Something Has Got to Give

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2005)

There is clearly a big problem with adapting an 800 page book as a 150 minute movie. In order to do this successfully a great deal of solid film-making craft is required. I don't believe either Steven Cloves or Mike Newell are even remotely capable of this sort of craft.
Did the film cut too many things out, was that the problem? I don't think so. The problem seems to be that they tried to include as many of the little details from the book as they could and failed to ever do those details justice. For instance, what was the point of including the reporter? What did the scenes with the reporter add to the story? The plot point only established that Harry is an interesting character, which we already knew. The total dismissal of the reporter character throughout the rest of the story should be an indication of her importance. With a novel of this size the goal should be to capture the essential pieces of the story, to recreate whatever it is that makes the book interesting. I would have cast my vote for focusing on the experience of the three leads.
The only thing that really disappointed me about the movie was the lack of depth of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Whoever does the next film should do himself a favor and check out how L.A. Confidential was adapted, hopefully he'll learn something.