I did like that scene, but I didn’t like the weird scene between them at the end of the previous film. That seemed really out of place.
I thought the whole ‘wandering aimlessly through the forest’ section of Deathly Hallows was done much better in the film than in the book.
It’s too early to tell but I’m still wondering how they are going to pull off finding the various horcruxes in DH2 that they cut out all the background for in Halfblood Prince.
are you talking about the very last scene in half blood prince? i actually liked that too. i didn’t think it showed awkwardness between harry and hermione so much as it foreshadowed ron taking off in the next film.
as for the horcruxes, i’m wondering the same thing.
Neville is just made of awesome. Ron too. So you take that back! 
I liked movie 5 better than book 5, namely because Harry was much less of a whinger. I couldn’t take the angst in that book.
I also think that the movies do a much better job of clearly showing how Harry and Hermoine are friends. They’re close friends, yes, and they look both at the edge of a relationship but back off in movie 7a, but it’s pretty clear that that’s all. Based on all the 'shipper angst I’ve heard about, it seems the books left that more open to interpretation. Not to me, really, but apparently to others.
And 7a was way better than the endless traipsing about in the book. Yes, I know that there’s not as much traipsing as I think there is, but that seemed pretty interminable to read through.
Pretty much all of them. The books were too long, with too much extraneous detail, and nothing is more boring than trying to read about a sports match.
Actually that’s a disappointment I had in Order of the Phoenix. He’s a bit more heroic in the book if I recall correctly. Or maybe I’m not. Other than that I think the Order of the Phoenix movie was loads better than the book. I found the book annoying, but the movie more enjoyable. I think what’s-her-name does a good job of bringing the subtle-evil of her character to life much better than she is written in the book, where she is simply annoying. Overall I think we can say that the movies benefitted from good acting.
To be fair that is intentional. One, Snape needs everyone to believe he hates Harry Potter. Two, Harry reminds him of his father who Snape really did hate. I think the movies did a good job illustrating this (not sure about the books). In Prisoner of Azkaban when Prof. Lupin turns into a werewolf, Snape shields all three kids from the werewolf. He takes a very protective stance.
Conversely, in Order of the Phoenix when the centaurs confront what’s-her-name in the forest with Harry and Hermione she backs up behind Harry and Hermione.
Overall, I think the movies do a good job in bringing out subtle things without having to bang us over the head with them. I think showing walking with beautiful vistas is much more palatable visually than drawn-out book descriptions. Lord of the Rings benefits from this as well.
For subtly, watch Ginny in Order of the Phoenix, she is clearly jealous of Cho Chang’s budding relationship with Harry and Harry’s interest in Cho. The story never addresses it explicitly, but her reactions and expressions tell the entire thing. I love that.
The movie I think is the worst (other than 1 and 2 which have severe quality issues that I attribute to Christopher Columbus… um I don’t like him) is Half Blood Prince. In the book the theme of relationships is very strong and I found it compelling, but in the movie all we get is Ron-Hermione angst. No Lupin-Tonks, no Bill-Fleur. I understand why it was dropped, but I think the relationship motif was a major point of the entire book. Also the entire teleportation plot is useless in the movie. At least in the book there is a fight at hogwarts that required Malfoy to have assistance. In the movie, the cabinets were completely unnecessary, Malfoy confronted Dumbledore alone. All the death eaters did was some light vandalism. (I’ve read that the fight was dropped in favor of saving hogwarts fighting to the last book. That seems sensible, but still leaves a big hole in Movie 6.)
I think the movies benefit from having more of the whole story fleshed out when making them. Obviously this isn’t true for the early books, but 1,2, and 3 don’t really hint at or rely on the end-story. By 4 and 5 I think the final books were pretty much done right?
The thing that disappoints me most about the movies is the image I had for all the characters are now gone. Reading the books before the movies I had my own image of all the characters. Now I have a hard time remembering what I used to think. I do recall expecting the Weasley Twins to be a bit more rugged than they are. Their role in the Quidditch games indicated the need for size (I think). Even now I find them a bit jarring in the movies. Everything else seems to have worked out okay I guess.
the weasley twins are just another point scored for the movies, for me. they got hot.
speaking of those two, here’s my anti-answer for this thread. the scene in order of the phoenix where the twins leave hogwarts for good is really fantastic in the book, but the same scene in the movie was lacking.
Agreed.
I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but while I found the scene with Cedric’s dad at the end of Goblet of Fire moving in both versions, the movie version actually made me cry (super embarrassing, crying at a damn Harry Potter movie of all things) whereas the book version did not. I guess just maybe seeing the dad and hearing the anguish in his voice added that little extra bit that pushed me over the edge.
expectopatronum, I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said in this thread.
And since he’s my favorite character, a list of Neville’s heroic deeds before the last book (off the top of my head):
1.) Attacks Malfoy & Co during the Quidditch game, taking on both Crabbe & Goyle at once.
2.) Leaves the safety of the dorms to try to warn Harry & Hermione that Draco’s after them re: the dragon
3.) Stands up to the Trio earning 10 points for Gryffindor
4.) In GOF, manages to ask out TWO girls before Harry and Ron work up the nerve to even ask one.
5.) Remaining loyal to Harry throughout OOtP, even when it wasn’t necessarily the popular thing to do.
6.) Staying with Harry even when offered a chance to escape in the Department of Mysteries
And just in a general sense…just the way he lives his life shows courage and dignity. He’s the odd man out in the Gryffindor boy’s dorm…Harry and Ron are a pair, as are Seamus and Dean. But Neville doesn’t tag after them, begging to be let in as part of the group. He may not have a lot of confidence in himself, but he has enough to be content on his own, unlike, say, Wormtail. I heart Neville.
To add to the OP, I liked that they cut the World Cup actual game from the movies. That was definitely something we did not need to see. Also, cutting Hagrid’s trip to the giants was a smart move–I even skip that part when I reread the books. Booring. And the hedge maze in the movies was much cooler than in the books.
And yes, I’ve never understood the “controversy” over the romantic relationships in the books. Even if you don’t like it, I don’t get how you can’t see the blindingly obvious clues that it was going to end up Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione.
Forgot to add: The movies will never be able to replace my mental pictures of the characters which are all based on Marta’s work.
i always tear up at the same scene in the movie, and for the same reason, it’s the dad’s reaction that gets me.
yeah, i love neville. you know, i never thought of it before, but he is kind of the anti wormtail. as you mention, he’s kind of the odd man out, like pettigrew was, and he lacks confidence, like pettigrew. but neville would never betray his friends, and as you pointed out, doesn’t spend any time trying to tag along with harry/rom or dean/seamus.
and speaking of wormtail, you know what i could never quite work out for myself, is why was he in gryffindor? their daring, nerve, and chivalry set gryffindors apart..yeah, none of that sounds like wormtail to me. the only remotely brave thing i can think of that he ever did was chopping off his own hand(which admittedly takes some balls), but i always thought slytherin or hufflepuff would’ve been a more appropriate house for him.
and speaking of grawp (i know, i’d rather not) i wish they’d cut him from the movies entirely. hell, i wish they’d cut that entire plot from the books entirely. it’s boring, it’s dumb, it goes nowhere, and there’s never any payoff. yeah, some of the giants show up to bumble their way around the battle of hogwarts and break some shit, but really, there was quite enough going on without that addition.
I think the purpose of Grawp was to show how Hagrid’s judgment got screwier as time went by – not just that his creatures are getting bigger and more dangerous, but also because Hagrid is half-giant himself and kinda has issues about it, so he brings Grawp to the forest thinking the Three will be able to help him educate or tame Grawp, which is clearly not gonna happen.
I think she put giants in the books because hey, ya gotta have giants, right? You have fairies, one vampire, unicorns, centaurs, dragons, thestrals, pegasi… you can’t leave out giants.
I’ve enjoyed the movies, but I’m loyal to the books, and while lots of things about each of the movies have been wonderful, I think the movies can’t help but cut out so much stuff that made the books great. Also I think the movies are generally too fast-paced and destroy some of the dark moodiness of the books. They’re not about action and CGI – they’re about good and evil and life and death and hope and family and love.
One little thing I have always adored is in the movie with the formal ball (forget which one that was) Hermione is crying on the steps, and right behind her is some other completely non-related girl who is also crying on the steps about some boy. Ah, high school!
i figured it was a family thing, perhaps most of his family was in gryffindor. or the sorting hat thought he had potential…like neville.
as a trio, harry, ron, and hermione were more nuturing than james, sirius, and remus. remus was nurturing, but hiding a bit of a secret that would have him back away from people. there did not seem to be a nurturing vibe with james and sirius. lily’s influence in james did make him less of a git, unfortunatly they were not friends all 7 years like harry, ron, and hermione.
Yeah, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were not equals the way Harry, Ron and Hermione are. It was James & Sirius, then Remus, then Peter, I think.
I really liked that whole “OMG, my dad was a JERK!” discovery that Harry makes. Also, “They [James and Lily] HATED each other!” Since he doesn’t know his parents, he NEEDS to believe that they were always wonderful people who adored each other. Sorry, Harry – they were just ordinary kids like everybody else, and James was sort of a spoiled rich punk with an attitude problem. Ouch!
james, sirius, and remus reminded me of fred, george, and lee. the first two are so tight, j&s could have almost been twins. with the third a good friend but never able to be as close as the other 2.
fred and george with their backround and siblings could never be as condesending as j&s.
This is a frequent issue 
I liked the scene in Deathly Hallows where Hermione wipes her parents’ memories; it shows how much it hurts Hermione to do it, while in the book she recounts it fairly matter-of-factly. Granted, Hermione’s not the kind to cry in front of Harry and Ron about it, and the Harry-centric narrative dictates that we only know what Harry does, but I really appreciated seeing how it hurts Hermione to enchant her parents.
The “Three Brothers” sequence was really well done. Really wonderful art design. Much better than Xenophilious recounting it in the book.
Refresh my memory, I’m listening to the book now but I forgot how they left the school. I really liked the movie version right down to the choice of music and the timing of Prof Flitwicks fist pull of support. I would only have changed the volume of the music to finish on a louder note.
in the book, fred and george have been wreaking havoc for days. fireworks, swamps, everything you can think of to keep umbridge running around. but they finally get cornered, with the whole school watching (reminiscent of the scene where trelawney gets sacked), and umbridge is ready to hand out some corporal punishment. the twins basically say fuck that, perform a summoning charm on their brooms, mount them, tell the students to visit the joke shop, and:
(i can’t do this scene justice, so here it is from the book)
and here’s the scene from the movie. it’s a fun scene, and i also really enjoy flitwick’s fist pump at the end, but the book scene to me is a lot more emotional and a lot more triumphant.
Here is a better looking version posted by someone who knows how to rip a DVD.
for some reason, book 6 is becoming my favorite volume and most surprisingly, the movie version proves to be even better. jim broadbent was a superb slughorn “…it was beautiful magic, wondrous to behold…” he said about harry’s mother’s gift.
that young voldemort is the slug club was a superb actor. i wish i could copy his style of delivery.
among the sixth years, malfoy outdid everyone in acting.
I’m almost tearing up just remembering it. I think it was just extremely well acted, which isn’t something you can show in a book.
The reason I prefer Slughorn asking for the venom rather than sneakily taking it is that he was the only really good Slytherin character - Snape was good in the end, but had been a death eater, quite apart from bullying Harry.