Look, every film adaptation is going to have major flaws. There are acting fails, plot holes, etc., etc. But the things that really annoy me in the movies are those little details that are ignored, which could so easily have been slipped in and which serve to make Harry Potter come alive in the books. The movie versions of HP tend to play out like a giant adventure story that is relatively simplistic and juvenile – the books are so much deeper than that it’s hard to even compare them. And for that reason I miss those small details that would enrich the viewer’s sense of the complexity and authenticity of the wizarding world. It’s hard for me to think of any specific examples, which totally doesn’t help me prove my point, but let me just say this: JK Rowling constructed such an astonishingly intricate, elaborate world with unexpected connections between characters, events, and places that it is an injustice to her work not to reflect that complexity in the films as much as possible. Not only that, but some of those “little insignificant details” that the filmmakers figured were easily expendable may come back to bite film Harry in the ass, because JK has a way of making even the inconsequential things turn into major plot points down the road.
Oh, and also, they have a lot of explaining to do in Part 2 of Deathly Hallows. Don’t even get me started on them not mentioning the Taboo on Voldemort’s name (such a simple point to include!), not explaining the mirror from Sirius, totally glossing over the Dumbledore-Grindelwald connection, not having the Lupin-Harry confrontation (so necessary for the later scene of reconciliation to be affecting), not providing any method for Snape to have located them in the Forest of Dean (!!), etc. I could go on, but for now I’m crossing my fingers that Part 2 will tie up all these loose ends.
