Harry Potter (Films 5 through 8) (Part 1)

 The Harry Potter series.

If English was your first language, and you grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s, then you likely already know more about this series than I could reasonably explain within a single post.  Even if you’ve never read the books or seen the movies, pop culture osmosis has probably already saturated you with the basics.  I’m not going to even bother putting a spoiler warning on anything here.  At this point, it would be about as meaningful as putting a spoiler warning on who Darth Vader is.

I love the books.  Looking back, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they are objectively great.  However, I do think they work as children’s literature, and they remain an enjoyable read that fills me with nostalgia.  When I was in the second grade, my teacher would use Harry Potter to incentivize us to get our work done.  If we completed all our assignments in a timely fashion, then the last 10 to 15 minutes of each day would be her reading to us, and over the course of the year, we went through the first three books (among many others).

The movies are enjoyable.  Again, I’m not going to call them objective great, yet I wouldn’t say that any one of them is objectively bad.  The actors deliver iconic performances, the production value is decent, and for the most part, the changes made to jump from page to screen are good at best and necessary evils at worst.

However, for me, the quality of the films went into a downslide slide the further the series went along – and a big part of that there are clear signs that the filmmakers didn’t plan the story out ahead.

Initial Reactions

I’m not a fan of the back half of this film series.  When ranking the Harry Potter films, Half-Blood Prince is the only one that isn’t at the bottom of the barrel for me, and that’s only because it ties with Goblet of Fire for fourth place.  The films each have their merits, but this is the point where condensing and cutting things for length really started to take their toll on the integrity of the story.  Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire also cut a lot of content, but at least those two films tried some artistic things that balanced out the loss of depth.  The later films trimmed so much that style alone could not compensate.

For those of you who have never read the books: did you know that Dobby reappeared in every book from Goblet of Fire onward, lending both purehearted charm and timely help to Harry and friends?  He was the one who brought Harry gillyweed for the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament and told Harry about the Room of Requirement, and he even tailed Malfoy for Harry during Half-Blood Prince.  He didn’t just spontaneously surface in the seventh book.  (Also, in the book, he didn’t keep wearing a pillowcase.  He dressed himself up in mismatched clothes.)  Shifting Dobby’s roles in the fourth and fifth films to Neville may have made sense for simplifying those films, but it robbed his sacrifice in Deathly Hallows 1 of the weight it truly deserved.  It still had some weight, but because we’d gone too long without seeing him, it wasn’t nearly as gut-wrenching as it should have been.

What about the magic mirror that Harry uses to summon Dobby to Malfoy Manor?  Harry didn’t just take that sliver of glass out of a random mirror in the books.  Sirius gave him one of two linked magic mirrors as a way for him and Harry to talk, Harry broke his while mourning Sirius’s death, and then Mundungus stole the other and sold it to Aberforth (a scene which was also in the books).

What about the Horcruxes?  Did you notice that Voldemort got a relic from each of the four Hogwarts Founders except Gryffindor?  Do you know that Harry and the others were actively hunting for them (albeit unsuccessfully) during that period where they were wandering the UK?

Did you know that the elder Weasley brothers appeared in Goblet of Fire and Half-Blood Prince, and that Bill Weasley was mauled by Greyback during the climax of Half-Blood Prince, with Harry seeing the fresh injuries?

Did you know about the relationship drama of Lupin and Tonks in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, the resolution of which made the orphaning of their son (who is casually mentioned in the last film) all the more tragic?

I’ll put a pause of the pedantry here.  My points is that these details had to be forcibly rammed into the two Deathly Hallows films.  As a book reader, I knew what was happening, but looking back, I have no idea how anyone who hadn’t read the books was supposed to understand any of it.  And it’s so frustrating to me because it wouldn’t have been hard to correct these things.  Even accounting for the limitations of adaptation, even considering that some of these things should have gotten setup in earlier films, there are changes that could have been made to Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince to smooth the path and lead us to a coherent endpoint.

In fairness to the filmmakers – some of this was unavoidable.  The Philosopher’s Stone adaptation was released in 2001, at which point the books were only up through Goblet of Fire.  Over the next six years, the films gradually crept up on the books, until both Order of the Phoenix film and Deathly Hallows book released in summer of 2007.  While this makes sense as a financial decision to capitalize upon the fervor for the books, no one involved in the adaptation process had any idea whether a seemingly minor and extraneous detail in an early story might have titanic implications on later ones.  It didn’t help that, after Chris Columbus, directors started to throw continuity and faithfulness to the lore out the window in favor of more artistic interpretations. (Yes, I praised this earlier, but I’m not going to deny the issues it caused.)

This should have changed with the Order of the Phoenix film.  While I don’t have an exact schedule as to when Deathly Hallows went to print, the process of editing and marketing a book is not instantaneous.  Much like a film production, it takes years.  It’s probable that Rowling had a completed manuscript that she could have shared with David Yates and the scriptwriters.  Even if she didn’t, her involvement in the film meant that she could have told them which details were relevant.  She intervened to keep Kreacher in the film, so I’m not sure why she couldn’t take a stand for other things when Deathly Hallows would have been on her mind.

From Order of the Phoenix onward, the filmmakers had everything he needed to guide the film towards a satisfying endpoint ... but didn’t.  Oh, we got an endpoint, but I think that it was incredibly messy and borderline nonsensical without the background from the books.  Even if Yates didn’t know he would be directing the remaining films, the producers could have worked with Rowling and applied pressure to steer a course to the end.

With all of those complaints out of the way, the question becomes: how to correct this?

Rewrite Objectives

For this rewrite, there are two goals:

-          Reduce the information overload in Deathly Hallows.

-          Ensure more satisfying payoffs for the arcs that needed the extra exposition in the current version of the films.

Condensing books of more than 500 pages into satisfying movies of 120 minutes to 150 minutes is an immense challenge.  We will keep new scenes to a minimum.  The priority will be on reworking existing scenes to slide in the necessary exposition and groundwork.

The four major points / arcs that we will be addressing will be:

1.      Dobby’s inclusion and sacrifice

2.      The inclusion of Lupin and Tonk’s relationship, their son Teddy, and their sacrifice

3.      Sirius’s magic mirror

4.      Explaining the logic of Voldemort’s Horcruxes and where he did them

Dobby

As mentioned before, Rowling pushed to keep Kreacher in Order of the Phoenix.  I can understand the motivation here.  Kreacher does play a key role within Deathly Hallows.

The problem is that nearly all of Kreacher’s content from the books was cut.  He appears in two scenes in Order of the Phoenix, has no role in Half-Blood Prince (in the books, we also learned the Harry inherited ownership of him, along with the Black house, from Sirius’s will), and then appears in two scenes in Deathly Hallows.  He doesn’t get to lead the house-elf revolt during the Battle of Hogwarts.  In Order of the Phoenix, he didn’t even get the betray Sirius and the Order (in the book, Harry successfully used Umbridge’s office to call Sirius via Floo powder, but Kreacher intercepted the call and lied to Harry about Sirius being Voldemort’s hostage).  If all he does is establish his existence in one film, vanish, and then solve a single problem in another film, I have to ask: why couldn’t Dobby have taken his place?

The books themselves provide an easy justification for this.  In Goblet of Fire, we learn that Dobby struggled to find work after being freed.  Wizards were not inclined to pay a house elf for work, even at Dobby’s insanely low requested salary.  It was Dumbledore who ultimately hired Dobby to work in the Hogwarts kitchens.  It’s not hard to envision a scenario where Dumbledore transferred Dobby to the Black House to serve as caretaker for the Order’s headquarters (and to keep Sirius company).  Dobby would also be all too happy to help Harry and friends by hunting down Mundungus Fletcher if told the locket was important.  This added involvement would have deepened our bond with Dobby, and thus, given his death the weight it deserved.

Lupin & Tonks

I do think that this relationship was decently adapted.  The romance subplot from Half-Blood Prince would be dead weight in that film, so they simply changed it so that Lupin and Tonks were already dating during the Christmas scene.  This was subtle and effective.  Stepping farther back to Order of the Phoenix, my only real complaint is that the film took the time to introduce that Tonks was a Metamorphmagus and that she didn’t like being called by her first name, then didn’t capitalize upon either element.  I’m also not sure how they planned to pay either element off in later films, as the only scenes where they become relevant seem like obvious choices for cuts in the adaptation.

The issue, ultimately, is that Deathly Hallows Part II made the same mistake with them that it did with Dobby: it tried to capitalize upon the gut punch of their deaths without adequate setup.  The particularly bizarre part is that the film called attention to Teddy Lupin being orphaned, even though (A) the only reference to this kid was a cut-off pregnancy announcement in Deathly Hallows Part I and (B) there was absolutely nothing in the film to indicate that Harry knew about Teddy.  At least in the book, there were a few scenes between Harry and Lupin related to Lupin’s anxiety about becoming a father and the later payoff of Harry being made Teddy’s godfather.

The fix to this is rather simple: cut Bill and Fleur from the Deathly Hallows films.

Yes, I realize how bizarre this sounds.  Bill and Fleur do play an essential role within the story.  Their wedding is a pivotal scene.  They are part of the Seven Potters ruse.  They shelter the heroes in Shell Cottage.

However, none of these three elements are specific to Bill and Fleur (especially not in the films).  The adaptations of Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince didn’t get the subplot that built up their relationship and foreshadowed their wedding as a significant event.  The films don’t even pay off the setup they gave Bill – he never fights Greyback.

So, if we have one couple with a lot of screen time and no payoffs, and another with minimal screen time but unsatisfying payoffs, why not give the first couple’s screen time to the second couple?

The wedding could easily be the wedding of Lupin and Tonks.  Harry could even be Lupin’s best man (which would explain why he wasn’t disguised with Polyjuice Potion, a detail that was in the books and would make a lot of sense in an event with many people the Order couldn’t vet).  Shell Cottage could be where Lupin and Tonks choose to settle down.  The films keep the timelines vague enough that Harry and the others could be there after Teddy is born, and the baby’s existence could easily be established with just a single shot of Tonks or Lupin holding him.

That leaves the Seven Potters.  I suppose it would be easy enough to cut their number down to six.  However, it might also be a good opportunity to bring back other familiar faces, or perhaps to establish new characters.  One option that I personally favor would be to bring in Cho Chang and Xenophilius Lovegood.  Chang would benefit from a solid redemption moment.  Even if the films hand-waved her betrayal of Dumbledore’s Army, we never got a scene to acknowledge that the heroes had forgiven her.  Bringing in Lovegood would also provide a more solid foundation for later scenes (but more on that as we go film by film).

Sirius’s Magic Mirror

The inclusion of Sirius’s magic mirror is straightforward.  Sirius just needs to hand it to Harry in Order of the Phoenix, and then we need a short scene near the end of the film where Harry smashes it in his grief.  The throwaway line about Mundungus selling the other mirror to Aberforth is fine.  Beyond that, I would also recommend introducing Mundungus in Order of the Phoenix, that way his being a thief can be established in advance of him needing to have stolen said mirror.

The Horcruxes

The lack of information on what Voldemort’s Horcruxes robs Deathly Hallows of some of its direction.  The problem isn’t apparent in Part I.  Sure, we miss out on a montage of Harry and friends snooping around potential Horcrux locations, but it doesn’t make a difference to the plot of that film if the Horcruxes are rings or cups or Butterbeer bottles.  The film-only Voldie-sense that Harry had also helps to fill in the gaps.

However, Part II shines a light on just how bad the setup is.  That comedic exchange where Harry polls his classmates for Horcrux ideas (which, to be fair, was in the book) does emphasize how aimless the film version of the story was.  His leap in logic at the start of the film – that Lestrange was afraid about her vault being breached because Voldemort gave her a Horcrux – also only really makes sense if Gringotts is on the table as a hiding place, which had not been previously established.

The book for Half-Blood Prince dedicated a great deal of time to foreshadowing the Horcruxes.  Dumbledore actually knew about them already; he only needed Slughorn’s memory to confirm how many Voldemort had intended to create.  Many additional scenes of viewing memories of Voldemort were used to establish these Horcrux objects.  After they get Slughorn’s memory, Dumbledore and Harry then have a short scene where Dumbledore brainstorms what the remaining Horcruxes might be.  We end the book with a full checklist of items that Harry needs to find.  The only Horcrux left up in the air (aside from Harry himself) is exactly what the Ravenclaw Horcrux was.

With the time and pacing constraints of a film, exploring the memories would be impractical.  However, the brainstorming session with Dumbledore could still happen.

Scouting locations where Voldemort might have hidden the Horcruxes is a bit trickier.  However, since we already have the montage of Harry, Ron, and Hermione wandering the countryside, it wouldn’t have been impossible to cover this information.  We would just need to make the montage a little longer and throw in clips / dialogue of the group trying to brainstorm and scout locations.  This montage would need to include Gringotts, of course, so that Lestrange’s fear later in the film would serve as a payoff.

A New Story

Next time, we’ll go through the film-by-film and scene-by-scene breakdown of how to fold these changes into the movies.

I hope it goes without saying that everything discussed here has had the benefit of nearly a decade of hindsight.  The creators of the Harry Potter films did the best they could with what they were given.  I’m sure that, with more time and planning, they could have churned out solutions even better than what I’ve proposed here.  When Warner inevitably remakes the series, perhaps they will think of a way to smooth things out that I haven’t considered.

All the same, I hope that you’ll join me on August 15th for my proposed treatment.  I’ll see you then.