There will be spoilers ahead. Oh yes, there will be spoilers...
Okay, I came out of the movie, and I liked it. I was entertained. Had a good time. Didn't initially have any quibbles from the changes made from book to movie (in fact, I thought some of the changes to Harry's Felix Felices adventures were great, and quite funny). Jessie was disappointed. I wondered why. I started thinking about it. And then, I became disappointed. I still liked the movie, but I am now disappointed. And I'm really pissed at David Yates, the director. Who also cut and chopped Order of the Phoenix in order to make it the shortest movie simply because he wanted it to be the shortest one. And it worries the hell outta me that he's directing the Deathly Hallows...es. Because I began to think back upon the books. And no, this isn't a "boo hiss they aren't like the books" problem. It's a "boo hiss, how the hell are they gonna fix this so the actual story is told correctly?" problem. Biiiig difference.
There's good darn reason why DH is going to be two movies. To play "catch up" with all the important things excised!
For example...we met Kreacher in OotP. We get brief mention of Regulus Black (by Slughorn of all people, why didn't they take 5 seconds during the family tree scene in OotP and have Sirius talk of his brother?). So we're set for the oh so obvious reveal that the fake locket was placed by Regulus A. Black (RAB). But what we're missing is seeing Kreacher at Grimauld Place LOOTING AND HIDING ANYTHING HE COULD FIND OF THE BLACKS! So now, DH will have to do some extra story telling to get from point A to point B by way of point M, N, and O.
And what about The Gray Lady? We haven't even seen Nearly Headless Nick for 3 movies or so. But she's rather important, and I can't even recall if they've mentioned her as one of the Hogwart's ghosts!
I get the very real feeling that the reason why Dumbledore's funeral wasn't at the end of Half-Blood Prince is because they're saving it for the beginning of DH. Why? Well...I've already have seen pictures of Harry, Ron, and Hermione fleeing through the streets of London wearing formal clothing. And while we met Fleur DeLecour (sp?) in Goblet of Fire, the movies have left her out since, directly pertaining to her romance of Bill Weasley. Which in the novel is why they're wearing formal outfits...they've run from Bill and Fleur's wedding. I think this is also why the scene of the Weasley house being attacked and destroyed was added (as in, not in the book at all). No Weasley residence, no wedding there. I suppose they could still have a wedding, Lupin and Tonks, but it seems to make more sense to make it Dumbledore's funeral, so that his will can be executed (a plot point that can't be left out).
I bet Rowling, at least a small part of her, is wondering why she didn't exercise more control. I heard she made them keep Kreacher in OotP (which was made before DH was published, and so they didn't realize he'd reappear and that it'd be significant), but there are so many details that are almost essential at this point that DH is going to have to be cumbersome to get them sorted.
And this isn't even getting in to how they left out most of the Pensieve scenes, so while you get an idea of how creepy young Tom Riddle was, you don't get nearly the amount of Voldemort backstory, which was really what the damn book was for in the first place!
Oh, and I was REALLY annoyed at how the Half-Blood Prince (the mystery of the person, not the movie itself) was given the Marauders Map treatment. No wondering who he actually is throughout the movie? No explanation given on what it actually means? GAH!
I did find it rather amusing at how they had to make a special point of establishing that Harry and Hermione are very close...but not that close. I've always thought the books made that relatively clear, while visually, the movies give the impression, if you had never read the books, that Harry and Hermione were eventually going to end up together. They started mending that in GoF with the ball scene, but there were still a lot of "close" moments between Harry and Hermione. So, internally, I giggled a bit when Dumbledore flat out asked Harry about him and Hermione.
So, all in all...entertaining, but ultimately executed in such a way that I'm very afraid that The Deathly Hallows is going to be a confuddled mess.
Oh, and here...Erin playing in the late morning sun.
