to think that the Harry Potter are timeless literature and the films are woefully miscast?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Inflammatory title to draw you in. I hope. I just fancied some HP chat.

I'm re-watching the films at the moment. Is it me or is there something old-ladyish about Alan Rickman's mouth? I realize I am thinking about this far too hard, and I know it's practically forbidden to speak ill of him on MN. But every time I see those films, I'm disappointed again that he just isn't as sexy as his voice.

I also think the Burrow looks all wrong to me. I love what they do with the reeds in the scene where Bellatrix taunts Harry and he and Ginny run after her. But I imagined the Burrow being rural and farmland-ish, with an overgrown garden around it - not plonked down in the middle of a marsh. Am I right?

What's your favourite bit of the films/books?

Right, I'm going to start re-reading tonight!

juney - ask the questions here? Someone will probably know.

think - yes, definitely. Slughorn just works.

thebody - it's not like I'd kick him out of bed.

helena bonham-carter was perfect as Bellatrix. i just wish there was more of her in the series!

Film Ginny is an absolute travesty.

And couldn't they have done a better job with the whole 'you have your mother's eyes' thing? They have completely different eyes!

I think Daniel Radcliff reacted badly to contacts so they gave up. I admit it doesn't bother me. I found those lines incredibly tedious in the books, too.

fate - you're welcome. Enjoy!

I don't know about Umbridge being wrong.

I see her as a parallel with the concentration camp guards who were unspeakably cruel and disgusting but at the end of a days work killing people returned to families and children as loving and caring wives and mothers/fathers.

Thanks, LRD

I read at the Harry Potter Experience place that the more immersed in evil Umbridge gets, the more vivid pink her outfits become. It was a deliberate costume strategy, something about how evil doesn't always manifest itself in black leather and suchlike. It was quite interesting.

I thought Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy was an excellent choice.

Really hated what they did to The Prisoner of Azkaban when adapting it to film. Zero explanation at to why Lupin was taking quite such a vested interest. Also - worst werewolf ever.

Thought Gary Oldman was too old to be Sirius.

Out of interest though, how old were Harry's Parents meant to be when they were killed? It's ambiguous in the books if I recall correctly and I remember being shocked at how old they were in the flashback scenes in the films.

I have seen the trailer for Daniel Radcliffe's new film and have concluded that he can only act one way. Its like he has seen a few Hugh Grant films and has tried to copy it, really badly. I do think he fits as HP, but I dont think he is that good an actor.

I think some of the most inspired casting was David Bradley as Filch, and Evanna Lynch as Luna. I also love Julie Walters as Molly.

The dual between weasley and belatrix was completely under played, it was just a little spat rather than the battle it was written as.

I think in the last few films they went for special effects rather than plot, it's unfortunate that they already look dated.

The last scene with Harry and ginny as "grown up" is laughably bad.

That is quite clever, I agree. I am slightly uneasy at the way it's gendered, but I do take the point. If I'm honest, a weakness of the whole series is that there really aren't any evil characters who are likeable. I think because so much is focussed on whether Snape is good or bad, she didn't manage to paint any of the others as shades of grey.

In the film it's a bit better as you can feel sorry for Draco, but in the books, virtually everyone evil is also unpleasant.

You can't really read it

I think think it should be Hermione Granger and the philosophers stone. She's the real hero of the stories, book or film.

Cast that worked really well, in my opinion.

McGonagall
Hagrid
Moody
Bellatrix
Malfoy- L and D
Neville
Petunia Dursley
Voldemort
Bellatrix
Original Dumbledore
Flitwick

Asked a bit too much for suspension of disbelief

Snape- AR just maybe that bit too old for Snape. The character would have been 32/33 at the start of the books?
Sirius- possibly a similar issue
Trelawney
Harry Potter- Where was his backbone? The fire?

Creepy as fuck

Dumbledore version 2. Just totally wrong. Gambon creeps me out anyway, in this role he was too sinister not charming enough.

Totally disagree on Dumbledore. I'm sorry to say this of someone who's died, but Richard Harris was too old. Yes, Dumbledore is supposed to be old, but also incredibly charismatic and exuberant. I cannot imagine RH having done any of the fighting scenes in books/films 5 and 6. Gambon was brilliant. Cunning and sly, just like Dumbledore.

The Burrow was perfect. Its described in the book as having rooms added in a higgledepiggledy fashion, I guess because the Weasleys had a modest house and then kept breeding until they got a girl

Much of the casting was perfect, largely because they used the best of the best of British acting talent. The kids were all non-actors really when they started, but I think they all got better as they grew up.

As much as I loved the books at the time, they aren't great works. That being said I am still very excited to read them to DD and then DS as they get older.

alis - they're 21 when they die. So they, Lupin and Sirius and Snape would all have been early 30s at the time of the first book, and 38 by the end.

Its a pity John Hurt has already been cast as Ollivander, he would have made a much better Dumbledore II.

No one has mentioned voldemort or Hagrid. Difficult parts to cast but worked for me.

As did mrs weasley.

Richard Harris was always the better Dumbmedore for me.

Snape wasn't quite right but as I love Alan rickman, all is forgiven..

Daniel Radcliffe was totally miscast as Harry, as was initially Emma Watson as Hermoine but I do feel she developed into her role in the end
Helena Bonham Carter was superbly cast, as was Robbie Coltrane. I loved Professor McGonagall (?sp), though I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the the actress who played her.
Alan Rickman........droooool

Maggie Smith Herbie

think I too didn't read the books for ages - in fact I read them to my dc last year and this and we were all bowled over by them.

That's one of my favourite lines too "I'm not scared, I with you Harry" - it made me cry!

Ooh, yes. I can't see anyone else as Hagrid. And I love Ralph Fiennes.

Only thing is, I think the prosthetics in the last bit are a bit too cartoony. They don't actually make him more scary. But that's a tiny thing, and maybe it's just me.

Googled John Hurt as I couldn't call him to mind ... maybe. Not convinced.

Thanks LRD. I thought the ages of most of the actors playing the parents/their school contemporaries was off but couldn't quite work it out.

Need to get re-reading, clearly .