Gets the gist well

Rating: 9/10 (14 July 2007)

I am a die-hard Potter fan, I dissect the books! But I actually *do* make allowances for the transition from book to movie. I do this by looking at what is missing - "why was it in the book?" "what purpose did it serve there" - and then decide if the same end was accomplished in the movie even though it might have been skipped or altered.
In the end, I was good with this movie. I enjoyed it, I thought it got the 'gist' very well, and I could see why some of the changes were made. Sure, a couple things bugged me but overall, bravo!
*spoilers* -The Dudly/Harry/Dementor thing *did* bug me, as I felt Harry would not haul out his wand in front of D.'s cronies, and I was annoyed that Dudley knew there was a threat - in the books he had no clue it was dementors and thought Harry was doing it all. So overall, thumbs down for missing the gist that Harry is unfairly accused not only by the ministry, but ALSO by Dudley.
As for the missing letters - what did they say? Oh...that Harry wasn't expelled and would have a hearing. They put it in dialogue instead. Same result, less time. As for missing howler - I will reserve judgment to see if future movies pick up the slack in explaining why Harry *has* to spend time on Privet Drive.
-Grimmaud place: I *did* want to see the portrait and am disappointed it wasn't there, but otherwise, I can see why it got rushed. I know a lot are annoyed the locket and RAB are not mentioned as we all feel these are relevant to book 6 & 7, and I sort of agree, but overall I felt they did a decent job with condensing the important dialogue.
-Missing St Mungos: Well, the dialogue about the stitches is some of my favorite in all the books, but essentially the point of it in the book is to provide backstory for Neville - what happened to his parents and his connection to Bellatrix. Neville ends up telling Harry instead - so to me, the point is still accomplished.
-Cho as the snitch. Well, I loved the cleverness of Hermiones' hex and was sorry to see it go, but I understood why it was done. Let's look at what happened in the book: Harry + Cho, first kiss, date that goes bad, things just "dont work out". Its very real, yet anticlimactic. The director is then left with *having* to put in the first kiss, because its important for Harry's "coming of age" - yet stuck with all this "how it didn't work out" stuff, which would be boring for some, and drag down the pace.
By making Cho the snitch, he deftly provides a good reason for a breakup without having to try to portray that date and how they just kind of "didn't work out", He salvages Cho's character by having Snape say the serum was used on her, so it wasn't of her free will. So, I have to give it a "same end accomplished" in less time.
-Snape, and the missing pensieve: Honestly, the reason Snape PUT those memories in the pensieve was so Harry couldn't see them in exactly the way he saw them in the movie, so all the movie did was skip a step. The end result is exactly the same: Harry sees the memories, we see a tormented young Snape and the reason for his hatred of Harry, and Snape stops the occlumency lessons.
-Missing rooms in MoM: Honestly, sure we would ALL have liked to have seen all the rooms, but it is a movie. You cant fit in everything. The rooms are not relevant to the "gist": The 2 important ones were included so that works for me.
-The prophecy. I did have a problem with this on several levels, and is the only real place I was disappointed in the transition. As the "Secret weapon" *and* the explanation of why Voldemort tried to kill Harry to begin with, I felt it was glossed over and not explained. I didn't like that everyone there heard it, and especially didn't like that Harry handed it over. I really thought Nevilles connection should have been mentioned.
Skipping this misses the most important point of the books *as a whole* - that is commentary on the power and importance of *choice*. Now, to the director/writers credit, they put the point about choice in later (in the possession scene) so it remains, but I liked the added depth of knowing that *who* the prophecy referred to (Harry or Neville) was never "predestined" but instead "chosen" - by Voldemort himself.