Harry Potter Films: My Likes and Dislikes

So as  the final Harry Potter film releases in just over 24 hours (if we're going by GMT and the midnight release( I thought I'd share my top 5 likes and dislikes from the films. Feel free to chip in with your own lists in the comments, or make your own posts!

LIKES:

1. The cinematography


There's no denying it, the HP films are beautifully shot. Very artistic and aesthetically pleasing, the effort that goes into this aspect is definitely one of my favourite parts of the films. One of my favourite stills is the one where the Dementors are seen surrounding Hogwarts:

I also love the scene where Harry falls from his broom during quidditch, also in the 3rd film. I think the 3rd one is where the cinematography really comes alive, and, although it's my least favourite film, the sixth film is my favourite visually.

2. Tom Felton

I'll be honest, I think he's easily the best actor in this film. His character portrayal is perfect, especially in the sixth film. His Malfoy sneer is magnificent and he manages to portray the combination of arrogance and deep-seated cowardice that is Draco Malfoy beautifully. It doesn't hurt that he's also pretty gorgeous:

3. The Weasleys 

Some of the best characters in the books, it's the same for the films (with the exception of Ginny, she's possibly the dullest most boring and uncharismatic person to ever be in a film). The relationship between them is very well portrayed, especially the twins. I love Mr and Mrs Weasley who are almost perfect in my view and of course, there is Ron.

4. The Britishness 

I love that it's all british actors in these films (with the exception obviously, of the foreign characters such as Fleur and Krum). I think that stipulation of JK's was a very clever one, and I really enjoy that these films showcase the best Britain has to offer in terms of talent.

5. The humour

These films ARE fairly funny.Both in terms of one-liners and in humorous scenes/characterisation [Filch is pretty funny for example] I especially love the exchanges between Fred and George, which were very well done. Some of the lines are straight out of the books, others were added in. Each character has their own brand of humour. Harry's is fairly dry, Ron's is comical, Malfoy's is snarky, and each matches up to the character and the actor pretty well. One of my personal favourite Harryisms:

Ron: Oh look, Mum's sent me something. 
[pulls some frilly robes from the package] 
Ron: Mum sent me a dress! 
Harry: Well, it does match your eyes. Is there a bonnet? 




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DISLIKES:

1. Dumbledore/Sirius/Lupin

These three were to me, 3 of the pivotal characters in the stories. Harry's father figures, and for me, none of them were up to scratch. Now I know obviously we all have our own ideas of how characters should be, but I'm not talking about just looks. Dumbledore for example, was often portrayed in the films to be a bit insane (we all remember that scene where he was sat on the floor, right?) and the relationship with Harry was just never THERE. Then Sirius. I love Gary Oldman, think he's a fabulous actor but again, the relationship with Harry wasn't accurately portrayed for me. It was too easy, too natural. In the books it's suggested that, whilst they clearly feel strongly about each other, there are certain aspects of their relationship that ARE awkward, and this was never expressed.

And Lupin. Sigh.If I'm honest, he just came across as smarmy. And that speech about Lily, WTF? Pointless. Plus, and I'm sorry, but he looks like a gay Hitler. Whoever styled him should be SHOT.

                                                                 see what I mean? 

2. The cutting out of important plot points to facilitate the addition of superfluous details.

I'm pretty sure this is right up there on everyone's lists of Harry Potter movie peeves.The adding of seemingly pointless filler scenes and the removal of stuff from the books that actually, the fans really would have enjoyed seeing! That thing, in the sixth, with the burrow burning down? WHERE did that come from? Now I don't pretend to be a filmaker, I'm not claiming I know which scenes will work on the screen and which wont. But it's very very frustrating, from my end, when certain parts of the books are disregarded in favour of made up stuff.

3. Shooting themselves in the foot with lazy casting.

This happens time and time again, and it annoys me on every occasion. They don't bother to include Bill when he's first mentioned (and then when he's mentioned again...and again..) which led to a last minute casting and intro which was far less than the character deserved. They didn't cast Cedric Diggory in the third film for the quidditch match properly, which again lost that element of rivalry and minor resentment from the 4th film. Again with Lavender Brown, Katie Bell...etc. I feel like if they'd just cast these characters originally it would have aided the story much more. I know obviously they can't cast every person individually, but I think when a character is mentioned by name on several occasions in the books, you should assume they might then have a bigger role to play later.

4. The sixth film.

There's not much to say about this other than WTF. And, this is a massive confession, I was actually happy when Dumbledore died. Because atleast they could no longer butcher his character. And that was a massive relief for me. Also, the whole Harry/Ginny thing? RUINED.

5. The way each film is more a series of scenes than a film. 

I dunno if this bothers you guys, but the films never flow very well in my opinion. It's just scene, another scene, another scene, there's not very much tying those scenes together. Now I know the books are large and contain lots of detail and to include it all would make a 12hour long film blahblahblah. It's just something that really bugs me when watching them.

So there we have it, if I'm honest, I could probably go on and on about my dislikes. I'm a very critical person, and Harry Potter is very important to me and, let's face it, it's never going to be perfect for everyone because that's the joy of reading a book. That we make it our own. That we imagine the characters in our own way, and no one will ever be able to capture that on screen adequately. So I've tried to stick to what I feel are the major errors, rather than pointing out petty little things that are personal to me, or whatever.

Feel free to share your likes and dislikes (or debate mine) in the comments, I'm really interested in seeing how everyone else views the films as it's not something I get to talk about often!

My Harry Potter linky will be going up at 8am EST (that's 1pm for all you UK natives) tomorrow morning, so please feel free to write your own Potter-related post (anything you like!) and link it up!