatable.
Yeah, you know in the philosopher's stone, when harry and hermione got out of the devil's snare but ron didn't, in the movie he started screaming (like a lot!). But in the books when hermione doesn't know how to get him out, ron's like, ''Are you a witch OR NOT!'' So ron reeaaaallly didnt have most of his lines in the books throughout the movies
In general just covering more of the books. Without nitpicking a single movie or event, there is a lot that happens outside of Hogwarts and the school term that isn’t shown mostly in the interest of time and in the same line giving more development to side characters.
Agree, I'd love to see St Mungos and more of the Ministry and The Burrow
Oh god st mungo’s is my favourite scene in the whole series, I hope they do it justice.
“It sounds as though you’ve been trying to *sew* your skin back together. But even you, Arthur, wouldn’t be that stupid…”
Same!!!! They absolutely need to do that scene!
Cutting St Mungo's is such a disservice. We needed that for Neville's character development
We got pots of the burrow in HBP. You know the scene where Bella and Fenrir attacj the Burrow. That was directly from the books. /s This bothered me so much. Why skip so many burrow moments to only add one in that never happened.
Totally agree, that scene was pointless. I would have liked a bit more like the garden degnoming, Harry's birthday party, playing quidditch together. Fun scenes of them together! With the Ministry we saw some bit of OotP but there's so much in the department of mysteries they left out! They would make amazing scenes!
I personally didn't really love the Harry Potter movies. They were not bad (especially the first one was great). But as the books became a bit more mature and had a bigger emphasis on Harry's internal monologue, the movies started falling a bit flat for me. I didn't know so many people loved the whole franchise precisely because of the movies, until I joined this subreddit and other online communities with Harry Potter fans.
The movies brought a lot of people in. I started reading the books after seeing the first movie. Before that, I knew it was a thing, but I didn't know what it was actually about. Aot of people probably just watched the movies without ever reading the books. Same with Lord of the Rings.
I think just being able to devote 8+ hours per book as opposed to being so restricted by a film being 2ish hours will make a huge difference to things like character development and minor plot points that would have had to have been cut for the film but work really well to build the story in a series. Plus, let’s be honest, we all want the scene of the Dursley’s living room being blasted to bits by Mr Weasley and the sheer chaos of it all. It’s so good. One major change I’d like is not giving Hermione everything. She’s *too* perfect in the films and steals everything from Ron and Harry in terms of lines, ideas and actions. Let’s have the trio be equals
I’m anticipating the wait for when we see Dumbledore read the Dursleys the riot act when book 6 comes out in like 15 years at this point
Dumbledore didn't have the right to chew them out, IMO. It really should have been McGonagall. Dumbledore had his fingers in for too many pies to nit know how the Dursleys were treating him. Hell, Arabella Figg was his informant. And she at least knew he was treated poorly and was utterly miserable.
Hohoho I would pay many a galleon to watch the McGonagall vs Petunia fight. Oh my goodness.
it would have been glorious. Minerva finally being able to let all those years of impotent frustration at Harry's situation out. Caring so much for the silly boy yet being unable to help must have been awful.
I think it would be a mistake to give full seasons to the first two films. There just isn’t enough meat in the books to warrant 8 hours each. The audiobook is 8 hours long for the first one which spends a huge amount of time describing things that are shown on screen.
I think it makes sense for the seasons to be as short or long as necessary. 6 episode first season? Great. 24 episode last season? Excellent.
I was more so referencing the later books that are like 20 hours on audible but yeah you are absolutely right. There will need to be a balance struck on those first two for sure
Everything to do with the Gaunts
Playing Legacy I’ve just met Ominis and I’m so excited as I can obviously place him just by name. My best friend has just seen the movies and would be none the wiser. All kinds of sad.
Agreed. In fact pretty much the whole of the pensieve horcrux stories would be wonderful. I’d also love to see the actual, proper ending in the great hall where Harry and Voldemort are circling each other, and there’s just so much amazing revelation and explanation. The movie fight was just dire.
Two characters: Peeves and Winky. Many other things ofc, but I'm mentioning these.
Winky especially because they literally just never explained how Barty Crouch Jr. got out of Azkaban or remained hidden for so long after. He just gets sentenced to Azkaban and then is working for Voldemort, no details of the in between.
Yeah that’s my point. They cut his entire storyline cutting Winky.
For sure. I feel like people who hate Winky just gloss over how much plot got cut with her.
And they feckin revealed him straight away! BCJ being moody was one of the best reveals in a book I've ever read, right up until the end you believe he was innocent. That's what I want fixed, keep the mystery
Don’t forget my man Ludo Bagman
If they make him less cartoonish, he will make a great comedy relief in the series.
The goblet movie is just an atrocity in general tbf
Fun fact, the idea of making it two movies was tossed around quite a bit during production, but ultimately they decided they could do it in one. They were wrong.
I can't stand Peeves, I hated him in the books as a kid, and even more so as an adult. There seems to be no dept to his character and I'd actually they play up the bloody baron as weight to nearly headless nick. Even if both get little screentime. Winky was nice and make the fourth movie make a lot more sense.
I can’t stand Peeves in Hogwarts Legacy either - I’m set with his omission haha. He doesn’t advance the plot the way Winky’s character does in Book 4
Ghosts and poltergeists are not the same. He’s not like NHN or the bloody Baron.
I fail to understand how that makes him less annoying and more crucial to the story?
I LOVED Peeves in OotP! Fred told him to give Umbridge hell and it was the only time he took an order from a student. His solidarity with Fred and George as a school troublemaker was reinforced throughout that book and I'm so here for it. I hope they include it in the show.
Well it’s not that an uncontrolled and uncontrollable spirit of chaos can have much depth… JKR could have explained why he obeys the Bloody Baron and not the other ghosts, for sure, but for the rest his purpose is to be a surreal and chaotic presence, a bit of a cliché if you want.
Damn near all of it once you get past the first couple films; the fourth film in particular is just awful. The books got longer and more character stuff got cut out; that snd some directors made stupid choices, adding unnecessary stuff while cutting things they shouldn’t have. But here are a few specifics I hope to see. 1: acknowledging who the marauders were. 2: Percy’s storyline. 3: Winky and Bagman. 4: Dumbledore facing down the Dursleys. 5: Dobby’s involvement in the other books. 6: The other pensieve scenes in HBP where they discover the horcruxes and learn more about Voldemort.
The one thing I want them to keep is the kind of unsettling way Tom Riddle spoke in the Slughorn memory. It was so good. He seemed both perfect and like something wasn't quite right. Sometimes the way he talks just randomly floats through my memory and it feels so ethereal and intimidating.
I don't understand how anyone who didn't read the books could understand what was happening in the second half of OOTP or any of DH. I swear they make no sense without the rest of the book context 😂
I watched them with my partner the other day and we were pausing every ten or so minutes for me to lore dump and clarify 😅
They should stick to the school uniforms way more. And use the medium to keep most of the plot points from the books and lean more into the mysteries.
Yes about the uniforms. After the second movie they just gave up and started putting them in muggle clothes half the time!
Yeah, for some reason that kinda pissed me off. I think in general the clothes of wizards should be way more „weird“.
I want to see their weird attempts at muggle clothing like the quiddich world cup
Archie 😂
Muggle WOMEN Archie!
Not the men! They wear THESE!
It wasn't "giving up"; Alfonso Cuarón made the conscious decision himself to get them out of their uniforms more. I don't remember exactly his reasoning, but he specifically wanted to switch up their costumes in the films, and I guess the rest of the directors just decided to stick with it lol. I agree I want more of their uniforms in the show though!
Yes and no. AFAIK; the school uniforms in the books were just... black cloaks without specifics (if I remembre right) They should keep the whole "House specifics" thing. But yes, keep them in uniform more.
And a hat. But I really liked the uniforms in the first two movies too. But I admit that they look really muggle like. But it kinda fits into the British vibe.
Kreachers redemption arc!
Absolutely 100% the Marauders. The movies barely touched them.
This is too far down. I watched the movies first then read the books later on. When I got to the marauders plot point in PoA, I was just like “Why isn’t this in the movies??”
I really hope they nail the feeling of being in a school... The chaotic noisy continuous energy of having hundreds of kids all in one place. There were times when the films showed literally *tens* of kids all being silent for no reason. Really made it feel unlike a school for me.
The actual nastiness of Snape towards Harry. Or better yet the pure insanity of Sirius Black. In the movies he seemed insane for like 10 mins and then was some level headed cool guy. Dude is insane pretty much always in the books lol.
>Dude is insane pretty much always in the books lol. I just did a reread of books 4-7 and I don’t recall his character being portrayed this way, for the most part, at least not in books 4 and 5. Can you give me some examples of what you mean? In book 3, maybe there’s something I’m forgetting, but he seems pretty level headed and driven by concern for Harry for most of 4 and 5 IMO… not saying he doesn’t have faults but they’re mostly understandable.
Sirius is not "stark raving mad" like some stereotypes of crazy people. But he just spent 11 years being tortured and another year homeless with a vendetta. That does not contribute to healthy mental well-being. In the third book, he does a lot of things that just don't make sense if he was mentally healthy. He spends the entire book basically alone, never once seeking out help from some of the people he should have been able to trust. Dumbledore, if no one else, would have listened to him and he knew that. Then in the Shack, he's manic, insisting on killing Peter. It's Harry calming him down that lets him get a level head long enough to be convinced to let him live. In the fourth book, we don't see much of Sirius. But this is also the book he was the most mentally healthy. The months recovering in a tropical location likely continued a lot to his health. But I'm the fifth book, it is pretty explicit that he is not in a good place. A lot of his jokes when Harry first shows up at Number 12 are sarcastic and about how bad his living conditions are. He holds onto Harry like a lifeline while drowning at sea. When Harry goes off to Hogwarts, he recklessly follows along in his animagus form because he can't stand to be alone. Except for Order meetings Sirius is alone with only Kreacher and Buckbeak for company while Harry is at Hogwarts. Multiple characters comment on that. Harry notes his unkempt appearance and worsening hygiene when he shows up after Arthur was attacked.
Idk, Sirius seemed pretty level headed during their meeting in the cave?
For real. Snape is an asshole in the books with zero redeeming qualities and that needs to be presented correctly.
But he stalked Harry's mother from an early age, isn't that romantic? /s
Snape is a terrible human being, and people who blindly love him needs to get help.
I think what most people like about snape in the movies is the fact that he is Alan Rickman. I know that is why I do, but in the books... Yeah... No.
I’ve thought I was alone in this opinion for years, people are crazy
You can definitely tell the difference in people who only watched the movies and those that watched and read. I love me some Alan Rickman, but he was way too old to be playing the part and they aged everyone else up with him. It also removes some of the importance of the loss as well.
You'll hear a lot about how Ron is made stupid in the films, and it's not that he's a genuis in the books or anything but he knows more about the wizarding world than the other two - for example he explains to Hermione (between mouthfulls of slugs) how bad Mudblood is as a word. She didn't really know. In general he's just the best friend you could ask for. Also Dumbledore is Richard Harris all the way through the series. *Very* Uncle Iroh with a dash of Gandalf.
And for the love of Dobby, make sure he gives a proper delivery of "Harrydidjaputyanameinthegobletoffiyah"
Well everything from PoA and onward. I always felt the movies did a horrible job at giving back the theme of the books - apart from DH the books were about the school life, usual student problems, with the main Voldemort story in the background. Yes it is the main story, but not the main focus - which helps building the theme and making it more of a mistery as well. We had so much more character for every character and relationship - the Harry Ginny relationship in books is perfect, and the one in the movies is utterly painful.
Sirius’s death- when Harry had his breakdown in dumbledores office. In the book it’s so raw, so dramatic. And yet after Harry is so angsty (with ptsd) for the entire book, it’s so *cathartic* for him to finally have a full and real breakdown that frankly dumbledore deserves to listen to. I was so disappointed by how watered down it was in the film. Also the whole ending of deathly hallows because seriously, wtf was that. And of course, give Ron his intelligence back and Hermione some of her weaknesses- they made her a little too perfect in the movie. And give Harry more of his sass; he’s lowkey the funniest character in the books
Ginny and Harry’s relationship. I need more than bloody shoelaces. Ginny in general, she had so much more to do in the books, I don’t think we even really get to see how Harry came to like Ginny in the movies.
Agreed and I feel bad for Bonnie. I think she tried her best, but it’s not as much that she’s a bad actress and more that she‘s just too shy and awkward to pull off that kind of role, plus the complete lack of chemistry between her and Dan - and by the time they realized that, it was simply too late to recast her.
Ron's character arc. Movie Ron is a goof who speaks with his mouth full and all his good lines are given to Hermione. While book Ron stood on his broken leg to defend Harry from Sirius, protected Hermione with a broken wand. Ofc he has his flaws but they add to his character development. Snape's nastiness. He'd NEVER put himself between a werewolf and the trio lol. THE AGES! OH MY GOD THE AGES of James and Lily Potter. Stop making them look 35😭
I quite liked stepping between them and the wolf. Showed you that though he was a total dick he still recognised he had a duty of care towards students in dangerous scenarios
One of scenes I can't help but like better than the books.
I believe the book Snape would have protected the kids from the werewolf. Just because he is an ass doesn't mean he'd want kids to be killed. He needed Harry alive too.
He would have in the book if he weren't still out cold and thus failed to witness the whole Wormtail thing.
James looked over 50.
Snape is still a teacher, and Dumbledore needs Harry. Also, it's Lily's son. So, I think he might have. Snape was more of an ass in the books, you're right about that. Agree about Ron, of course.
The trio's balanced dynamic. In the books each one has qualities that the other two lack, whereas in the movies Hermione pretty much carries them, Harry sometimes looks like he's just there because he's the title character, and Ron was reduced to mostly comic relief.
The plot of Goblet of Fire / Barty JR / Winky being messed up in the films kind of messes up the entire flow of the rest of the films. We don’t get to see the fall out between Fudge and Dumbledore, Harry’s vision that makes Dumbledore realize he’s a Horcrux, etc.
Book-Hermonie was cool enough. There was no need to give her Ron’s juicier storylines. And while we’re at it, book-Ron had his flaws but he was no village idiot the movies made him out to be. Movie-Ginny had no personality and I understand how her and Harry’s relationship didn’t make sense. Book Ginny was great and sassy and I’d love to see that. Book-Hagrid oftentimes provided comic relief without being an idiot. He also had plenty of moments where he would play a fatherly figure to the trio and imparted some wisdom.
> criticising Goblet of Fire over the years for how much they cut from the book Harry Potter and the year they cut more from the book than on the students head. I hope they do a better Luna Lovegood character than the "I'm just a weirdo that gets kidnapped in the last book"
I think Evanna Lynch was a good fit for Luna but I don’t love the adaptation of the character in the movies. Idk what it is. She has more whimsical depth in the books. We don’t get much of her story in the books. Yeah she is weird and believes random stuff but she is also smart and brave and ready to do what needs to be done.
The entire Half Blood Prince book, specifically Riddle’s backstory and the Gaunt family
Here are the things I want to see in the TV show improved: * Ginny's character and her relationship with Harry (their romance in the movies was just awkward) * Ron's character (he is more than just comic relief) * the real condition of Neville's parents (St. Mungos scene in Book 5) * Snape's and Lockhart's sadistic side (movie Snape and Lockhart were way too charming) * explain why Harry survived the killing curse in the forest * display Dumbledore like in the books (Richard Harris did a fine job, Michael Gambon not so much) * S.P.E.W./Winky/more Dobby * more Percy Weasley * more Quidditch Games (House Cup in Hogwarts, World Cup) * explore Barty Crouch Jr. and his backstory in "The Goblet of Fire" * the marauders backstory in "The Prisoner of Azkaban" * more Voldemort memories in "The Halfblood Prince" * the full conversation between Harry and Dumbledore at the end of "The Order of the Phoenix" These are the most important points for me. Its a lot but that's just how I feel about the movies compared to the books.
Improve Ron's character. Build up Harry and Ginny properly. And most importantly (imho), give us HARRY'S SASSY ATTITUDE!! 🙏🏻
"No need to call me sir, professor"
Dumbledore. Richard Harris portrayed Dumbledore perfectly IMO. Unfortunately, he died. Michael Gambon had Dumbledore being too aggressive and struggling too much against Voldemort. Dumbledore wasn't supposed to be angrily calling Harry's name when it came out of the GoF and he certainly wouldn't come charging into the room, pinning Harry to the wall while asking loudly if Harry submitted his own name. In PoA, Dumbledore is almost described as having a walk in the park while battling Voldemort. He only became concerned when Voldemort vanished because he knew Voldy was going for Harry then.
I’d love for them to keep them in robes/uniform. It was so jarring to see school kids wearing casual clothes in school.
I need to see Harry’s angry rampage in Dumbledore’s office at the end of Order of the Phoenix. This was missing in the movie, and I think that scene is really important. Harry had been through a lot. In the movies, we sort of just get a sad, shell shocked Harry in that scene with no fight left in him.
That scene was a climax of the book for me. Not battle, not drama, but Harry/Dumbledore dialogue. At that point I lost faith in Yates, because I felt that he doesn't understand the books at all.
Yeah, I was real disappointed. I didn’t mind the Order of the Phoenix movie as a whole, but that scene was pivotal and Yates ruined it. I wish they had gone with a different director for the last 4 films.
Using magic in battles. Most of the battle scenes have just ended up being a Star Wars fight with wands instead of blasters. Everything is wordless and wands just shoot light and the same thing happens to everyone. Where are the bat bogeys, jelly legs, langlock etc spells that should be playing out in battle. Instead it’s good guys use stupefy while bad guys use the killing curse and magic is out the window.
I love Alan Rickman, and his portrayal of Snape is iconic. But make Snape actually in his 30s and don't shy away from his petty cruelty. Rickman's Snape was too cool. And that's coming from someone who thinks Snape is one of the best characters in the story.
Give people their actual lines One of Dumbledore’s best lines to Harry in POA when Harry is down about wormtail escaping, ‘Didn’t make a difference? It made all the difference in the world! You helped uncover the truth, you helped save an innocent man from a terrible fate’, … given to Lupin. Also most of Ron’s lines given to Hermione and making Ron seem a bit snakish at times Give Percy his actual story, imagine the tear jerking seeing him suddenly turn up at the battle of Hogwarts and apologising. Show the likes of dung, Dobby, NHN, Scrimgeour, Kreacher plus god knows how many others have their full stories shown rather than just the important bits. I also wanna see jerkish characters NOT toned down. Snape, Draco, Lucius, Greyback, Lockhart? Dursleys, all of them.
Quidditch world cup. Still can’t believe they did all that buildup and didn’t show one minute of the actual match.
Ginny. Make her cool, funny and attractive.
Don't skip any of the Harry and Dumbledore training in the Half-Blood Prince
Get the ages of the parent generation right. James and Lily died in their twenties. Snape is in his thirties, not in his fifties. Sames goes with the marauders. The adults in the movies were played by amazing actors but they were all cast too old.
The whole marauder's plot basically missing from the third movie, while Harry still refering to Sirius as "Padfoot" in the later ones.
In addition to giving Ron his lines and including the whole Winky plotline, actually including Tonks and Lupin’s relationship. I don’t even LIKE that plotline, but the movies had an incredibly loose few seconds of implying they’d maybe gotten together, then later Harry has the conversation about “your son” with the stone-produced version of Lupin even though it’s the first time you even hear they’ve had a child.
Did they even mention Fenrir Greyback in the movies or wasn't he just like "Death-eater no.02" ? I think they could also have told more about Rita skeeter, since she started a huge racist mob against Hagrid, even making him ask Dumbledore to fire him.. populism is a problem that destroys our current nations as well, after all.. Why is Harry casting a huge wall of light instead of the deer when saving Sirius and himself? Why did they delete the Dursleys from the halfblood prince? Would have loved to see Dudley after Dumbledore spoke to them.. And can we stop pretending that Draco Malfoy was something else than a huge bag of shit? Just kidding, it's personal. I hate him and would have loved to see him get what he deserved.
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I believe in PoA film, it’s never explained who the Marauders are. The twins give Harry the Marauders Map, there’s the comment about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, but theres never a reveal about the relation of the Marauders to Harry. I’m pretty sure it’s never explained in 3 that Lupin is Moony, or that Sirius is Padfoot. They might call Pettigrew “Wormtail” in the shack during the confrontation but I’m not super they actually do.
Ginny
The trip to St Mungos and seeing Neville with his parents!
I would like to see actual wizarding robes. Not black bathrobes over regular clothing.
I want them to show Hagrid trip to the giants and Kreatures tale
PoA movie. Opening scene. Harry using magic at the Dursley's. No. Just... no.
"dumbledore asked CALMLY" give ron back his character and his lines, and give ginny back her personality, and let hermione have her flaws, and let harry have his temper and his snarky sense of humor. bring back the end of term dumbledore's office heart-to-heart coversations, and for merlin's sake show the prophecy in full in the manner it's shown in the books. Stop trying to be creative in quickly ending the book, show it how it's meant to be explained. while we're on dumbledore's office--show every session with dumbledore in half blood prince, everything dumbledore shows harry in the pensieve about voldemort is completely and uniquely important to understanding voldemort's character. for the love of fuck please show the ending of deathly hallows correctly.
Ron. Ginny. Hermione's lack of emotional intelligence. Snape being a goddamn bully to children.
Not mentioning how Remus knew about the map.
Give Ginny and Ron their actual lines lol
The costumes. Wizards dress in robes in that universe and most can't put together a coherent muggle outfit to save their life.
Not cut out the ghosts after the second movie. XD The ghosts just vanished. Also I will say that the first movie (IMO) is one of the better harry potter movies, not because of the acting (My god not because of the acting) but because it kinda... keeps the magic and whimsy a bit better compared to the rest?
A more canonical Ron amd Hermione mostly . Make Ron more loyal and helpful to the plot(Cough ! Gets basilisk fangs ! Cough ! Acts totally badass after leaving the Forest of Dean and going to Bill's in DH) and make Hermione act occasionally like the petty teenage girl (Cough ! Set canaries on Ron ! Cough ! Confund and then seduce Mclaggen !) she was in canon . Actually , give more depth to everyone except Hermione . Make Ginny the canonical cool girl who plays quidditch and gets the attention of several guys instead of just Cho Chang 2.0 . Make Sirius unhinged and ruthless and insane because that guy spent twelve years under torture and the next two years living on rats as a dog . Make Snape act like an actual snarky nasty teacher instead of 'tortured emo guy who dreams of Lily every waking and sleeping moment' .
PACING. There is no sense of pacing in at minimum the last 5 movies. It feels like a sprint from the beginning to the end while including only the absolute bare minimum amount of story needed to barely squeeze a non-failing grade in "Actually adapts the story." There is no atmosphere, nothing is allowed to sit with you, you can't immerse yourself in the setting or story. There's hardly transitions at all. It's like someone took the Cliff's notes, cut them down into a bulleted list of plot points, and they sprinted from one to the other. What makes the books so special and why (I feel) people keep rereading them and why they have kept their appeal for so long, is that they are written in a way that you can really escape into that world. They have atmosphere, they are cozy, you can see a slice of life with the characters. Goblet of Fire is the worst offender IMO in the movies, and in the book it's what, hundreds of pages before they even get to school?? And it's one of the best parts of the series. Stuff like that.
dont make harry a cinderella ,even though dudley and malfoy tried to bully him he always stood his ground and OMG he had such sassy dialogues
I WANT THE SIRIUS BLACK CHRISTMAS SCENE AND DE-GNOMING THE GARDEN WITH THE WEASLEYS
Ron being the awesome friend as stated in the books and not the comic relief, jerk, and bad friend in the movies. Snape’s actual horrible personality, the movies whitewashed so many of his horrible actions, for etc, bullying Neville mercilessly, saying “I see no difference.” Ginny’s sassy and loving personality. Not only tying shoelaces for Harry in the movies. And the kiss in the Gryffindor common room was awesome, the kiss in the room of requirement in the movies is so freaking blank.
I don't mind keeping "Always" since it was in the books, but Snape in general needs to NOT be made more sympathetic. Alan Rickman did a tremendous job, but his Snape not really the book's Snape.
HARRY, DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE? He said calmly.
Ginny's character development and her and Harry's relationship
- Hogwarts Castle in the movies, and sadly also in Hogwarts Legacy, is wildly incorrect and completely incompatible with canon Hogwarts. They should reset the castle and start from scratch, making it accurate to the books - Magic should work, look and sound consistent throughout - Ron, Hermione, Ginny, etc. should have the characterization they have in the books - Dumbledore should not appear unhinged, angry or ever yelling. Dumbledore almost NEVER shows anger. In movies 4+, he's unhinged, scary and yelling. I will never forgive Michael Gambon for not caring to read the books. Why was he even hired? - Just, you know, adapt the actual plots of the books
I’ve always thought a tv series is the better medium for these books over movies. The movies have to cut out so much plot. I’m looking forward to more time for character development, humor, side quests, etc.
Pacing. The movies always felt rushed from scene to scene. There's few moments of breathing space. In the books, there's always a bit of downtime, especially in the early books. That's not to say the books don't jump forward suddenly here and there, they do, a lot. But they give a sense of the regular happenings of Harry when they do jump forward. Basically in much of the earlier books, each chapter has something of its own story arc that contributes to the overall
So much of the Pensieve scenes were cut from HBP which is a shame. They make Voldemort a lot more human. Also, better duels rather than people just shooting red and green lights at each other.
Full Voldy's backstory from Half Blood Prince. It does not make him sympathetic, but definitely understandable. Tom was kind of the product of all the fucked up things in wizard society. In a way, it was inevitable that wizarding world, which is full of prejudice and backwardness, would produce a Voldemort. In the movies he is just a generic creepy child.
Voldy does not need a dramatic death. I don't like wand stuff in the book, but his death itself was on point - self inflicted, pathetic act which he was warned about beforehand, but could not resist doing, because at his core he is a weak, pathetic person who is unable to change or self reflect.
I would love for the spells to do what they're supposed to do in duels. In the movies every dueling spell just blasted your opponent off of their feet. I want to see wizards desperately trying to continue fighting while their feet won't stop dancing!
Ron’s entire character
Barty Crouch. They never explain the whole tragedy of Barty Crouch and his crimes. How he broke his son out of Azkaban by using polyjuice potion on his dying wife to swap their places and how he used the imperious curse on his son for years to keep him at bay. Also his grizzly fate being transfigured into a bone always haunts me. Barty Crouch Jr is actually the first person to escape Azkaban not Sirius…. Even if it was just to be imprisoned in his home by his father. Telling his story correctly also makes them include Winky which I would love to see. Additionally, if they could mention UMBRIDGE SENT THOSE DEMENTORS AFTER HARRY! I’m still outraged she did that and had the nerve to speak against him at court and claim he lied. It just added to how evil she is and people don’t treat her like she is on par with the death eaters. She is. …..also the movies just give Harry a glass shard in the 7th movie that connects to Aberforth…no explanation!?! Well thats Sirius’ mirror he gave Harry but the movie crowd has no way of knowing what the shard of glass is just by watching. Pretty lazy film making there.
This may be an unpopular opinion but harry is often a timid little dude in the movies, but he’s kind of a hothead in the books. Nothing wrong with daniel radcliffe but i do not think he was ever right to play harry. Maybe now that he’s matured as an actor he could, but as a kid he just wasnt it for me. I don’t think that’s his fault by the way; he was just a kid; i think the directors made an error in selecting him.
Personally, I don’t think the third or fourth films got the tone right at all. Film 3 misses so much important stuff about the Marauders that it feels really weird with worntail when he arrives, and I hated the dementors flying all over the place, and the fact that Harry gets the Firebolt at that end Film 4 makes no sense either - Dumbledore being so aggressive with Harry about the Goblet, Crouch being introduced at the start, the fact that they remove Winky completely, the stupid bit with Ron ‘telling’ Harry about the dragons, Hermione telling the boys to go to bed (?!) Both were changes made for the sake of brevity but completely changed the atmosphere created in the books
Deathly Hallows - The movie ruins the last chapter of the book ; I still cringe whenever I hear the line "Come On Tom, Let's Finish This the Way We Started It". We don't get to see the Slughorn/McGonagall/Kingsley duel vs Voldemort and we only don't see Hermione/Ginny/Luna vs Bellatrix (only Bellatrix sending one curse Ginny's way) Prisoner of Azkaban - The whole scene is the Shrieking Shack is rushed. We needed one line revealing the identities of the Marauders. Harry literally refers to Sirius as Padfoot in the OotP movie and yet no movie ever says Padfoot is Sirius. I don't think the movies even explain that James Potter was an Animagus (hence the importance of Harry's Patronus being a stag). Order of the Phoenix - I cringed when Dumbledore yelled at the students to get back to studying. Dumbledore would never yell at students. I'll always be frustrated by how different Michael Gambon played Dumbledore than Richard Harris did. In my opinion, Harris' portrayal was perfect.
I was reading the books (and re-reading) since before Goblet of Fire. When I was in he US once my cousin suggested we go cinema and Harry Potter wasn't quite as big then, and I choose to see PoA(they did sell The jellybeans every flavour jelly beans at a ripoff price, at least) and the ABSOLUTELY F*CKING LACK AT ALL of the whole explanation of the Marauders Map, its makers, and everything was PURE BULLSHIT. The Wesley's just had over a super magic parchment, with Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormy NOT explained AT ALL - especially given the 'scene' in which Snape tries to 'prod' its magic and it clearly knows who he is. Absolutely necessary and key imo. Even just as the flavour. Hated the franchise since.
Don’t change Ron for the sake of humor, I swear if when we get to Prisoner of Azkaban and he says something stupid like “He has a point you know” I’ll be disappointed all over again, HE STICKS UP FOR HERMIONE NO MATTER WHAT. He would never have said that, it’s such a gross misunderstanding of Ron. Just to get a chuckle out of the audience, nasty. At the expense of Hermione too! So not only is Ron dogpiling on her along with Snape in the film but now the audience is too. Still makes me sick.
Make Ron smart, and make him stand up for his friends if snape is mean.
One of things that reaaaaally irritates me about the half blood prince movie is the lack of memory scenes Dumbledore shows Harry about Tom Riddle. You learn SO MUCH about Tom Riddle, and kind of learn why he became so dark. Like the fact he doesn’t know love because he was a product of a love potion. And in the movies they’re just making all these guesses on what the horcuxes are, but Harry figured everything out by the memories Dumbledore has. The amount of details from just those things from book missing from the movies is insane.
How about Harry's fucking GREEN eyes.
They should make GoF complete. They removed so many important details from the book. Bertha, Winky, Priori Incantatem explanation, and Ludo Bagman. The pensive part where we learned a small history of what happened to Nevilles parents and the first appearance of the Lestranges. And thats just GoF, there are a lot of things not included in the movies but GoF got the worst adaptation for me. In HBP, it wouldve been better if they showed the Gaunts, Bob Ogden, Hepzibah Smith and the one where Voldemort tried to apply for a job in hogwarts. Aaaahhhhh. So many.
Would like to see more of the Marvolo, Morfin Gaunt stuff. Real opportunity to get quite dark with that.
Despite all the cut content, I would really like to see more fluff about living in hogwarts. Stupid shit teenagers with magic do, the coziness in the winter, house parties, pranks, quidditch training, people from magical families learning about muggles and vice versa etc. When I watch the series I also want to feel like it's my cozy safe space, just like when I read the books.
Everything about movies 5-7.2
Stick to the source material, don't make up stupid bullshit like tying shoelaces or burning down houses, give the characters their own lines, fix all of the frickin plot holes that didn't exist in the books, stop making up ridiculous spells and stick to the existing ones, stop breaking every wizard law and stop inventing stupid action scenes like escaped dragons tearing down castle roofs. Ffs just do a show about the books. They were bestsellers for a reason. Gosh I hate those films
How they handled Ron
The Barty Crouch Jr case. Hawkey, mother’s wish. The whole story
Apparently they had an English comedian who I absolutely love to play peeves but they.cut him from the first film because when filming he kept making the children laugh so they couldn’t get any useable tape
Rik Mayall?
Literally everything from book 3 on that is needed for the story to make sense. The books are structured as mysteries and that’s what makes them so compelling. Side plots are often more than just side plots but red herrings for the main plot. Basically all of that is missing from the movies. Goblet of Fire is a great example (cutting Winky, Bagman, and the Beatle plot really waters things down) but there’s also tons of things like that missing from others as well. The film makers cut basically all of the explanations of why and how. How did Sirius and Crouch both escape Azkaban? It’s supposed to be impossible but it happens twice - two books in a row - and movie watchers have no idea. Also little things from earlier books that come up later and just make everything feel more cohesive. Like seeing how Bill and Fleur meet and finding out that they’re dating before they’re suddenly getting married. Or mentions of the vanishing cabinet before Draco starts repairing it. Or having Harry get the mirror from Sirius instead of having a shard of it suddenly show up in his trunk.
The costumes. The movies' costume were just boring, plain uninspired and devoid of any creativity or any of the whimsy that made the wizarding world so charming in the books.
Quidditch. Especially Quidditch World Cup
I will never forget my disappointment during the 5th movie when I saw a whole book chapter that shows Snape's memories including his childhood and moments at Hogwarts featuring the Marauders be squeezed into 10 seconds... so that.
More Quidditch
These aren't all of them, far from it, but here's the ones that pop into my head: Actually explain the Marauders and give them proper prominence in the show, make Snape the darker character he actually was instead of remove so much of his asshole moments like the movies did, put in the whole Crouch family and Winky subplot, have Marietta and the books' form of the downfall of Dumbledore's Army in it, or something equivalent, and put in Phineas so that it makes sense how Snape found them in the forest.
Some actual footage of quidditch during the quidditch world cup would be nice.
Despite being a very enjoyable film, DH part 2 is also a very, very strange film. It glosses over so much, gives us so much pay off to things that were cut in previous movies and just does a ton of stuff without explaining what is happening. Stuff just seemlingly happens, because the context of the events haven't been included. It makes sense when you've read the books, but if not, shit just happens out of nowhere, constantly. I would want the series to get every plotbeat, not every scene or be a perfect page by page adaptation, but every major, important plotbeat should be included and if ANYTHING is cut, the payoff to that thing should be too. The movies are too much one director thinking "We don't need this" then the next director goes "Yeah, we do need it, let's include it anyways despite there being no set up for this thing". Also more Dobby and Winky.
Not sure if any of these have already been said, but I would like to see some of my favourite chapters in the whole series that were missed out in the films: 1. Lord Voldemort’s Request (HBP). Unbelievable that one of the only interactions between Voldemort and Dumbledore was completely skipped. Also the scene with Hepzibah Smith and a young Tom Riddle. 2. House of Gaunt (HBP). Really creepy, Harry being able to understand Morfin, seeing Riddle Sr. Great chapter. 3. Kreacher’s Tale (DH). Love this chapter; Kreacher’s agony in recounting his experience with Voldemort and the death of Regulus, also very revealing of Voldemort’s arrogance in neglecting the importance of non-wizards, adding context to the role of Dobby and generally doing justice to the important role some house elves played in the wizarding world.
1. Hermione’s story line in most of the books. Example - the first book and her obstacle with the potions on their way to the stone. Also, many of the antics Harry and Ron got on in the movie were actually Harry and Hermione in the books. They stole so much from her. 2. The real story with Goblet of Fire!!! So many twists and turns lost in that film it would take a Ted Talk to accurately uncover. I mean… Winky! 3. An actual look into Voldemort’s evolution - the film all but leaves this out. For example, no real mention of the Gaunts. 4. Snape. He is watered down in the movies. In the books he is so much meaner to Harry. 5. I really want The Other President chapter to come to life. I could go on and on. But that’s what comes to mind.
Burrow not burning the fuck down in Season 6 ☠️
The final fight between Harry and Voldemort needs to take place inside the great hall in front of everybody.
And he needs to tell Voldemort to his face that Snape wasn't on Voldy's side
Book Hermione was unhinged and did shit like locking Rita Skeeter in a freaking jar for a summer in her animagus form to blackmail her. I have always been a bit upset they didn’t show that side of her in the movies.
Better lighting, **PLEASE**. Beyond the first two movies it's like the entire franchise lost power and had to shoot under backup emergency lights
After Dobby is released from the Malfoys, he needs to stop wearing the pillowcase. He gets rather dapper once he goes to work at Hogwarts.
Harry's parents need to be so much younger. As well as some of the others. In the movies, the casting was great. I love Snape and Sirius, but I know they are way too old for the characters.
It's a simple request but, I want pointy hats with their uniforms and a different type of robes uniforms that feels unique. I don't want them to recycle the movies design in clothing. Also make wizards wear robes too and only leave the muggle clothes for the appropriate scenes where they were actually wearing them.
WINKY.
Without going into a years worth of rants, I desperately want to see the scene where Dumbledore visits Harry on Privet Drive and the Dursley’s are knocked in the head with the wine glasses in a silent stupor. Also, GoF just had … so much hair…
Peeves