I didn’t sense as much angst in the HP books, at least not a teenage romance angst.
I saw the first movie on video because of all the controversy I had heard about the series, I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. Enjoyed it, saw the second movie in the theater when it came out. Then I decided to read the books which at the time, the first four were available. The first two were ok, though I thought the movie closely followed them and there wasn’t a whole lot of difference. Read the third in less than a day, couldn’t put it down. It is my favorite in the book series. The fourth took me awhile to read, it bored me to tears until the end. Funny thing is, the third book is my favorite but the third movie is my least favorite, I felt the movie butchered the book. The fourth book is my least favorite but the fourth movie is my favorite, I thought it was the most brilliant and well done.
Anyway, the fifth book came out about a month later and I ready that. Consequently, I read the remaning two books and saw the movies as they came out.
Favorite character in the books was Lupin though I didn’t care as much for his movie portrayal. I very much liked Draco in the sixth film, it was nice to see his characer grow. He was a pretty flat character in the first five films, the sixth gave him a chance to shine and show depth. I felt Daniel Radcliffle really began to show talent in his acting skills starting in the fourth movie. Rupert Grint, however, I feel is the most talented kid actor in the series. That kid has a talent, and a natural talent at that, that far exceeds the other kids. I enjoyed Emma Watson’s portrayal of Hermione more in the first two. She annoyed me in the third with her hanging all over Harry. I did find her tantrum after the yule ball in the fourth to be a bit funny though. It bothered me that we did not see Ron and Hermione hook up at the end of the sixth movie like they did in the book. Likewise, it bothered me that we didn’t see Harry and Ginny’s talk in the sixth movie like they had at the end of the sixth book. It seems as though they always short Ginny’s character.
The seventh movie part 1 bothered me with the broken mirror Harry carried around in his sock. Besides being a stupid way of carrying it, they never explained in the movie what the mirror was or where it came from.
My biggest complaint about movies 3-7a is the details they left out which made the books so interesting.
Movie 3 - left out the fact that Harry’s dad was an unregistered animagus who could turn himself into a stag - thus giving significance to Harry’s patronus being a stag.
Movie 3 - left out that Sirius and Peter were also unregistered animagus’s which is why when Sirius turned into a dog, he could get out without a problem and why no one thought to look for a rat missing a toe.
Movie 3 - left out the reason why the Shrieking Shack got it’s name was due to Lupin’s situtation when he was a student at Hogwarts, also leaving out why his friends were all unregistered animagus’s.
Movie 5 - omitted a lengthy and interesting Christmas break sequence involving the kids being at the hospital where they saw Lockhart and met Neville’s parents.
Movie 5 - left out the intensely emotional moment at the end when Harry unwrapped Sirius’s Christmas present. Think that was the only moment in any of the books that I cried and I never cry when reading books.
