What annoyed me the most in the movie was that the action scenes were much too "puffed up" and extended from the way they are in the book, making them (needlessly) so long that important events had to be cut. For instance, the dragon scene: IIRC, Harry and the dragon did not fly all around the grounds and over and under the school (I don't have the book here, so I can't check...). It was a rather simple affair in the book. And the maze... Wasn't it the size of the quidditch pitch in the book, not the humongous thing it was in the movie.
Timo Virkkala | 11.28.05 - 3:50 am | #

Yes, the dragon scene was "enhanced" with a lot more action. It's too bad we didn't get too how the others defeated their dragons. There are quite a few other places where things were things were cut (too) short... like the Quiddith World Cup, where we got to see the preparations but not a glimpse of actual quidditch. Or the scene were Barty Crouch (Sr.) was found unconscious... nothing happens after that, he is not taken inside, no explanation or investigation follows, nothing.

I'm not sure how large the maze was (I don't have the book handy either), but I somehow envisioned the pathways as much less narrow... and I recall there was a spider near the end. :-/
Hans Nowak | Homepage | 11.29.05 - 2:53 pm | #

I concur, we missed out on hagrid getting his teaching position, the blast ended skewts amongst other things.

I think the movie was too simple compared to the book, I can't see how he has envisioned doing the next movie with so many plot lines obviously cut out already.
Pete | 11.30.05 - 3:05 pm | #

The problem seems to be that because each movie has a different director, they all just think about the one movie they're making and not about the ones that will follow. Didn't Mike Newell, the director of this one actually say that he hasn't even read book six...
Timo Virkkala | 12.02.05 - 6:50 pm | #

It seems so: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.or...ives/ 008074.php
Hans Nowak | Homepage | 12.02.05 - 7:13 pm | #