Comic:  “Motives”

Picture 4

Don’t get me wrong. I REALLY enjoyed the movie, but I am hearing from infinite numbers of people who took issue with the various liberties taken to remove key plot points from the book. I am just not one of those guys that cares that much about the sacrifices presented by the notion of adaptation to film. You do what you gotta do, and ultimately, you hope for the best. Lord of the Rings did it pretty well. Road to Perdition did it pretty well. And I think, taken on the whole, Harry Potter did it pretty well. Just feel glad you have the movies AND the books. The stuff is great! We are lucky to have any of it I figure.

Anyway, enjoy the comic.


Discussion (34) ¬

  1. wolfgang

    Personally, I did not like any Potter movie since 3 (which was the absolute best IMO). I think the rest was pretty much butchering the material and horrible, off the shelf, phoned in film making. But hey that’s just me.
    And WHAT is up with the packages on those characters :D

  2. Precious Roy

    The only part that I missed was something that could have been a great action sequence (avoiding spoilers, but if you have read the book and seen the movie you will know what I mean)…but overall it was great. I cannot wait to see the next ones.

  3. Rex Hondo

    Haven’t seen Half Blood Prince yet, so I can’t really say anything about the movie yet, but my least favorite so far has been Order of the Phoenix. That was a prime example of what happens when you try to leave too much IN and don’t leave enough time to actually develop any of it. Then again, if a full half of the running time hadn’t been sweeping establishing shots of the castle…

  4. Sam Sam the Fireman

    pst. Actress.

  5. Ian

    What happened to the Grandpa And Me storyline?

  6. Nameless One

    Removing things is one thing, but to add stuff and do it in a manner which totally changes the nature of the characters is another matter entirely. In the case of Lord of the Rings, Theoden King becoming Theoden Coward running away to Helms Deep, Gollum prancing about in broad daylight, Faramir (supposedly King material) being so obviously tempted by the ring as his weaker brother had been.

  7. missiondeep

    Who’s that hippie hanging out with the Scott character.

  8. imaglide

    I used to have a problem with the missing subplots and stuff in the movies or details they changed, but that was when there were still books to come and the plot was not finished yet. Now that she has finished the books and we know how it all works out so long as they hit the plot points that have a beating on ending. I think they did a good job on this in HP6.

  9. Luke7374

    my fave movie so far. they left heaps out but it worked well. i REALLY want an action sequence like the one with dumbledore and voldermort at the end of five in one of the next 2 movies :) that really was an amazing action sequence.

  10. Joshua S. Hill

    Actually, HBP was an amazingly accurate film, much better than most of the others. It stuck pretty close to the storyline, and what didn’t, was done to make it into a movie, and to better what Rowling couldn’t write (ie, a realistic relationship evolution).

    Granted, I don’t think Rowling can write, and she makes it through on her creativity alone, which I think means the movie – which ignores her writing – makes for a better experience.

    Oh, and Nameless One? Couldn’t agree more! They butchered Faramir’s character, and for what?

  11. Nate Fakes

    I just never got into Harry Potter (head down in shame). Tried watching the movies, reading the books – and I’m just not that into any of it. Maybe the last movie will be “thrilling” enough for me to want to rediscover the series, but I think I’ll stick to keeping up with the latest “Dude, Where’s My Car?” saga

  12. Nakoma

    @Sam Sam = Women can be referred to as actors too, and often are.

    @Ian = The Grandpa and Me storyline finished, just not with a punchline. It was a more serious finish, one that Scott commented on.

  13. Nakoma

    @Sam Sam = Women can be referred to as actors too, and often are. The word is not gender specific.

    @Ian = The Grandpa and Me storyline finished, just not with a punchline. It was a more serious finish, one that Scott commented on.

  14. Nakoma

    Ooops… Double posty! Sorry about that folks.

  15. Eucep

    I enjoyed the movie, but indeed felt cheated out of quite a bit, but I felt that since they left out our favorite poltergheist in movie 1. At the end of the movie I did think on it though and decided that 2.5 hours of movie is enough as it is.

  16. Royale

    @Nakoma … triple even!

    I haven’t seen the movie yet… I don’t like crowds so generally wait a couple weeks.

  17. Bonnie

    I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a sticker of the dog dressed up at HP. That’s freaking fabulous!

  18. JaFO

    I think that both Harry Potter-series and LoTR are excellent examples of movies that really should have been done as Hollywood-budget mini-series.

    2 hours worth of movie just can’t cover the amount of detail and plot/character-development that a 500+ page book can.

  19. Ian

    @Nakoma
    Oh….. It’s not that it needed a punchline or anything, but it just didn’t seem like it really got anywhere…. Kind of hard to explain.. XD

  20. Moobie

    Loving it! :-D

  21. Moobie

    Idea… how about a “56″ poster with that dog dressed in 56 different ways?

  22. The_Julian

    The real star of this comic is that awesome doodle movie poster in the background.

  23. Sam Bambino

    I disliked the “Half Blood Prince” reveal, but other than that, all needed plot points were there.

    Bottom line: Just because the movie was made does not mean the books have ceased to exist. :)

  24. Darrell

    Why would a dog see a movie?

  25. Setran777

    I agree with the opinion that they did a good job on adapting the book to a movie. Just about all of these books would be two parters if they left everything in. Now I am curious to see what they do with the last two. I have a few thoughts on it but now I will just have to wait and see.

  26. BlueNight

    The did manage to highlight all the Hallows and make the Horcruxes more interesting – they react to each other!

    But there is one thing I have been wanting to see since the moment I read it, something they left out which I am not willing to forgive:

    Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight.

    “Kill me then,” panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. “Kill me like you killed him, you coward -”

    “DON’T -” screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them – “CALL ME COWARD!”

    And he slashed at the air: Harry felt a white-hot, whiplike something hit him across the face and was slammed backward into the ground.

    They wasted Alan Rickman’s talent, replacing this pinnacle of Snapetitude with a droll “I am the Half Blood Prince.” I have literally been anticipating this moment from the day I first read it, and now it is gone forever.

  27. badgersmasher

    ^ Truth

  28. Tom

    I thought that HBP was an excellent movie. I never read any of the books, so I never had any expectations of what was to come. I only wish that there had been more of a fight at the end with Harry and Snape!

  29. LeLoup

    @bluenight: I completely agree. To me the entire ending of the movie was a let down. Given the tone and all of the character building, revelation, and action that happens at the end of the book, I was disappointed with the dry dialog and unemotional ending of the movie.

    However, I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was done incredibly well, other than the above.

  30. evirus

    do you think it would have been more accurately adapted as a TV series, be it live action, cartoon, anime, whatever?

  31. Juddson

    So the blond dude is gay? Or did he mean to say actress?

  32. Scott

    Sexist.

  33. JaFO

    I’m pretty sure it would.
    At least when looking at the mini-series for ‘the shining’ it definitely captures the feel of the book better than the movie (no matter how awesome jack is).
    I’m sure a Potter-series would have done better.

    btw : I once saw bits of a tv-series (it was dubbed, so I’m not sure if it was british, american or australian in origin) about a little witch-school … (effectively the same concept as Potter except with mere 1-hour plots and without the budget ).

  34. saz

    @BlueNight: dood, you’re making me wish i’d read the book. ;D