The Harry Potter Series

[WhiteTiger89]

Just wanted to know what everyone's thoughts were on the films.

Personally, as a huge fan of the books and a purist, I've found the films to be pretty hit or miss. 1 and 5 are my favorites, as I feel they are the truest to the source material. 3 and 4 are my least favorites. 3 because it felt like the director was more concerned with putting his own personal, stylistic stamp on the franchise than making an honestly faithful film. And I abhor movie 4. Not just because it should've been two films, but because it took by far the most liberties with the source material, choosing to focus more on amplifying the teen angst elements that are barely there in the book. And while I'm at it, I can't stand Michael Gambon as Dumbledor! I know the original Dumbledor died, so they had to replace him, but what drives me crazy is how Gambon portrayed the character, particularly in Movie 4. I mean, he starts yelling at Harry once his name comes out of the Goblet and then when he gets into the side room, he grabs Harry by the shoulders and practically shouts in his face!

I'm sorry, but that's just not Dumbledor.

Anyway, there are worse adaptations out there. The Resident Evil movies for example. On the whole, the Harry Potter adaptations are average in my mind. If they had waited until all the books had been released, and gotten one director to direct all the films, I'm sure things would have been better. That said, unlike other adaptations I've seen, the Harry Potter films stay true to the core story and most of the characters, so things could also have been A LOT worse. On the whole, the film series is an average adaptation. I've seen better, and I've seen worse.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

I love the movies, but not as much as I love the books. They could have done better and they could have done a hell of a lot worse.
The first actor (Richard Harris) who played Dumbledore was pretty much exactly how I had pictured the character and his death was very unfortunate. Gambon does change the character quite a bit, but I don't think that's his fault and more the fault of the director and writers of the script.
One thing I'm very pleased about with this series is the fact that pretty much none of the actors are changed throughout the whole thing (which happens a lot with other movie series).

[White Wolf Guardian]

Yeah I don't really have any complaints with the Harry Potter movies at all, I find all of them re-watchable which is always good.

[WhiteTiger89]

I love the movies, but not as much as I love the books. They could have done better and they could have done a hell of a lot worse...

This is very true. It could've been another Eragon... *shudders*

[WingedZephyr]

With the exception of the 6th and 7th (both parts) movies, I watched the films before reading the books, mostly because I knew if I read the books first I'd be annoyed with the movies.

Having watched the movies first, I thought they were very good, but I could see the stuff they left out after reading. The first movie was pretty much spot on, and the second was pretty close as well. The others were changed quite a bit, not always for the better, but overall, I think the movies have done a fair amount of justice to the book series. The actors for Harry, Ron, and Hermoine (and a lot of the other characters) have done a fantastic job in their roles over the years. I really love that they've been able to stick with the same actors all this time (for the most part), even if they have gotten a bit older near the end.

I personally love Gamdon as Dumbledore. The original Dumbledore was so... "stereotypical Merlin character", it felt kinda blah. Pointed hat, big white beard...

Dumbledore -> <- Merlin

Gamdon took the character and kinda made him his own, and overall it just felt a lot more "real" and less cheesy to me. And Dumbledore could be a very intense person when he wanted to be. I don't think shouting at someone when a person's life is at stake is an unreasonable response, even for him.

[WingedZephyr]

So who's seen the final Harry Potter movie?

I got to see it yesterday. Was probably my favorite of them all. So much closure~ I was pretty happy with it. ^^

[WhiteTiger89]

...

Gamdon took the character and kinda made him his own, and overall it just felt a lot more "real" and less cheesy to me. And Dumbledore could be a very intense person when he wanted to be. I don't think shouting at someone when a person's life is at stake is an unreasonable response, even for him.

In theory, I agree. The only problem is that what Gambon did things as Movie Dumbledore that Book Dumbledore would never do. Yelling at Harry, for example, is wildly out of character. The core of Dumbledore's character is how calm, unshakable, and humble he is despite being arguably the most powerful wizard alive. Indeed, the only time I can think of him getting obviously angry is at the end of Book 4 after Voldemort comes back and Fudge refuses to believe him.

[CrazyCat]

Books > Movie adaptations.

Case closed.

[White Wolf Guardian]

Personally I also agree with the last movie for closure of the series, it was truly a great movie.

There are a few things though that could make it possible for another movie to come about.

Spoiler for Hidden:

The resurrection stone was dropped on the ground, leaving it for anyone to take; The elder wand was only split in two, someone could piece it back together; And of course the invisibility cloak is still around.

[ZombiezuRFER]

I love both the books and the movies.  I saw the first film before reading any of the books, than I got a set of the entire HP book collection at the time, then I read the rest of the books before the movies.  Still loved the movies too.

[WhiteTiger89]

Personally I also agree with the last movie for closure of the series, it was truly a great movie.

There are a few things though that could make it possible for another movie to come about.

Spoiler for Hidden:

The resurrection stone was dropped on the ground, leaving it for anyone to take; The elder wand was only split in two, someone could piece it back together; And of course the invisibility cloak is still around.

Granted, before any of that, JK Rowling would have to write another book.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

And J.K. has already said repeatedly that she will not being writing anymore books for the series (other than maybe a creature book or something, but no books that continue the story).