**MINOR SPOILER COMING** We saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this weekend over the holiday. It’s the first movie we’ve seen in quite some time. I’m glad we did, too. It was really an enjoyable movie and certainly grown up from the original. The movies, like the books, are doing well to keep up with the original audience as Rowling intended. I should mention, however, that it doesn’t work too well for those younger readers who got started late in reading them. My friend Carlos reminded me of this. If a young person is out of sync with the characters in age, they may not be able to go and see the movies until sometime later. This latest of films was certainly darker, complete with morbidity and stronger emotions. They missed some fairly important things in this movie in a departure from the book. If memory serves, Hagrid had a talk with his love interest and brought up the fact that he was a half-giant and that she must also be. This was a revelational moment because you finally learn that Hagrid is a half-giant and that giants are looked down upon by the general society. His girlfriend is insulted greatly by the notion and some minor strife ensues. Towards the end, Harry has an ultimate duel with his arch nemesis. The effect that occured was in part because of the fact that each of their wands were essentially identicial. It was a battle of want and Harry’s want to live was greater than Voldemort’s will to kill. As a result, Voldemort’s wand was forced to regurgitate spells – which had the effect of summoning the spirits of his victims. Dumbledore didn’t do anything to explain this aside from muttering the latin nomeclature for the magic. Obivously, there were several other components missing from the movie, bu at nearly three hours already, I understand the need to cut-back.
take 2: i am david’s sister, visiting, and i agree with you on all counts re: the HP movie. i thought it was good but soooo much was left out….however, it is an excellent point that if they had put even MOST of the stuff in there that should have been in there, it would have been @ least 4 hours long!