Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion (Opens 2014)

[Accio Butterbeer]

I see what you're saying, but I think its probably difficult to decide where to draw the line. No matter how much or little we're given when it comes to Hogwarts in specific, we'll always want more. This is because we've seen and read about every nook and cranny of this castle, and damn it, we want to see it all! I would've loved to see some moving staircases, the Great Hall, or the Potions classroom in the FJ queue, simply because those locations were so memorable and significant in the source material. Alas, limitations must be set due to the reality that we live in. Only so much can be done in the real world. There are a lot more things I would have liked to see in Hogwarts, but at the end of the day, what we have is pretty incredible (just my opinion).

Very well said.

 

[Frogki]

It is amazing. I just remember when they made the announcement and it was all over and I thought the main thing would be a Hogwarts that you could walkthrough....but that's not really practical. I just wish a phase 3 would be an add on to Hogwarts but that isn't possible really or practical. But it is all amazing as is. More than my wildest dreams. I actually fell down to the ground the first time I saw the Hogsmede arch. Luckily the Wizarding world was still really knew at that point so I was surrounded by super fans who were freaking out as well.

I have yet to have this experience :'( I'm contained to what I've seen here and all over the internet about the place. I can not wait until I can finally visit myself. Should be totally awesome

 

[Mr.Auror]

I see what you're saying, but I think its probably difficult to decide where to draw the line. No matter how much or little we're given when it comes to Hogwarts in specific, we'll always want more. This is because we've seen and read about every nook and cranny of this castle, and damn it, we want to see it all! I would've loved to see some moving staircases, the Great Hall, or the Potions classroom in the FJ queue, simply because those locations were so memorable and significant in the source material. Alas, limitations must be set due to the reality that we live in. Only so much can be done in the real world. There are a lot more things I would have liked to see in Hogwarts, but at the end of the day, what we have is pretty incredible (just my opinion).

Oh Lawdy do I know this feel! :rofl: If we Potter fans could have it the way we wanted it, Uni would build a park in Scotland with a full scale Hogwarts and Hogsmeade village. However, I am very happy with the ever-so-slightly lesser park they have now. I think they did a bang-up job

 

[Accio Butterbeer]

You're right. The only thing I wish they would have done more with was the portrait gallery, but they had no idea it would be so profitable to make any more practical. Ugh I can't wait for this to be done. I'm re-reading the books in anticipation. I'm on the 5th and its reminding me how this is one of my favorite books overall and without a doubt the WORST of all the movies.

I agree with you on that personally. The Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows are my favorite books. And sadly Order of the Phoenix is my least favorite movie. If there does turn out to be a phase 3 like we think there will be in the future. I definitely would love to see The Great Hall dine in and show!

 

[pat_naughty05]

The thing that will always make me wonder is this: Universal built WWoHP at a time when they were in dire straits from an attendance and financial standpoint. With that being said, it must be assumed that Universal held back on certain features of the island (the Whomping Willow and static Aragog come to mind) due to budget concerns. While I'm sure they expected WWoHP to be successful, if they'd had any idea just how successful it would be, how much different would the current WWoHP be?

 

[andy85]

Oh Lawdy do I know this feel! :rofl: If we Potter fans could have it the way we wanted it, Uni would build a park in Scotland with a full scale Hogwarts and Hogsmeade village. However, I am very happy with the ever-so-slightly lesser park they have now. I think they did a bang-up job

They have done a superb job, but I like the Scotland idea. It's a slight pain having to jump on an 8 hour plane to visit a theme park, it would be a lot closer for me. My patriotic side wishes this had stayed in Britain, but it needed to be in Orlando..no question.

 

[Mr.Auror]

I agree with you on that personally. The Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows are my favorite books. And sadly Order of the Phoenix is my least favorite movie. If there does turn out to be a phase 3 like we think there will be in the future. I definitely would love to see The Great Hall dine in and show!

Longest book = shortest movie?? That just doesn't add up. I wanted a way better handling of the Prophecy. The fact that they *SPOILER!* leave out the fact that Neville was also believed to be the chosen one and Voldemort almost originally went after him? No mention at ALL?? What the H, Warner Bros?? Plus I wanted the full-scale battle at the end. More Ministry rooms!!

 

[pat_naughty05]

Longest book = shortest movie?? That just doesn't add up. I wanted a way better handling of the Prophecy. The fact that they *SPOILER!* leave out the fact that Neville was also believed to be the chosen one and Voldemort almost originally went after him? No mention at ALL?? What the H, Warner Bros?? Plus I wanted the full-scale battle at the end. More Ministry rooms!!

*SPOILERS* (though I imagine anyone reading this has seen the movies)

My main complaint, small as it may be, is that they were casting spells without speaking them at the end of the movie, when the book explicitly told how they had just started to learn this skill, and were nowhere near mastery as the movie showed.

Complaints of a Potternerd...

 

[aheying7]

Longest book = shortest movie?? That just doesn't add up. I wanted a way better handling of the Prophecy. The fact that they *SPOILER!* leave out the fact that Neville was also believed to be the chosen one and Voldemort almost originally went after him? No mention at ALL?? What the H, Warner Bros?? Plus I wanted the full-scale battle at the end. More Ministry rooms!!

I know. It was only 8 minutes longer than the very last movie which was only 1/3 of a shorter book!!!! And I don't understand how they always decided to leave out the Dobbey sub-plots and the thing with Neville's parents at the hospital. And a lot of the Hagrid part with the dragons. My sister loves the movies, but has never got around to actually reading the books and she hates the movie on its own.

 

[Mr.Auror]

*SPOILERS* (though I imagine anyone reading this has seen the movies)

My main complaint, small as it may be, is that they were casting spells without speaking them at the end of the movie, when the book explicitly told how they had just started to learn this skill, and were nowhere near mastery as the movie showed.

Complaints of a Potternerd...

Exactly! It was always considered pretty impressive whenever Dumbledore used non-verbal magic in the books. Not something that could have been pulled off easily. What's the point in teaching the emphesis of the spell pronounciation if it wont matter in a few weeks anyways?

EDIT: And yes! There was sooo much about Neville and his parents in Mungo's. Which tied in with his character. Which was actually more important of a character than the films lead on. Way more important. On a side note, I admittingly like S.P.E.W. being a "book-readers only" term thrown around. We have to get some credit

 

[Frogki]

Personally my favorite movie was the 8th, final movie. Although it played with canon in some areas, it remained essentially true to the story and it told it very well. Plus it was my first time ever attending a midnight premiere and I was ready to be in tears. It was one of those markers of the end of childhood, the summer before I went into high school. Really amazing way to end the series. The final book was my favorite as well.

 

[Accio Butterbeer]

Longest book = shortest movie?? That just doesn't add up. I wanted a way better handling of the Prophecy. The fact that they *SPOILER!* leave out the fact that Neville was also believed to be the chosen one and Voldemort almost originally went after him? No mention at ALL?? What the H, Warner Bros?? Plus I wanted the full-scale battle at the end. More Ministry rooms!!

It's funny that you say that. Those are the exact thing's I thought about with the movie. And there was no reason to shorten up the movie. Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets is almost 3 hours! So as much as I love the movies I really couldn't believe they would leave the Neville storyline out of the movie. And when I first saw the movie I was like what happened to all the action I was expecting?!

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Personally my favorite movie was the 8th, final movie. Although it played with canon in some areas, it remained essentially true to the story and it told it very well. Plus it was my first time ever attending a midnight premiere and I was ready to be in tears. It was one of those markers of the end of childhood, the summer before I went into high school. Really amazing way to end the series. The final book was my favorite as well.

I'm not sure which movie is my favorite. It's always changed and still does to this day.

 

[aheying7]

Personally my favorite movie was the 8th, final movie. Although it played with canon in some areas, it remained essentially true to the story and it told it very well. Plus it was my first time ever attending a midnight premiere and I was ready to be in tears. It was one of those markers of the end of childhood, the summer before I went into high school. Really amazing way to end the series. The final book was my favorite as well.

Reading things like this reminds me why I really want her to write more books.

 

[Mr.Auror]

Reading things like this reminds me why I really want her to write more books.

I'm about to restart here soon, hahah.

My favorite edit in the 8th movie's adaptation? The death of *SPOILER* Collin Creevey. "Oh... he dies? We probably should have kept up with him, huh? Let's -- let's just kill Lavander? Everyone hates her anyways!" :rofl:

 

[tribbleorlfl]

I'm re-reading the books in anticipation. I'm on the 5th and its reminding me how this is one of my favorite books overall and without a doubt the WORST of all the movies.

What's funny is I'm exactly the opposite. I can't stand Book 5, but it was my favorite of the films.

 

[the last chronicler]

I'm about to restart here soon, hahah.

My favorite edit in the 8th movie's adaptation? The death of *SPOILER* Collin Creevey. "Oh... he dies? We probably should have kept up with him, huh? Let's -- let's just kill Lavander? Everyone hates her anyways!" :rofl:

She practically dies anyways.


For me the battle between best film is always between 8, 3, and 4. The final film usually takes first because it has the best balance of style and pace.

I actually prefer the treatment of the final battle between Harry and Voldemort in the film, it lacks some detail, but it has much more personality. It really portrays Voldemort as this sort of sad, desperate creature (Which to me said more about him then all those flashbacks in book 6), were as the novel took the "love" magic concept too literally. If I was Voldemort I would just shoot Potter the moment he started that long exposition in the novel.

Oh yeah, the fifth movie is really off. The sacrifices it made really scarred the series. The Neville thing doesn't bother me that much, because by the finale he really becomes the 'heart' of the series, centered on that fantastic speech against Voldemort.

—on the note of the 5th film, and 6, the lack of that one Snape detail really took way from his story.

 

[aheying7]

She practically dies anyways.


For me the battle between best film is always between 8, 3, and 4. The final film usually takes first because it has the best balance of style and pace.

I actually prefer the treatment of the final battle between Harry and Voldemort in the film, it lacks some detail, but it has much more personality. It really portrays Voldemort as this sort of sad, desperate creature (Which to me said more about him then all those flashbacks in book 6), were as the novel took the "love" magic concept too literally. If I was Voldemort I would just shoot Potter the moment he started that long exposition in the novel.

Oh yeah, the fifth movie is really off. The sacrifices it made really scarred the series. The Neville thing doesn't bother me that much, because by the finale he really becomes the 'heart' of the series, centered on that fantastic speech against Voldemort.

—on the note of the 5th film, and 6, the lack of that one Snape detail really took way from his story.

Also, I find weird that in the 5th movie they spent way more time on Umbridge issuing new rules and fighting in Dumbledore's Army than what is talked about in the book, but they choose to cut other things.

I think the 5th movie really did the series a disservice.

Also, does anyone know who made the decision for butterbeer to be cold in the parks (obviously a good choice, but I'm surprised JK allowed it). I mean I just now am realizing this as I re-read the books as butterbeer is a warm drink in them.

 

[the last chronicler]

Also, I find weird that in the 5th movie they spent way more time on Umbridge issuing new rules and fighting in Dumbledore's Army than what is talked about in the book, but they choose to cut other things.

I think the 5th movie really did the series a disservice.

Also, does anyone know who made the decision for butterbeer to be cold in the parks (obviously a good choice, but I'm surprised JK allowed it). I mean I just now am realizing this as I re-read the books as butterbeer is a warm drink in them.

I thought it was just a normal cold beer in the books?

Personally I was not the biggest fan of 5, as it took me forever to read at the time (Not that I find that an outright negative quality), but I imagine they wanted to focus on Umbridge because she was such the big 'personality' in the novel. Also, it's the only film with a different screenwriter, so maybe he lacked the knowledge of series regular Steve Kloves. The script turned the search for the prophesy into a nearly pointless plot.

 

[Mr.Auror]

What's funny is I'm exactly the opposite. I can't stand Book 5, but it was my favorite of the films.

I loved the style of the movie. Fantastishh. My qualm was that it lacked the emotional depth of the book, which is the reason it's my favorite. I guess I see OotP as the keystone to the series because of the whole Prophecy deal.

Chronicler: I prefer the book's final Harry/Voldemort duel only because I personally felt the no-nonsense, one-spell go had such a strong impact on how the series ended. That being said, the first half of the film's skirmish between the two was awesome. All of it was, really, but the first half in particular. The whole Part II Battle of Hogwarts was breathtaking. Some shots brought tears to the eyes.

 

[the last chronicler]

I loved the style of the movie. Fantastishh. My qualm was that it lacked the emotional depth of the book, which is the reason it's my favorite. I guess I see OotP as the keystone to the series because of the whole Prophecy deal.

Chronicler: I prefer the book's final Harry/Voldemort duel only because I personally felt the no-nonsense, one-spell go had such a strong impact on how the series ended. That being said, the first half of the film's skirmish between the two was awesome. All of it was, really, but the first half in particular. The whole Part II Battle of Hogwarts was breathtaking. Some shots brought tears to the eyes.

Here are the DH film moments which I really think hit the mark:

That moment when when the Snake is killed by Neville and you can see in Voldemort's eyes that he knows he is going to die. I also personally love how, in the film, the moment Harry reappears the majority of the Death Eaters abandon Voldemort. In the final confrontation between the two, Harry stands in front Hogwarts and the Great Hall--full of the desperate and dying, defending them--while Voldemort fights abandoned.

The moment were Harry and Voldemort seem to be attempting to apparate away from each other while flying, while strange, turned out to be the perfect symbolic battle of two interconnected wills, and gives a final overarching shot of the broken but grand castle.

Voldemorts win speech +. You can see how much of a Psychopath he really is, desperate to give an impression of care, but you can see is power hunger in every shot. When Neville upstages him (That shot his hand clenching), when he hugs Draco, such a disturbing vibe, you can feel the amalgamation of Draco's disgust apon Voldemorts ego, as if he is somehow concurring the boy, he genuinely beliefs he's the hero and an inspiration.