First half is shamefully old, but I've finally completed a two-part Goblet of Fire movie recap at my lj, if anyone's interested. Part One and Part Two.
I wasn't sure whether to comment here or at your original post. Oh, well, here goes.
/LUDO BAGMAN WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF CANON/
And yet after GOF, he never shows up again. I wonder if the filmmakers of POA would've bothered to include Crookshanks if they'd known that he was going to lose all relevance and ultimately disappear after POA.
/I guess because there’s no SPEW/
Yeah, that was another omission that annoyed fans, but seriously, it's another plot thread that goes nowhere. And they cut Winky, and Dobby only shows up again in the DH movie, so what would've been the point of including SPEW?
/Fred and George really are two of the most fanonised characters in these films/
I never realized that, but it's true. Probably because all of the awful things that they do in the books are omitted: no choking Dudley, no Montague, no bullying of Ron, no hissing at first-years, etc.
/He’s picked the whole ‘Lucius is a shitty dad’ thing (this time poking Draco in the stomach with his cane for boasting about sitting in the Minister’s box) and dammit he’s sticking to it/
*snorts* Some fans have blamed Jason Isaacs for the large amount of Abusive!Lucius in fanfiction, but honestly, I think that the idea came before the movies.
/there’s the beginning of the game and a shot of Krum, then a cut to the aftermath/
Yeah, they didn't even bother to show the match itself. It just ended very abruptly as soon as it began. In fact, I wonder if the overly long dragon chase in the first task was supposed to make up for it or not.
/Movie!R/Hr is not strong, especially compared to H/Hr/
Honestly, I think that a large part of that is Steve Kloves. He really comes off like a H/Hr shipper and it shows. In the HBP movie, Dumbledore just had to say that he noticed Harry spending a lot of time with Hermione and then by the end of the movie, when Harry is talking about the RAB locket, he and Hermione are sitting close together while Ron is conspicuously sitting away as if he's a bystander eavesdropping on their conversation.
I know that Ron was increasingly dumbed down and shut out more and more in the books themselves as the series went on, but Kloves definitely didn't help matters.
/There’s a charming shot of the ‘lovely ladies’/
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someone involved in the production and writing had a musical theatre background. The contrast between Durmstrang's entrance and Beauxbatons' reminds me of opera, with each character having their own leitmotif. I think the reason why they're portrayed as single-sex schools is to simplify and further emphasize their leitmotifs: Beauxbatons is light and airy, while Durmstrang is thunderous and intense.
/I liked an interview I saw with the actress playing Fleur, where she was saying how the character was pretty much the British stereotype of a French girl/
The funny thing is that I've seen Clemence Poesy in interviews too and learned that she can speak English very well with a much lighter accent, which means that the accent that she had in the film was deliberately stereotypical.
Yeah, I kinda feel for the filmmakers in that I think even having JKR to consult probably wasn't much help, like she literally seems to make shit up on the fly, so it's not like if you said 'Do we really, really need to keep in elves/Crookshanks/Ludo?' that she'd say, she might have a headcanon that they were in the last battle too or something.
And yet after GOF, he never shows up again. I wonder if the filmmakers of POA would've bothered to include Crookshanks if they'd known that he was going to lose all relevance and ultimately disappear after POA.
PAH. Don't get me started on PoA. The screenwriter and director surely had no problem omitting the heck out of materials important to THIS book and the two books before it. The Shrieking Shack confrontation was down to like three minutes in total. Seriously?
Yes, the Entry of the Women’s Chorus (Beauxbatons) and the Entry of the Men’s Chorus (Durmstrang) was straight out of Gilbert and Sullivan. I haven’t decided if it’s more like the Rapturous Maidens/Heavy Dragoons in Patience or the Fairies/House of Peers in Iolanthe.
I know it warps canon since neither school was supposed to be single-sex, but it had no effect on the story, since all the important characters from Beauxbatons are female and all the important characters from Durmstrang are male. Personally I don’t mind the change, mainly because I’m a big opera fan—especially Gilbert and Sullivan. I got a kick out of seeing a miniature production number slipped into a Potter flick.
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timeasmymeasure
Comments on GOF Movie Sporking Part 1
Date: 2019-03-25 08:44 pm (UTC)/LUDO BAGMAN WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF CANON/
And yet after GOF, he never shows up again. I wonder if the filmmakers of POA would've bothered to include Crookshanks if they'd known that he was going to lose all relevance and ultimately disappear after POA.
/I guess because there’s no SPEW/
Yeah, that was another omission that annoyed fans, but seriously, it's another plot thread that goes nowhere. And they cut Winky, and Dobby only shows up again in the DH movie, so what would've been the point of including SPEW?
/Fred and George really are two of the most fanonised characters in these films/
I never realized that, but it's true. Probably because all of the awful things that they do in the books are omitted: no choking Dudley, no Montague, no bullying of Ron, no hissing at first-years, etc.
/He’s picked the whole ‘Lucius is a shitty dad’ thing (this time poking Draco in the stomach with his cane for boasting about sitting in the Minister’s box) and dammit he’s sticking to it/
*snorts* Some fans have blamed Jason Isaacs for the large amount of Abusive!Lucius in fanfiction, but honestly, I think that the idea came before the movies.
/there’s the beginning of the game and a shot of Krum, then a cut to the aftermath/
Yeah, they didn't even bother to show the match itself. It just ended very abruptly as soon as it began. In fact, I wonder if the overly long dragon chase in the first task was supposed to make up for it or not.
/Movie!R/Hr is not strong, especially compared to H/Hr/
Honestly, I think that a large part of that is Steve Kloves. He really comes off like a H/Hr shipper and it shows. In the HBP movie, Dumbledore just had to say that he noticed Harry spending a lot of time with Hermione and then by the end of the movie, when Harry is talking about the RAB locket, he and Hermione are sitting close together while Ron is conspicuously sitting away as if he's a bystander eavesdropping on their conversation.
I know that Ron was increasingly dumbed down and shut out more and more in the books themselves as the series went on, but Kloves definitely didn't help matters.
/There’s a charming shot of the ‘lovely ladies’/
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someone involved in the production and writing had a musical theatre background. The contrast between Durmstrang's entrance and Beauxbatons' reminds me of opera, with each character having their own leitmotif. I think the reason why they're portrayed as single-sex schools is to simplify and further emphasize their leitmotifs: Beauxbatons is light and airy, while Durmstrang is thunderous and intense.
/I liked an interview I saw with the actress playing Fleur, where she was saying how the character was pretty much the British stereotype of a French girl/
The funny thing is that I've seen Clemence Poesy in interviews too and learned that she can speak English very well with a much lighter accent, which means that the accent that she had in the film was deliberately stereotypical.
Re: Comments on GOF Movie Sporking Part 1
Date: 2019-03-28 10:25 pm (UTC)Yeah, I kinda feel for the filmmakers in that I think even having JKR to consult probably wasn't much help, like she literally seems to make shit up on the fly, so it's not like if you said 'Do we really, really need to keep in elves/Crookshanks/Ludo?' that she'd say, she might have a headcanon that they were in the last battle too or something.
Re: Comments on GOF Movie Sporking Part 1
Date: 2019-04-27 09:57 pm (UTC)PAH. Don't get me started on PoA. The screenwriter and director surely had no problem omitting the heck out of materials important to THIS book and the two books before it. The Shrieking Shack confrontation was down to like three minutes in total. Seriously?
Re: Comments on GOF Movie Sporking Part 1
Date: 2019-04-30 07:47 pm (UTC)I know it warps canon since neither school was supposed to be single-sex, but it had no effect on the story, since all the important characters from Beauxbatons are female and all the important characters from Durmstrang are male. Personally I don’t mind the change, mainly because I’m a big opera fan—especially Gilbert and Sullivan. I got a kick out of seeing a miniature production number slipped into a Potter flick.