Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I love Harry Potter. Anyone who knows me knows that I know the books practically by heart, I've read them over and over and over, and I've listened to them on tape over and over and over. I can discuss every and any detail, Harry Potter philosophy and plot points etc etc etc. I love getting lost in the story, the magical world, everything is so specific, and yet it doesn't seem so, everything is thought of, almost NOTHING is left to the imagination, unless of course JKR wants it to be. And if there is a string untied that she didn't mean to be untied, undoubtedly she has an answer for it. And with all that I still feel that I can have full imagination of the magical world, what Hogwarts looks and feels like, what doing magic is like, what playing Quidditch is like etc etc etc.

So if I LOVE the books, I've disliked ALL the movies. I've been pretty disappointed. They claim to be "true to the books" and well, often they're not. Sometimes things are word for word from the book and other times things are grossly changed. Even small details that didn't necessarily need to be changed are changed. For example, the snake in the very beginning of the first book that Harry accidentally let out of his cage at the zoo, he was from Brazil, but in the movie they said Burma. Or when Harry was asked to be on the Quidditch team in his first year, Professor McGonagall took the captain Oliver Wood out of Charms with Flitwick. In the movie it was DADA with Quirrell. Things like that bother me almost more than the gross distortions of the book.

I understand that you can't fit ALL the details of the books into a movie. And how do you turn a 800+ page book into a 2.5 hr movie? So I understand the plot changes and all that. But I still don't like them. The movies are good and well made, but I'm loyal to the books, and well, I feel that the movies rush through things and take the "magic" out of the details of the story by glossing it all over.

So on that note Rob and I went to see the 4th movie yesterday afternoon. Besides the theater being full of talking children which I CAN'T STAND, when ANYONE talks or whatever, but I was, as expected, disapointed with the movie. Rob wanted to see it, and I wasn't totally opposed, so we went. I could have waited for video or HBO to tell the truth. The movie was significantly different than the book, the major plot points were there, but still, it was all different. It wasn't BAD, and it wasn't unenjoyable, and I didn't not have a good time (WHOOPS double negative) but I guess I just have high expectations. I love the books too much. I've always been that way. I'm a bookworm. Can't help it. Oh well.

So if you love the books you'll probably be as disappointed in this movie as you may have been with the others. But if you loved the movies and don't know all the details of the books or haven't read them, you'll enjoy the 4th movie as you probably enjoyed the other 3. But if you haven't read the books, I HIGHLY recommend that you do. They are completely awesome.

And on that note, time for work. Only 3 more days.......