Harry Disappointment

So, last night my parents were in town, so they said that they'd watch the kids and let Jessica and I go out for an evening. Of course, we took them up on the offer. She ad I went to El Vacaro, a Mexican place, for dinner and we then went to the local movie theater to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I have been looking forward to this movie for some time. I was a bit worried because I had heard that a lot of stuff from the book, that I deemed important to the story, was going to be cut from the movie. Well, my worries were well founded. I should have known it was going to go wrong when we entered the theater and noticed how dirty it was. There was pop corn everywhere, the floors were sticky, and the bathrooms were foul. We're never going there again. All in all, the movie was entertaining. The effects were good and the action sequences were exciting. However, I did not like this movie as well as I have liked the previous films. If you check out the comments in my last post, Rinnert nailed it by saying that the editing was bad and the story was really choppy. Especially at the beginning. You go from walking to the portkey, to the Quidditch World Cup camp ground, to the World Cup match (which they didn't show at all), to inside the tent after the match, to the Death Eaters appearance, and then to Hogwarts all in about ten minutes. Well, it seemed like ten minutes, but it was probably longer. If you have never read the books, you didn't miss much, because the meat and potatoes of the story was all there. However, a lot of the sub plots and small details, that make this one of the best books in the series, are missing. All in all, it was an OK movie. I'm sure we'll get the DVD and watch it several times, just like the last three movies. The problem is that the books are getting longer and more detailed, so it is impossible to fit all of the story in a 2 1/2 hour movie. What they should have dont is make it a double feature and throw an intermission in the middle. I would sit through four hours of a movie if it means getting the story done properly.

Here's what was missing (Don't read farther if you don't want any spoilers):

1. No Mrs. Weasley. She plays a pretty big roll in the book. Not so much in the plot, but mostly as a mother figure for Harry and a lot of humor.

2. No Dursleys. The book starts out with Harry in the Dursley home and a hilarious sceen of the entire Weasley clan busting in on them. Ton Tongue Toffee..Nuff said.

3. The Quidditch World cup was shortened greatly. In the book Krum was made out as one of the heros of the match, adding to his reputation and character. Also, there is a lot of changes in what exactly happens at the match and you miss out on some background of some important Ministry of Magic caracters. Yes, the Death Eaters show up, but are scared away when a house elf, under the Imperious Curse, sets off the Dark Mark using Harry's wand (she had stolen it).

4. The book has a lot more with Rita Skeeter and the stories she gets from Hogwarts, even though she is not allowed on school grounds. Hermione is the target of several of the stories and gets her revenve at the end (another missing detail in the movie).

5. No house elves what-so-ever. Dobby is the one that gives Harry the gillyweed, not Neville. Also, Winky is the house elf that sets off the Dark Mark at the Quidditch Cup Match and gives a lot of information about Barty Crouch Jr. and Sr. Also, there is a big story involving SPEW, a house elf liberation movement that Hermoine started.

6. No class learning. Yes, there was a Dark Arts sceen, but in the book, Moody teaches Harry how to resist the Imperious Curse, which helps him later in the grave yard.

7. Some things that really bothered me about the movie are: 1. the way they made Mr. Filtch look like a bumbling idiot instead of the mean caretaker that is always trying to catch the students breaking the rules. 2. Snape was too nice in the movie 3. The scene with Sirious Black in the fire place was done poorly. It looked like he was made of the burning coals instead of showing up as a green disembodied head. Clearly this was so that they couls avoid paying the actor for five minutes of work.

8. Fred and George were greatly down played in the movie. They have big parts in one of the sub plots of the book.

I'm sure that there is more that was missing, but the things listed are the items that really bothered me. Especially since some missing details (like the lack of the house elves and Mrs. Weasley) put in to question how much is going to be cut from the next movie, The Order of the Phoenix (the best book of the serries so far, and the longest).