Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Difference between revisions

** The movie adaptation of "''Prisoner of Azkaban"'' never bothered to explain that the Marauders were James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. This makes Lupin's sudden knowledge of exactly what the Marauder's Map does inexplicable. (Besides, it leaves the map itself a silly unexplained plot device out of nowhere instead of something perfectly intertwined in the rest of the story.)

** In ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Goblet of Fire (film)|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'', the only witness who can corroborate Harry's account of {{spoiler|Voldemort returning}} is Barty Crouch Jr. In the book, the malicious/incompetent Minister for Magic {{spoiler|brings a dementor to defend him, which [[Fate Worse Than Death|sucks out Crouch's soul]]}}. Harry is disbelieved for most of ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Order of Thethe Phoenix]]''. In the film, this isn't brought up, leading a savvy viewer to wonder why nobody believes Harry.

** Additional one from "''Goblet of Fire"'' is the fact that Harry gets his winnings from the Triwizard Tournament then gives them to the twins because "people are going to need a laugh soon." This gives them the funding for the (otherwise dirt poor) Weasleys to start the shop once they quit school. With the films they just suddenly manage to make enough in a few short months to have a big shop already established in Diagon Alley.

** There's also the scene from "''The Order of the Phoenix"'' where Harry & co. are rounded up by Draco and his goons in Professor Umbridge's office. In the book, Neville, Luna, and Ginny cause a ruckus as a distraction in the group's thought-out plan to sneak Harry into the office, but in the movie they outright skip the planning scenes and don't even hint at the trio's involvement. Draco simply brings them in, says "we caught 'em", without an explanation as to why they were caught.

** The movies never explain that Sirius willed his house - and by extension Kreacher - to Harry. So there's no explanation in ''The Deathly Hallows - Part 1'', when Kreacher obeys Harry's every command (despite his clear distaste for Ron and Hermione). Of course, if the director of ''Order of the Phoenix'' had cut Kreacher entirely as he originally intended, it would have made the scene even ''more'' incomprehensible to people unfamiliar with the books...

** Strangely inverted at the end of the''The Half-Blood Prince'': Snape reveals - with every bit of dramaticism Alan Rickman can muster - that he is, in fact, the half-blood prince whose annotated potions textbook Harry had been learning from on the side. While this does explain the way he's able to save Draco from a spell that Harry would think nobody would know, the film leaves out the follow-up scene in which Snape asks Harry for his potions textbook, which clues the audience in beforehand that Snape at least knows about the existence of the Half -Blood Prince's book and instead, the audience is left wondering just why he's so damn ''serious'' about such a thing. That's because it's basically mentioned once in the movie; in the book the search for who the "prince" really is acts as the ''main subplot'', getting quite nearly as much time as the main plot itself.

** Also, if recalled correctly, there isn't a lot of explanation to why Dumbledore {{spoiler|knew a horcrux would be lurking in that cave in the ''Half-Blood Prince'' film. Yes, a photo of the very cave is seen in Tom Riddle's childhood thus why Dumbledore would logically suspect its correct hiding place, but it's easy to miss and the "field trip" is not touched upon.}}