OOTP movie - what would you have done differently?

[PTeppic]

Title says it all really. They've condensed almost a thousand pages of novel into 150 minutes of screen time with dozens of slashes to the plot, sub-plots, characters and so on. If you had been the screenwriter/director, what changes would you have made from what was published? Would you have kept it at 150 minutes, bearing in mind the attention span and bladder capacity of the intended audience...?

[Lenny]

I haven't seen it yet, but one thing I have heard about is the fact that there's no swamp!

Methinks that, if I were doing it, I'd definitely have a scene in a corridor, with folks going off to their lessons, and a line waiting in front of an eerie mist. The sound of creaking is coming closer, a light is growing bigger, the water in the air forming a halo around it. A shadow comes into view - tall, bent over, holding a long pole. As we watch, the mists part... to show Filch in a boat with an oar, and a lamp hung on to the end of it.

"That'll be two Sickles".

Oh and, no offence to Scots... but a Scottish Cho who, quite frankly, looks a bit like the wrong end of a horse? Purleasse! I could've sworn the description in the book is of some kind of goddess. And I don't think she's a Scottish one at that, either.

[Leisha]

I haven't seen it yet either -- and I'm probably not goint to for a while either, sadly, but I agree with Lenny. I really hope they haven't edited out the swamp. However, I can appreciate that time and money costs will force some sections to be removed. I wish, though, that the next director would do a "Peter Jackson" and include the edits in an extended DVD version. That would be nice.

Anyway, in the movie I'm looking forward to the twins' departure. I hope that bit makes me smile.

[Lenny]

Anyone else remember how, shortly after OotP was released, some critics were saying that Rowling had got to the point where she was writing things just to see if the film crews, and their team of animators, could do it (*cough*swamp*cough*)?

[The Pelagic Argosy]

The only thing I might have changed would be to have slowed it down and given the minor characters a little more screen time. None of the cuts really offended me. I think a lot of my initial disappointment with this movie was because I was anticipating the usual special-effects ride and fantasy eye candy.

However, the more I think about it, it was high time to delve into the characters and emotional story and forget the special effects. If the movie had only slowed down a bit, the emotion might have had more impact.