The Exhaustive List Of The Harry Potter Books Versus The Films.

NOTE: There be spoilers for the books and films ahead.

----------------------

On the day after the release of Deathly Hallows Part 1, I would like to discuss the previous installments. I did something similar right before Half-Blood Prince came out, where I gave my Top 10 Worst Things About Harry Potter Films 1-5. Like before, this post will largely be comparitive to the books, and I'll just be talking about the ones already out on DVD (i.e. the first six). Also, a couple things from that list might overlap with this post, but I'll try to keep it mostly new.

I was originally going to make a Top 10 Characters Cut From The Harry Potter Films, and then a list of way they could have made the films better, but I felt this particular post would get more accomplished, including everything I would have said on those list. We all know, especially the book readers, that these aren't all perfect adaptations, nor are they perfect movies. Certain things could have been done differently in the films to improve them. This post is going to chronicle the biggest differences between the books and the films and what could have possibly made the films better. So here we go...

YEAR 1: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE

Chris Columbus had a lot on his hands when he set up this series. He had to find kids that might be good actors both now and later and that would grow into their roles. He had to make everything seem magical and wonderful. He had to keep in all the important stuff that would set things up for later. And, most importantly, he had to make a good adaptation. Did he succeed? For what he was given, I think so.

CONTINUITY

-There are no series continuity errors since this is the first film.

NOTABLE EXCLUDED CHARACTERS

-Peeves the Poltergiest. Peeves was actually casted and filmed, but all his scenes were never finished in post, because they decided to cut him out of the movie. It's a real shame, too, considering they could have really used him later. Even if they just had him in one or two short scenes (i.e. Kreacher in Order of the Phoenix), they could have always brought him back. But no, we didn't even have that luxury.

-Bane and Ronan. These are centaurs that get angry with Firenze late in the movie. They become slightly more prominent in the later books, at least in the background (specifically Order of the Phoenix).

-Professor Binns. He's the ghost professor for History of Magic. He's not really an important character, but some interesting scenes have happened in his classes later in the series. Oh, and their textbook is written by Bathilda Bagshot, who is incredibly important come the seventh book.

-Narcissa Malfoy. That's right, Narcissa (Malfoy's mother) was actually first introduced in this book, whereas the movies would have you to believe you never met her until the sixth. She doesn't do a heck of a lot, though, so it's understandable why they cut her.

-Madam Pince. She's the mean librarian. None of the movies have shown her (I believe), though the library has been used throughout the films. Again, not a major character, but a fun one.

PLOT

-I don't think I can make any complaints plot-wise. It did everything the first book needed to do. It didn't leave out anything major that I can think of. The only thing I might mention is the lack of a few "levels" when the trio is going after the stone at the end. There's are at least 2-3 missing protection rooms, but it's understandable why they were removed.

SETTING UP FOR LATER

-Again, the only real thing that wasn't set up that I would have liked to see set up was Peeves.

MISC.

-Chris Columbus' biggest problem with his Potter films is his visual style. Everything is primary colors... green, red, and gold being the biggest. It's so bland and boring to look at, especially in comparison to the later films. And when you do a near page-for-page adaptation of a book, but you don't give us an appealing visual style, you're not gonna have a lot of repeat viewings.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

YEAR 2: HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

The second film is considered by many to be the worst, especially considering the drop in ticket sales for the third (the third film is the least selling Potter film of the series). I don't consider it the worst. Yes, it's long... and yes, there could have been things done better. So let's see what those things are...

CONTINUITY

-As Chris Columbus continued with this movie, there aren't any major continuity issues yet.

NOTABLE EXCLUDED CHARACTERS

-Pretty much every new character was introduced... Lucius Malfoy, Dobby, Cornelius Fudge, Fawkes the Phoenix, Ginny (though she was introduced in the first), Arthur Weasley, etc.

PLOT

-There actually is a plot hole issue in the movie. There's a big subplot that ends up tying in to the main plot, but it's barely even glanced over. This subplot is Ginny having a huge crush on Harry. After Lucius slips the diary into her cauldron, Ginny begins writing to Tom Riddle about Harry. She explains everything about him. As this was just a memory of a young Tom Riddle, he didn't know about Harry Potter or what had happened between them. Ginny tells him all of this. Because of this, Tom becomes very interested in Harry, so that when Harry ends up with the diary, Tom messes with him and eventually tries to get him down into the Chamber of Secrets so that he can come back to life (this gets into Horcruxes, which isn't explained until the sixth). But none of this is explained, so there's a plot hole of how exactly Tom knew about Harry in the first place.

SETTING UP FOR LATER

-Everything is pretty much set up nicely in this one... from the Polyjuice Potion to Dobby to the diary... and everything in between. I don't think there's anything that was left out of this movie that would mess with later installments.

MISC.

-The ending is way too schmaltzy and cheesy. There is no way every single house would know or even care that Hagrid came back from Azkaban, much less all cheer for him and whatnot.

-The movie is incredibly long (the longest to date), but I honestly can't think of what could be cut out. The Quidditch match could be shortened, and the stuff at the beginning with the flying car and all that could have been shortened. Even the spiders/Aragog sequence could have been cut down just a tad. I don't think any scene could have really been removed, but maybe just shortened. There were quite a few scenes that just went on a little long.

-Again, Columbus' visual style is just dull.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

YEAR 3: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN

I rag on this movie a lot. Y'all know it. Most of y'all disagree with it. I treat it as if it were the worst film in the series. But, believe it or not, I don't actually think that. I think it made the biggest and most grievous errors in its translation to the screen, but I don't think it's the worst actual film. Let me start off with the good, however.

Alfonso Cauron gave the series a much-needed overhaul visually. Chris Columbus was just boring stylistically. He also made it much darker, though to be fair to Rowling, the series did start taking a darker turn around this book (though didn't do a full flip until the end of Goblet of Fire). So in those regards, he did fantastically.

That being said, let us start with our first category:

CONTINUITY

-Cauron moved the Whomping Willow from its location in Chamber of Secrets.

-He changed the grounds of Hogwarts (though I actually like this change).

-He moved Hagrid's hut a considerable distance.

-He changed the actors playing both the Fat Lady and Tom the Barkeep. Granted, he also changed Dumbledore, but that wasn't really his fault considering Richard Harris died. What is his fault, however, will be discussed a little later (you already know).

-Along with changing the Fat Lady actress, he moved her portrait and, thus, the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. It makes no sense to put it in the middle of a staircase. Put it back where it belongs.

-OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO FLITWICK?! Besides the obvious complete makeover, he's been turned from the Charms professor to the choir teacher. Right.

NOTABLE EXCLUDED CHARACTERS

-Sir Cadogan. He was a knight in a painting that bugged the trio throughout. He's actually in the movie, so he's not completely excluded. You can see him in the background during the Fat Lady scene. But any scene of worth that he should be in was filmed, but inevitably left on the cutting room floor. Overall not an important character, but would have been nice to see.

-Oliver Wood. He was in the previous two films as the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. But really, Prisoner of Azkaban is his shining moment. This was his last chance to win the Cup, and he has a pretty decent-sized role in the book. But they cut out all the Cup stuff in the movie. I wasn't too perturbed by it, though. It just would have been nice to see him again in his big moment.

-Cho Chang. She's actually introduced in this book, but it's within the Quidditch subplot that was cut. We start seeing Harry's crush on her here.

PLOT

-This is where the movie loses me. The movie removed the entire purpose for this story existing. The first, of course, belonging to the removal of the Marauder's Map explanation. Lupin could have easily explained it before he left. But not explaining it leaves a few plot holes in the film, not to mention leakes over into future continuity errors.

-The second is one of the reasons Snape hates Harry: James saved Snape's life after a prank goes horribly wrong. It's also one of the first times you see James as a little less than perfect.

-How exactly did Sirius escape Azkaban, again? Oh, right, he noticed Scabbers/Peter Pettigrew in the Egypt picture that is tossed in at the beginning of the movie for no apparent reason. He knew he was at Hogwarts because the article discussed Ron being a Hogwarts student. Then he changed into a dog, which the dementors couldn't sense, and was able to sneak away and hop into the surrounding water and swim to shore.

-But Nick, you ask, why don't all of the prisoners just turn into animals and escape? Well, reader, it's because Animagi are rare, and not everybody can do it... another bit of plot information not shared.

-And if Peter did the killing and betrayal, why, exactly, did everybody (including his closest friends) think Sirius did it? Well... that's explained in the next section.

SETTING UP FOR LATER

-Fidelius Charm. There's a spell known as the Fidelius Charm, or the Secret Keeper spell. Basically what it does is hides a certain location from anybody being able to find it. Only one person can divulge its whereabouts. This person is known as a Secret Keeper. When Voldemort started to go after Lily and James, Dumbledore hid them at Godric's Hollow. The Fidelius Charm was put on their house. They were originally going to go with Sirius as the Secret Keeper, as he was James' best friend. However, at the last minute, they decide to give it to Peter (without telling anyone), as he would be less obvious. Peter, the scared rat he is, gives the location up to Voldemort. Sirius hears of this and goes after him, but it's too late. And to escape, Peter cuts off a finger, blows up a few muggles, and escapes, leaving Sirius to take the blame. None of this is explained in the film, leaving somewhat of a plot hole. However, it also leaves a few things unexplained for later movies. The Fidelius Charm isn't explained here, so it can't be used later without much confusion (such as Grimmauld Place, where they had to change its introduction up a bit).

-Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. I mentioned the lack of explanation for the Marauder's Map earlier, but here's a big issue that stems from it. Due to this lack of explanation, Harry should never know that Moony is Lupin, Wormtail is Peter, Padfoot is Sirius, and Prongs is his father. This is particularly confusing come a couple lines in later movies (such as calling Peter Wormtail in any of the future movies or Harry saying "He has Padfoot" in Order of the Phoenix).

MISC.

-Remove the slapstick, particularly from the Knight Bus segment.

-Remove the silly talking shrunken heads.

-Shorten the time travel stuff... it's seriously half the movie. I always describe it as "OK, now that we've watched the last 40 minutes, let's do it all over again, but from a different perspective!" I know the time travel stuff is in the book, but it seriously does not take that much... time.

-Remove and/or shorten the seasonal interludes. I know this was done for the whole "time" theme, but they add nothing and take time away from other things.

-Make it less obvious that Scabbers is a plot device in the movie... and explain why Crookshanks is after him.

-Give Hermione back her nerdy look. This is the movie where they started sexing her up, which totally takes away from the big Yule Ball reveal in Goblet of Fire.

-Cast somebody else besides Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. He was a hippy in this one, a psycho in the next one, and almost good in Order of the Phoenix (except for one or two moments). Though I thought he was pretty dang good in Half-Blood Prince, so I'll give him that.

-He's become affectionately known as RBK... that is, Random Black Kid. He apparently belongs to Gryffindor house in the same year as Harry. If they wanted to give stilted lines to a black student in Harry's year, just give it to Dean Thomas. He's horribly underused in the films as it is.

-Freeze frame blur? Really?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

YEAR 4: HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

So, Nick, if the critically panned Chamber of Secrets or your personally panned Prisoner of Azkaban aren't what you think are the worst film of the series, what is? Well, dear reader... this one. It does a couple things right, and even one thing amazingly well (the Graveyard scene), but everything else is just so... rushed. It's the first "big" book of the series. They also were tempted to split it into 2 films. But Alfonso Cuaron talked them out of doing it, despite him not coming on to direct the installment. It probably would have been a good idea.

CONTINUITY

-Wormtail? Why are you calling Peter Pettigrew Wormtail? Oh, that's right. You didn't explain that in the last movie, and you're not bothering to do it in this one, either. So let's just toss it in and see if any non-book readers get confused.

NOTABLE EXCLUDED CHARACTERS

-Fleur Delacour... what? She might as well have been. OK, fine... ignore this one.

-Bertha Jorkins. There's an entire subplot about a Ministry official named Bertha Jorkins that goes missing, though they think she just got lost because she's really ditsy. Her characters' entire purpose was how Wormtail got Voldemort at least partially alive and into his little weirdo baby form.

-Ludo Bagman. There's a red herring subplot involving Ludo Bagman and the Weasley twins. You're meant to think it was Ludo who put Harry's name in the Goblet, but it just turns out Fred and George won a gamble against Ludo and he paid them in fake money, but he wouldn't meet with them to pay up.

-Dobby and Winky. Yup... believe it or not, Dobby comes back after the second book (and prior to the 7th). He reappears in Goblet of Fire working in the kitchens of Hogwarts as a free elf. Winky is a house elf that belongs to the Crouch family at the beginning, but they free her (much to her chagrin), and she's put up in the kitchens, as well. Her distress (and drunkenness) sets off Hermione to start up one of the more annoying subplots of the book series--S.P.E.W., the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. But most of Dobby's point in the book was handed off to Neville (who also took this position in the next film, as well).

-Bellatrix Lestrange. Bellatrix is first introduced in the Pensieve scene. In the movie, we just get Karkaroff. In the book, we get a few different prisoners, including Bellatrix, who is the one to admit to torturing Neville's parents along with Barty Crouch Jr.

-Bill Weasley. He has a short scene as a judge during the first task, but it's an important scene due to Fleur and, well... what you'll see in the seventh film.

-Peeves. He has a good suspense scene in this one, but as he was never introduced, he couldn't be in it.

-The Dursleys. Yup, for the first time in the series, Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley were cut from the films. This was a funny one, too, as the Weasley's come to pick up Harry so he can stay at their place for the rest of the summer. Well, they come via Floo Powder, but after the letter fiasco from the first book, the Dursleys sealed up their fireplace. After literally breaking into their living room, the Weasleys totally freak out the Dursleys... not to mention Fred and George slip Dudley some Ton-Tongue Toffee, which makes his tongue grow to an obscene size.

PLOT

-There's so much that it buggered up that it's hard to remember everything. Let's start with Rita Skeeter's shortened role. There was a huge subplot with Rita and how she was getting a lot of information for her column. As it turns out, she was an unregistered animagus spying on them as a beetle. Hermione uses this as blackmail later, but we'll get to that.

-Why was so much time spent on the Yule Ball? That was one mere chapter in the book, and it takes up a huge chunk of the movie.

-They could have easily cut down the dragon challenge. There would be no way they wouldn't enchant the chain so that it can't break. There would be no way they would let a dangerous dragon chase Harry Potter of all people across the school where they can't keep an eye on him or protect him, especially since he's not even supposed to be involved. It makes no sense on any level.

-They really changed up the maze challenge. The book had sphinxes and giant spiders and all sorts of nasty things.

-Speaking of the maze, Krum had the imperious curse on him. The point of said curse is that nobody can tell you are cursed and they can make you do whatever they want. So why did they have to fog up his eyes? That takes away the point.

-The death of Crouch Sr. was so boring as compared to the book. In the book, his body goes missing and you find out later that he was killed and then transfigured into a bone so they couldn't find him as easily. But I guess they needed immediate reactions.

-In the book, Crouch Jr. gets the Dementor's Kiss and loses his soul. In the movie, he's just sent back to Azkaban. During the Azkaban breakout later on, that would probably put Crouch Jr. up there as Voldemort's right-hand man due to his success. Yet, he's never heard of again. I smell a plot hole!

-What the hell, Mike Newell? No Quidditch World Cup? Not even a few glimpses of it? Pfft... fine then.

SETTING UP FOR LATER

-Priori Incantatem. I could forgive a lot of this movie had they not screwed this up. Visually, it looks wonderful and the scene in the graveyard works great. However, Dumbledore doesn't explain WTF happened... at least in the movie. And this is hugely important for the final book. Voldemort and Harry's wands share the same core--a phoenix feather from the same phoenix (Fawkes). They're brother wands, which means they can't fight against each other. When they try, Priori Incantatem happens, where the "beams" crash and whatnot, and figments of previous spells show themselves in reverse order. They almost definitely need to have this explained in Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Update: They pretty much do... not referencing Priori Incantatem, but referencing how they can't use their wands against each other).

-Hermione blackmailing Rita. Because the animagus thing is never visited, neither is Hermione holding it over Rita's head. Because this happens, the most important news article in the whole series can't be written in the next film.

-No Bill Weasley. Because there's no Bill, Fleur can't exactly meet him...

-Where's the prize money? Since Harry didn't get any prize money for winning the tournament in the movie, he couldn't give it to the Weasley twins. Therefore, they have no money to start making Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products, nor any money to start up the store by the sixth film.

MISC.

-What's with the random, no-point-to-it scene of Karkaroff going into the Great Hall just to check on the Goblet? It's obviously a red herring, but once you take that factor out, there's no real reason for him to be doing that to begin with.

-Could they have made it any more obvious that Crouch Jr. was disguised as Moody with the whole tongue thing? What the hell was that all about?

-Speaking of Moody, what's with the strap? Moody has no strap for his eye!

-Completely random, but it's always bugged me that at the end of the Malfoy, The Amazing Bouncing Ferret scene, Moody's walking stick goes from crooked to straight between frames.

-Nigel. Oh, Nigel, Nigel, Nigel... couldn't they have just re-casted Colin Creevey? Or introduced him as Dennis, Colin's little brother? Oh well... I guess Nigel has just become a brand new character for the films.

-This was the book where Harry really began to connect with Sirius. In the movie, Sirius has one (really poorly done) scene, and that's it. That kind of leaves it up to the next film to set up their relationship.

-ANGRY DUMBLEDORE. WHY?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

YEAR 5: HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Oh, the introduction of David Yates. Yates seems to split people. Some think he's ruined the Potter films. I think they're crazy. I personally think Yates has made the best Potter films of the bunch. In fact, he managed to turn the longest, clunkiest book of the series into the shortest film, and tell it pretty straightforwardly at that. But does it have issues? Sure... let's get into them.

CONTINUITY

-I actually think one of Yates' strengths is his brilliant eye for continuity. He's brought back things from every film, from the clocks and lock-down mechanisms in Prisoner of Azkaban to the moving staircases in the first two films and more. That being said, there are a couple things I want to bring up. First, it would be animalizing the centaurs. They're very bestial in this film, whereas Firenze wasn't as much so in the first film.

-Second, during the Dumbledore/Voldemort fight, the two wizards have a Prior Incantatem moment. This is impossible. The only way this could happen is if Dumbledore had picked up Harry's wand. For continuity purposes, this makes no sense.

NOTABLE EXCLUDED CHARACTERS

-Frank and Alice Longbottom. There is an amazing scene in the book that takes place at St. Mungo's Hospital where Harry goes to visit Mr. Weasley after his attack. While he's there, he meets Neville, who is there visiting his parents, who are completely mentally destroyed. Neville still gets to explain this to Harry in a scene in the film, but it's not done nearly as heart-wrenching as in the book (all those gum wrappers...).

-Gilderoy Lockhart. Yup, that's right. Lockhart does make another appearance. He's at St. Mungo's while Harry is visiting with the Weasleys. It's a very funny moment right before the heartbreak of Neville's parents.

-Marietta Edgecomb. In the book, Marietta is the snitch, not Cho. She's Cho's friend, but she doesn't agree with Harry or his methods, finally giving in to Umbridge. She ends up having a bad curse placed on her by Hermione due to her breaking the rules of Dumbledore's Army. In the film, Cho is made slightly more sympathetic by having us see it done through Veritaserum.

-Aberforth Dumbledore. Aberforth is technically in the film, but they weren't completely aware it was Aberforth at the time. He's given almost nothing to do but chase a goat out of the room. Of course, his role was recasted for the final film, as it is slightly more substantial.

-Zacharias Smith. I think he was also kind of in the film, but under a different name. He's a total twerp and member of Hufflepuff. He's pretty anti-Harry, but he's a part of Dumbledore's Army.

-Peeves. I would have liked to see Peeves if just for this movie. During the Weasley twin escape, they tell Peeves--who has never listened to anybody ever--to "Give her hell from us." And he solutes them and does so. It's an epic moment that had to be lost thanks to the first film.

-Rita Skeeter. I mentioned her subplot here in the previous film. Hermione blackmails her into writing an article about Harry's side of the story (i.e. Voldemort's return), and they publish it in Luna's father's newspaper, the Quibbler. Of course, Umbridge has it banned from school, which only makes it skyrocket in popularity.

-Dobby. Again, he's in the book helping out Harry from time to time.

-Firenze. After Trelawney is fired, Firenze is hired on to take her position as a permanent sub, basically. He also continues this role in the next book, which causes some conflict between the two characters, having two teachers teaching the same subject and splitting the classes.

PLOT

-The book's Ministry invasion was over 200 pages long and included multiple rooms and some really crazy stuff. The movie's Ministry invasion was... not. They went straight to the Hall of Prophecy and then to the Veil Room. It was already the shortest movie. They could have spent a good amount of time on this climax.

-The office scene at the end of the film is drastically different from the book. It doesn't bother me too much, except for one thing: the prophecy. It's not explained almost at all. And to top it off, they weren't even given the full prophecy. They actually cut out the most important part of the prophecy, the part that would have let Voldemort know who to go after. Without that part of the prophecy, Voldemort has absolutely no reason to know it could be about Harry (and actually, in the books, it could also be about Neville... which was totally removed from the movie, though I can understand why, I suppose). And none of this is explained. All we get is the "one of you must die" and "I love you, Harry."

SETTING UP FOR LATER

-There is actually a Horcrux clue in the book, but it's in a throw-away line during a chapter about cleaning, which... of course... was completely cut from the film.

MISC.

-The reveal of Grimmauld Place is kinda lame, but they couldn't do it totally right due to no Fidelius Charm introduction in the third film.

-Speaking of Grimmauld Place, Sirius' mother's portrait was really toned down to almost nothing in the film, huh? Only a book fan would have even caught anything about it in the film.

-Tonks is given almost nothing to do... poor Tonks.

-Kreacher seems like a throw-away character at this point, again given nothing to do.

-The whole subplot surrounding Percy and his family has been completely dropped, much like the character in general, really. I guess there will be no redemption moment in the final film.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

YEAR 6: HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

This is actually my favorite of the films thus far, but that won't stop me from finding something wrong with it.

CONTINUITY

-I actually can't think of anything wrong with the continuity in this film. It actually fixes previous continuity errors. For instance, Flitwick, who only seemed to be a Charms professor in the first two films and a choir teacher in the rest... is once again referenced as a Charms professor, while doing choir on the side.

NOTABLE EXCLUDED CHARACTERS

-Madam Rosmerta. She had a part in Draco's plan that actually helps tie together a few very minor plot holes left by the film.

-The Gaunts. This is probably the biggest cut of the film. The Gaunts is a pensieve scene where we get to see Voldemort's parents and grandparents, as well as a couple other things.

-Hepzibah Smith. This was another marginal cut in the film for a pensieve scene that ties into another category, so I'll get to it later.

-Professor Trelawney. There's a pretty major scene where we find out how Trelawney was first hired, that she was the one who made Harry's Prophecy, and that Snape was the one that had overheard it and gone to Voldemort with the first half of the prophecy (which is all he had heard). Granted, as they cut out the bulk of the prophecy, it makes it kinda clunky as to what he could have heard to begin with.

-Firenze. I already mentioned why during the previous film's section.

-Dobby and Kreacher. The two house elves appear to help Harry keep track of Draco, as Harry becomes insanely obsessive about Draco's whereabouts and plotting throughout the book.

-The Dursleys. Yup, for the second time in the series, Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley are absent from the film. And how sad, as this was a funny one. Dumbledore shows up at their house and totally messes with them (mentally and physically). He also has Kreacher appear to see if Grimmauld Place (and Kreacher) belong to Harry or Bellatrix.

PLOT

-So... the Weasley's house burned down, huh? I can see why they added this scene in the film. It was a much-needed action sequence in an otherwise non-action film. Still, I've never decided how much I actually like its inclusion. Mostly, I'm not overly bugged by it.

-A ton of memory sequences were cut. The book has a handful of them. The movie only has about 2 or 3 main ones. I actually kinda miss the memories, as they give us Voldemort's history. And not only that, but they give us insight into the Horcruxes.

SETTING UP FOR LATER

-Due to the cutting and/or trimming of certain memory sequences, the majority of the Horcrux clues went missing. Hepzibah Smith's scene introduces us to one of the possible Horcruxes, as well as the possibility of what the others could be--objects belonging to Hogwarts Founders. What the "Young Tom Riddle" sequence doesn't set up is that Voldemort collects trophies from his most important victims. He sees value in prominent victory. And, like Harry, since Hogwarts was a major part of his life changing and it felt like home, it would be most logical that he'd find objects that belonged to its founders to use as Horcruxes. Of course, Slytherin's locket was introduced, though not as belonging to Slytherin. The ring is introduced, as well, but without the Gaunt sequence, we don't know its significance, either. We also know of his diary, but we don't learn that it was his first thanks to the death of a girl named Myrtle (to later become Moaning Myrtle). In other words, Harry is left to be even more in the dark in the films than he was in the books.

MISC.

-The book doesn't focus on the Half-Blood Prince subplot much, either, though Hermione was more focused on trying to figure out who it was. In the movie, there's almost no curiosity of who it could be. I think if this were played up a bit more, the reveal at the end would have been stronger. There is no explanation in the film why Snape called himself the Half-Blood Prince, as Hermione does explain in the book. Overall, however, there's no real point to that whole subplot besides discovering Snape is a half-blood, so it didn't really bug me that much. It's just slightly strange in the film to go from little focus to "I am the Half-Blood Prince."

-Snape could have reacted stronger to Harry's "COWARD!" That's a huge moment in the book, and the fury from Snape at being called a coward is intense. The movie had almost no reaction to it.

-The movie didn't set up the Inferi... at all, really. The book has a few moments (including a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson from Snape) about them, foreshadowing the end of the film.

-Speaking of DADA, the book only has one lesson from Snape in it, but the movie could have at least included it.

FINAL NOTES

I'm sure I missed a ton in this. I know for a fact there were one or two things I wanted to mention in here somewhere, but I can't remember what they were. If you have anything else you'd like to make note of, please leave a comment!

Top 10 Worst Things About Harry Potter Films 1-5.

With the latest Harry Potter film coming out this week, I felt I should start off with a post about my thoughts on the series. I've already given some short, quick thoughts on each previous movie here, but I felt something more in-depth was necessary. However, as I could go on praising Harry Potter day and night, I felt doing something a bit different with this. As such, I felt like putting together what I felt are the top 10 worst things about the first 5 films. These things can be related to full scenes, directors, cast (doubtful, with one major exception), adaptation quality, etc., as long as it is in relation to the first 5 films. And what Potter fan doesn't like to whine about certain aspects of the films?

Before I get started, however, let me first begin by saying that while I am an avid HP book fan, I am by no means an absolute purist. I don't care that Harry's eyes aren't green or Hermione's dress to the Yule Ball ended up being pink. I only care about when important things are messed with--important things that had no purpose in being changed, cut, what have you. I also understand that they are two different mediums, and they don't have to be 6 hours long (as nice as that'd be) to include every little detail (as long as said details aren't vital). That being said, let us begin!

Warning: If you live in a cave and/or have never read or seen Harry Potter--why are you reading this?--there are spoilers ahoy.

10. Charming Little Fellow

Filius Flitwick, the tiny Charms professor, has been in all 5 movies. But you probably haven't noticed, have you? In the first two films, as directed by Chris Columbus, he had a crazy white beard and hair. But starting in Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban, Flitwick changes complete (though played by the same actor), and he keeps that look for the following films.

Granted, J.K. Rowling herself freaked out about his look in the first two films, being nothing like she imaged, and moreso approved of his look in

the latter films. However, it's not really the jarring change in appearance that gets to me. It's his change in job.

Again, beginning with Cuaron's film, he goes from Charms professor to band/choir director. You see him directing the choir at the beginning of Prisoner, conducting the band in Goblet, and again in Order as Umbridge measures his height. And, of course, you see him in various locations, such as the Great Hall eating, or at the Yule Ball being forced into a body surf.

What happened to Charms? The characters didn't end their learning of Charms with Wingardium Leviosa. Maybe the student body just thought Flitwick disappeared because of his total makeover and stopped going to his classes. Who knows?

9. Anybody Peeved?

Peeves the Poltergeist barely missed out on being in the first film, and what a difference it could have made. Yes, believe it or not, there are entire major characters that are cut from the films that are in the books. For instance, Ludo Bagman in Goblet of Fire; Sir Cadogan in Prisoner of Azkaban (though if you know what you're looking for, you can still see him); or the History of Magic ghost teacher, Professor Binns. Or there are characters who are around for a while in the books, but aren't introduced in the films until necessary (like Bellatrix Lestrange, Cedric Diggory, Cho Chang, Narcissa Malfoy, or Lavender Brown--all of which were physically introduced in earlier books, but not until later movies).

Peeves is different. As a poltergeist that haunts the halls of Hogwarts, he can't exactly be introduced halfway into the series. So not being introduced in the first film really put a damper on his appearance at all. What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? Well... not much, honestly. But outside the random comedy he would offer, there are a few good scenes he would 

have really helped. His most missed scene, however, would be Fred and George's grand escape in Order of the Phoenix. Peeves doesn't listen to anybody, and just goes around causing mayhem. But when Fred and George give their grand farewell to Hogwarts and Umbridge, they 

tell him "Give her hell from us, Peeves," and the poltergeist actually salutes them and proceeds to... well...  give Umbridge hell. A classic scene from the book.

He actually had a scene filmed for the first film, and was to be portrayed by Rik "Drop Dead Fred" Mayall, but the scene was put on the cutting room floor--not even to be shown in deleted scenes or ABC extended television versions. Though Rik Mayall would have been quite the good Peeves... and I'd love to have seen him in the films, at least once.

8. Thank You Ron... I Mean, Hermione

When you think Ron Weasley, what character traits come to mind? Brave? Loyal? Funny? If you just said the last one, then you know Ron Weasley: The Movie Version. Sure, he's funny in the books, but the films portray Ron as almost purely comic relief, with only a few exceptions. For instance, the first film portrays him close to the books, particularly in the chess game. He's also more than a comedian in Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, putting the biggest offenders as Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban.

But this isn't to the fault of Rupert Grint, who is brilliant in the role. So who gets the fault? Steve Kloves, the screenwriter, who has an apparent crush on Hermione. Let me explain: Hermione often gets other characters' lines, including Harry and Ron (mostly Ron). This makes him (and sometimes Harry) look like an idiot in comparison to the books. Ron is a funny character, and Rupert Grint portrays it well, but there's more to Ron than comedy. Thankfully, though, he's been getting better as the films go on. 

7. Normally I Love A Sexy Nerd

Similarly, the portrayal of Hermione Granger after the first two films has drastically changed from the books. Hermione is a dorky little nerd in the books (redundancy be damned!), with huge, bushy hair and--until Goblet of Fire--buck teeth. Hermione was best portrayed in the first two films. But then Cuaron came along and... things changed. They decided to start sexing her up. They straightened her hair, put makeup on her, and gave her

 form-fitting clothes. They also all but dropped the nerd aspect, rarely having her even hold a book.

And along with dropping the looks, Emma Watson's acting began to dwindle for a couple films until David Yates came along in Order of the Phoenix and made every character, major and minor, act better than they had ever acted before. I suppose I could only suspect that, once she started dressing out of the part, she had more trouble acting the part. Also, because of the drastic change in looks, her "epic transformation" come the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire lost all of its impact. In the book, Ron doesn't even recognize her at first because of how different she looks. But in the films, she basically just pulls up her hair and puts on a dress (Pink!... just kidding).

6. Master Gave Dobby A Sock... And The Boot!

You remember Dobby, right? The little house elf in Chamber of Secrets that tried to save Harry's life by trying to keep him away from Hogwarts? As you should know, at the end of that film, Harry tricks Lucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby. But what you might not know if you only follow the films... is that Dobby returns to the series in Goblet of Fire.

Dumbledore hires a willing Dobby to work in the kitchens. He also ends up helping Harry by stealing Gillyweed from Snape's stores for the second Triwizard task. Of course, in the film, this role was given to Neville instead, which begins a list of things that Neville gets credit for that are actually Dobby's doing. In Order of the Phoenix, it's actually Dobby that finds the Room of Requirement and tells Harry about. And in the upcoming Half-Blood Prince, Dobby makes another important appearance, though I doubt Neville will get this one, as it's pretty much something only the house elf could do (at least easily).

In fact, Dobby's removal also, in part, is responsible for Winky's removal... an important character (Barty Crouch's house elf) cut from Goblet of Fire. You can't exactly have Winky and not Dobby... there would be no sense in that. And they almost cut Kreacher from Order of the Phoenix, had J.K. Rowling not warned them otherwise, due to his importance in the as-of-then unreleased final book.

So why was Dobby cut from these films, time restraints aside? Alfonso Cuaron. I know what you're asking yourself: Cuaron just directed Prisoner of Azkaban, right? Yes, that's right. However, the producers were planning to do the intelligent thing and make Goblet of Fire into two films--which would have made it so much better, giving it the necessary time to get through everything (a lot of important stuff happens in that book). But Cuaron, having just finished movie 3, gave them advice: cut out everything that isn't important to Harry himself. This began a trend that, starting with Cuaron's own film, cut out plenty of important details that would really screw over the later films. 

Most would argue that Hermione's S.P.E.W. organization isn't important. I would tend to agree... except that it reintroduces Dobby, and also leads to an important, relationship-confirming moment that fans waited 7 books for. But now I digress. So I've gone on and on about Dobby being cut from the films, but what does that even matter, you ask? For those who haven't read Deathly Hallows, you have no idea. But Dobby plays a crucial role in the final book, and the producers (and Steve Kloves) are pretty much kicking themselves in the ass for following Cuaron's advice, which basically led to Dobby's removal. I know they have Dobby in the film (they can't not), as it's been confirmed... so I'll be interested to see how they work him back in. I particularly liked something Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) said in an interview not too long ago: "I wonder how they'll reintroduce him. 'Oh, Dobby! Wow, I haven't seen you since 2003!'" Indeed.

5. Where'd He Go? Sirius-ly?

You know, when you introduce a major character in the prior film that becomes hugely important in the lead character's life... it might be smart to, you know, keep him around. Again, because of Cuaron's advice to keep Goblet as one film by cutting out anything not involving Harry and the main plot, Sirius Black all but disappeared. Sure, he has a letter or two, and one horrible appearance in the "fire" (which, thank God, was done correctly in Order of the Phoenix). But that's it. This is the book where Harry gets close to his godfather, where he bonds with him and forms a relationship with him. And all of that is all but removed completely.

In the books, Sirius shows up around Hogsmeade near the school, and they go to visit him and bring him food, etc., as he's still on the run from the Ministry. Not to mention there are plenty of letters and other correspondence.

But because of Sirius' horrible lack of inclusion in Goblet, David Yates really had to amp it up in Order because, well... obviously. And many-a-fan has complained that the emotional impact wasn't nearly as strong in the film as it was in the books. To me, it was about the same, because I wasn't really affected by Sirius one way or the other. But I can see where they're coming from. Now, Dumbledore, on the other hand... but we're not there yet.

4. Snape's Worst Memory (Minus The Worst Part)

It's a whole chapter in the book version of Order of the Phoenix, but a mere 30 seconds in the film. Now, Order of the Phoenix is my current favorite of the films (hopefully soon to be replaced). It did what many fans aren't comprehending: it took an 800+ page book with basically no plot and nearly all Quidditch, and turned it into a 2 hour, coherent film. How? They cut out Quidditch and focused on the important aspects of the plot. If Cuaron's advice was going to work for any of the films, it would be this one. The reason is that, as I've already said, almost nothing of any vital importance happens throughout the bulk of this bulky book.

Unfortunately, when something important does happen, the film also glosses over that, as well, where it could have spent a little more time (I'll be getting into that a little more later, as well). One of these occurrences was with the "Snape's Worst Memory" scene. In the book, you'll know this scene as Harry doing Occlumency lessons with Snape... then Snape runs off to help a student who had gone missing and just turned up (important for Half-Blood Prince), leaving Harry with Dumbledore's Pensieve, which he's let Snape borrow to remove certain memories... just in case. Harry dives into the Pensieve to see Snape back in his school days... only to be followed and bullied by none other than James Potter and Sirius Black (while Lupin and Peter Pettigrew stand back). Of course, Lily Evans (later Lily Potter) comes to the rescue, only to be called a Mudblood by Snape and attacked further by James.

In the film, Harry does a shield charm on Snape's Ligilimens, which rebounds and has Harry go into Snape's mind instead. On paper, it's a brilliant method to save time away from going into the whole Pensieve dilemma. And it would have worked out well. The problem? They cut out the most important part. Because the final book hadn't yet been released, I suppose they didn't realize that it wasn't being bullied that was Snape's Worst Memory. I won't go into details or explanations for those who don't follow the books, though, to avoid spoiling anything. Yes, learning that James, who Harry idolized, was a bully was important, but it wasn't the most important part of the memory. And from what I read before the film came out, they actually filmed the whole memory scene, but trimmed it down to what they had in the film.

And I think that was a mistake. Sure, it wouldn't be important information until the final movie, but they should have at least put the full thing in there for continuity purposes. The movie was already the shortest of the bunch. I don't see how adding another minute tops would have hurt anything.

3. DumbleRAR

Yes, yes, another Michael Gambon complaint. I'm sure you've heard them all over the internet (assuming you're a dork with no life like me and have the time to do those kinds of searches). When Richard Harris died, they of course had to replace the man who embodied the calm power that is Dumbledore. Unfortunately, Alfonso Cuaron had to hire Michael Gambon as that replacement. I'm in the group that would have liked to see Sir Ian McKellen in the role, but he refused to play Dumbledore for personal reasons.

Thus, we're left with Mr. Gambon. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike him in the role all the time. He did get some of the whimsy side of the Headmaster in Prisoner of Azkaban, though he was a bit too philosophical at times (moreso a scripting complaint, I suppose). But then comes Goblet of Fire, where most Gambon hatred stems. He becomes angry and even violent. Dumbledore doesn't even become remotely upset or irritated until Half-Blood Prince, though he still never even comes close to the crazy he shows in Goblet of Fire.

It could have been due to the director, but Gambon's portrayal of Dumbledore is mind boggling. To seemingly throttling Harry and screaming out his name in Goblet to the horribly unnecessary "Don't you have studying to do?" line in Order, Gambon's Dumbledore has some anger issues. And even outside of performance, he's chosen to stray away from Dumbledore visuals. He wears grey robes instead of bright ones; he ties his beard; and he refuses to wear the signature half-moon spectacles. But he's not all bad, as I said. He has his moments, usually in the final scenes with Harry in the dorms or office. And from what I've seen and heard about Half-Blood Prince thus far, I have some high hopes.

But that still doesn't let me forgive him for Goblet.

2. Explain That Again?

This section could probably be a post all to itself. In fact, a lot of my complaints stemmed from this section, and I realized they all fit under one category: Endings and Explanations. Most Potter fans can tell you that the endings to Potter films always find a way to do something wrong. Some of these are well known. Some of these are my personal observations. But for the most part, the ending of each Potter film has changed something or left something out that has really rather aggravated me on one level or another. Let's go through them, shall we?

a) Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone

I actually like the ending to this one the best. It's perfect for the film, really. I mean, there's cheesy lines galore, but it's the first film, which is by far the most kid-friendly. Though rewind a bit to Quirrel's death, which is different than the book... and importantly so. In the book, Harry doesn't see Quirrel die. The man's attack on Harry is so overwhelmingly painful (and I would say so, with Voldemort on the back of his head) to both of them, though especially Harry via his scar, that Harry passes out before Quirrel kicks the bucket. In the film, Harry doesn't pass out until after. The issue? Thestrals. Having seen somebody die, Harry should be able to see Thestrals starting his second year, when in fact, he shouldn't really see or comprehend any major death until Goblet of Fire--which is why Thestrals aren't introduced until Order of the Phoenix. Plot hole, anyone?

b) Chamber of Secrets

There are two for this one. One is of my own personal observations, and the other is more widely known. The first deals with Ginny Weasley's crush on Harry. It's toyed with in the film, mostly through actions instead of words. However, this causes a major plot hole come the climax of the film. In the book, Tom Riddle (diary version) learns of Harry and his past because of Ginny's obsessive crush on him, always writing about Harry in the diary. This intrigues Tom, and he asks for more information about Harry. However, come the climax, none of this is explained, and Tom just happens to know all of this about Harry from the start. How? Tom, as a 16-year-old 'memory', can't know of his future or of Harry without somebody telling him. Of course, being the longest film, Chamber had to cut something, right? It just seemed odd to cut out the one thing that tied the plot together.

The second is the ending itself. Widely heralded as the worst ending of the movies, Chamber of Secrets ends with a highly cheesy and utterly ridiculous note. Hagrid comes back from Azkaban and enters the end-of-term feast late. Cue "There's no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid," and every single student and faculty member standing up to clap and cheer. And then it ends. Excuse me, what? Even Slytherins were standing up cheering. At this point, the majority of the students don't even know Hagrid well (if at all), much less like him very much. I can see Harry, Ron, and Hermione being happy for his return, but the entire school? No. That's a bit of a stretch, methinks.

c) Prisoner of Azkaban

Where to begin? There are a few major purposes for the story told in Prisoner of Azkaban, all of which are pretty much cut from the film. Let's start with the Marauder's Map explanation. Again, something that was filmed but later cut, though for some reason not even included in the deleted scenes on the DVD. And there's more than one opportune time to explain, but particularly one major one: at the end office scene, where Lupin is packing up, and he gives the map back to Harry. This would have been perfect for him to explain, for instance, how he knew how the map worked in the first place. He could have explained that James, Sirius, himself, and Peter Pettigrew were all friends in school, and they gave themselves the nicknames Moony (Lupin), Wormtail (Peter), Padfoot (Sirius), and Prongs (James). They were trouble makers, and they made the Marauder's Map to help them scurry about Hogwarts in secret. This would have also helped make sense out of the later uses of the nicknames in Goblet and Order, as well as the stag shape of Harry's Patronus (they were all animagi, Harry's father being able to turn into a stag... hence the patronus and the nickname Prongs). And they were all animagi to help keep Lupin, a werewolf, company during transformations.

I could also talk about the lack of explanation of why, exactly, Snape hated James and co. so much. There were multiple reasons, of course, but a major one being that Sirius tried to play a fatal prank on Snape, sending him after Lupin's werewolf form. But James saved his life. As Snape already loathed James at this point, being saved by him made it that much worse. And that's a big reason Snape acts the way he does toward Harry (again, not the only reason, but a big one). And toward Sirius and Lupin. But none of this is even close to explained in the film.

I could also discuss the lack of explanation on the Fidelius charm with the secret keepers. What is that, you ask? The whole reason everybody thought Sirius had led to the deaths of Lily and James Potter, the whole reason he ended up in Azkaban, framed. The whole plot. You see, the Fidelius charm can be placed on a location so that only one person (the secret keeper) can know of or find that location unless he/she decides to divulge it. When James and Lily go into hiding after finding out Voldemort is hunting them down, they're given refuge in a village called Godric's Hollow. The house they're staying in is kept hidden by the Fidelius charm. Originally, James had asked Sirius to be the secret keeper, and everybody close to them thought he was. But at the last minute, Sirius backed out and let Peter Pettigrew be the secret keeper. Peter then takes the information to Voldemort (drawn in by his power and out of fear) and tells them exactly how to find the Potters. Then Peter goes on the run. Sirius goes after him, knowing the truth, but Peter blows up a city block and cuts off his finger and escapes, thus framing Sirius for both the backstabbing against Lily and James and conspiracy with Voldemort, as well as the attack on a muggle population. But the Fidelius charm issues don't end there. Because it wasn't introduced in this film, the introduction of Grimmauld Place in Order had to be changed, much to the chagrin of the fans.

There's also no explanation of how Sirius escapes or even how he knew that Peter was at Hogwarts. You know that picture near the beginning that shows the Weasley family in Egypt? It's never really divulged in the film or explained further, but that's how. They won some money and took a trip. That photo was put in the paper, which Sirius saw in Azkaban, recognizing Peter's animagus form. So he bid his time, transformed into a dog (which the dementors couldn't sense), and escaped. And once free, he communicated with Hermione's cat Crookshanks to have him try and capture Peter (Ron's rat Scabbers), which is why Crookshanks is after Scabbers through the entire film.

And, finally, the actual ending of the film... not getting the Firebolt until the end of the film instead of the middle, I suppose I can handle (even though it's supposed to be a bit of a clue about Sirius' true nature). But ending it with that God-awful blurred freeze frame... lame.

d) Goblet of Fire

Whew, thought I'd never get through that last one. One major thing not touched on is what the heck happens to Barty Crouch Jr.  In the book, he's given the Dementor's Kiss. In the film... he's just... well... I guess he goes back to Azkaban (so why isn't he in the recent films as an escaped Death Eater)?

Otherwise, Gambon does a nice, calm Dumbledore during the closing bits... but still fails to explain one thing: Priori Incantatem. He mentions it, yes... but then rambles off and never explains it. And that's a shame, because it's hugely important to the overall plot of the series. Priori Incantatem was the moment when Harry and Voldemort's wand beams connected and the "images" of those who had died by Voldemort's wand came out in reverse order (though in the film, stopping with Frank Bryce, the old caretaker at the beginning of the film).

It's not discussed at all in the film, which, to me, is going to make other things really confusing later on (I'm not sure how they're going to get around it much, really). The reason the wands connected was because both wands shared an ingredient. Both contained the tail feather from Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes. So in essence, they are brother wands. And brother wands cannot attack one another. In other words, Harry and Voldemort wouldn't be able to fight each other with their current wands. This leads to a major event that technically happens in Half-Blood Prince, but really comes into the plot in Deathly Hallows.

And strangely, there seemed to be a Priori Incantatem during the Dumbledore/Voldemort fight in Order of the Phoenix, which doesn't make sense, because they don't have brother wands. But oh well... the fight still looked cool, and the bit doesn't last long, so I mostly ignore it.

e) Order of the Phoenix

The prophecy. What's more to say, really? As I've said before, I loved Order of the Phoenix, but it isn't without its flaws. Its biggest flaw, to me, is the final "office" scene at the end between Harry and Dumbledore. Any fan of the book knows how different it is. In the book, Harry is pissed and throwing things around, breaking Dumbledore's stuff, while Dumbledore sits around patiently waiting to explain himself.

Then Dumbledore goes into it all, including an explanation of the prophecy. In fact, rewinding a little bit in the movie, they cut out some crucial lines of the prophecy itself (which, again, doesn't make sense... the movie is the shortest of the bunch, they could have added another 15 seconds). They cut out the lines that would have led Voldemort to knowing it was Harry he was after. This part of the prophecy also connects to Neville, which I loved in the books, though I guess I can see reason for cutting it out of the movie. Still, the whole prophecy is necessary for Voldemort to even know who to go after. And then Dumbledore hardly explains anything. The whole office scene is roughly 3 minutes long, all of which it takes for him to basically say "I cared for you too much." I liked the subdued Harry in the scene, but the lack of any vital explanations was very missed, including the bit where Dumbledore tells him Voldemort found out in the first place because somebody had listened in and heard part of the prophecy (which eventually led to the hunt for the Potters), as well as it being Trelawney that made the prediction (though I suppose you can tell if you listen close enough to the prophecy at the Ministry scene). Though with Trelawney confirmed as not in the next film (or any more, for that matter), it is apparent that they'll probably never release the crucial information on the one who heard the first half of the prophecy to begin with. Oh well.

1. The Man Who Nearly Killed Harry Potter

No, not Lord Voldemort. I'm speaking, of course, of Alfonso Cuaron. Now before you click away in anger, before you roll your eyes, and before you throw something at me... just hear me out. Take into consideration everything I've said thus far about some of the worst things about the Harry Potter films. Have you noticed that, not all of them, but a good chunk of them, are tied directly to Alfonso Cuaron?

I am not arguing with the fact that he created a visually stunning film. There's no doubt about that. But while he made a good looking film, he utterly and entirely missed the whole point of it. He was too focused on the theme of time that he added giant clock set pieces and Whomping Willow-through-the-seasons sequences... and didn't focus on the actual purpose of the story. As I've detailed, he cut out every single reason that the story of Prisoner even had to be told in the first place. He made a visually stunning, more adult, though completely pointless film. And I cannot understand how people can say it's the best of the films. Yes, it moves the Potter films in a more adult and visually pleasing direction, but besides those two things... nothing. Maybe it's just in the eyes of a book fan, but there are so many plot holes created by Cuaron's lack of explanations, it's ridiculous.

And he cut out Oliver Wood and the Quidditch Cup subplot... though that's understandable, I suppose.

And then to extend on things like the time turner sequence... I always say this, but it's like going "okay, now I'm going to show you the last 30 minutes all over again, but from a different perspective," which it really isn't like in the book. Normally I like that kinda thing (as any follower of my blog could point out), but I've actually fallen asleep during the time turner sequence... and for me to fall asleep not only during POV play but during Harry Potter... that says something.

And then there's his involvement in destroying the following film(s). Even if you ask the producers now (as shown in interviews), they still hark back to Cuaron's advice by mentioning showing stuff only in relation to Harry and the main plot. This advice destroyed Goblet of Fire, which would have been a much better film split into two. They're already feeling some repercussions in doing the final films because of this advice, as well. There are plenty of things that were cut based on that advice, more than I've listed here, and most people like to complain about David Yates and things he did in Order of the Phoenix. But I give him props. He only had what he was given to work with... a mess created, directly or indirectly, by Alfonso Cuaron. And on top of that, a book with little plot and a lot of filler. So people who complain about Order and wish for Cuaron back need to take a step back and think about that for a minute.

Just thank God they're splitting the final book into two.

This post did not intentionally begin as a 'bash Alfonso Cuaron' post, either, and I hope that's not what you all see this as now. It's just a fun post about the negative side of the films, as I'm more predisposed to rave about them. So I hope you've enjoyed this little venture!

Random: One that almost made the list but didn't: The St. Mungo's scene in Order of the Phoenix. I didn't include it because, for all intents and purposes, the scene occurred anyway. The purpose was to show Neville's relationship with his parents, which does get across in the film... just in a different way. Though I still would have liked the fun cameo by Gilderoy Lockhart.