When I was ten, I read the first Harry Potter book and finished the next five in a week. I have been hooked on those characters and their world ever since and have re-read those original books so many times that four of their covers have fallen off. I didn’t even do anything crazy or manhandle them; it’s purely from how many times they were opened. Then the final book came out, and I ate it up with the same voracity. During that time, I watched the movies again, multiple times, and the more I watched, the more I noticed. Some of my favorite parts and pieces of the Harry Potter World had been left out of the movies! I’ve been a bit mad about that for years, but with time I had to accept that some of these plot points were genuinely obscure, and putting them all into the movie would lengthen these already long movies by hours. (I would have no issue with a longer movie, but I doubt parents would have enjoyed sitting in the movie theater for four hours with their little kid to watch a movie about wizards.)
One plot point I had wished to see in theaters involved Hermione’s attempts to free the house elves. Not only did this piece of the story run throughout multiple books, but It also showcased a part of Hermione’s character that I related to; her care for others. She was a bit bossy and never failed to remind her friends about all the ways they could (and should, in her opinion) be working harder in school, but it was always out of a sense of caring and because she wanted her friends to be their best selves. Hermione showcased her tenacity, stubbornness, intelligence, and kindness with the house elves as she grew up, and I missed seeing that on screen.
I am also rightfully mad about the portrayal of two other characters, both Weasleys. In the movies, Percy is hinted at being on the side of the ministry, but to be quite honest, he was a downright jerk in the books. He was bossy in a way that wasn’t endearing (not like Hermione at all), frequently made fun of Ron, and turned his back on his family and Harry when Harry first saw Voldemort return. Eventually, he was able to get back to his family and help them just in time for his brother to die in the Battle Of Hogwarts. This wasn’t just a plot point; it was such thoughtful character development, both attention-grabbing and bittersweet. Unfortunately, the Weasley sister, Ginny, also got the short end of the stick in terms of character development. She was a bit wimpy as a child and then joined quidditch and changed, but there was so much more in the books. Additionally, that kiss scene with Ginny and Harry was just plain sad. In the book, Ginny becomes a powerful woman who holds her own and is vital to the story’s end, but in the movie, Ginny is never allowed to show all of that character.
Then there is Peeves. I’ll never forgive the directors for leaving him out. The other plot points would have taken large parts of the movie to show, and I have recognized that it is impossible. But Peeves would have been so simple! He was a ghost and considering that ghosts are in most of the movies, it should have been incredibly easy to bring his character into the fold. They originally hired an actor to play Peeves and started filming him but ended up cutting out all of the scenes. This was a ridiculous move! Peeves was the major comedic relief of the series, and considering how dark it got at the end, a necessary one. His antics would have been the cherry on top for the film adaptations of my favorite childhood novels.
I’m currently taking a class on Movie adaptations, and learning what goes into it has been eye-opening. But there is still that part of me from my childhood that will always want to see those books on screen the way I pictured them back then.