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Reader Comments: (Page 2)

I also noticed immediately that the Patil twins were together in the Gryffindor Common Room when Harry asked Parvati to the Yule Ball; while in the book I believe Parvati was with Lavender in the Common Room when Harry asked her out, and then asked if she knew of someone for Ron to go with. (This is purely from memory... it has been a while since I read the book...)

It definitely jarred me, loudly ringing out as an inaccuracy, as it was just wrong and didn't need be; although, I understand that in the movies, they don't want to bring in a lot of characters that they don't use other places and I thought that they may have wanted to leverage having Padma in the movie as well.

Even so, I still don't think they had to have her in the Common Room, as it was so out of the ordinary, in terms of precedent in any of the books.

I must admit that I didn't necessarily think that they were making Padma a Gryffindor; although, that was what was really bothering me throughout the movie, especially when we saw her a few other times with her sister, e.g., at the Gryffindor Table in the Great Hall, but once again, students did visit each other at other House tables.

I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, hoping that they were simply altering the people involved in the scene, as well as allowing the sisters to spend time together in each other's Common Rooms, despite the fact that there is no precedent for this in canon.

I was also thinking about incidents in other movies... I know that I have noticed a few incidents; although, POA was the worst, more in terms of omitting important information, than completely distorting it.

I also noticed immediately the discrepancy in the Philosopher’s Stone, in which they have Ron serving detention with Harry, Hermione, and Malfoy in the Forbidden Forest, instead of Neville. Neville was actually the fourth serving detention due to being caught wandering the castle at night with Harry and Hermione, who had just brought Norbert to Charlie Weasley and came across Neville sleeping outside the Common Room door, having forgotten the password. Ron was in the infirmary, I believe, after being bitten by Norbert.

The above mentioned scenario, in which Harry and Hermione sneaking Norbert up the Tower – under the invisibility cloak – to Charlie Weasley, who was to bring him to the dragon colony he works, getting Hagrid off of the hook. In the movie, Hagrid is sniffling when the students arrive for detention and Filch tells him to get over it, which Hagrid says he is still missing Norbert after Dumbledore sent him to the dragon colony, etc., is the other major variation that I noticed in the movie, based on the Philosopher’s Stone.

By the way, I am quite enjoying your site, which I just happened upon tonight.

Thanks!

Posted by Anita Richard from Calgary, Alberta on September 13, 2006 11:36 PM

There actually WAS an error that was in the movies besides Padma being in the commonroom; also in the Goblet of Fire.
Hermione wears a pink dress to the Yule Ball, although it's revealed in one of the books that she despises pink.

Posted by Josh Sumara from Coventry Connecticut on September 14, 2006 06:49 AM

Padma is wearing Gryffindor colors when in uniform in the GoF movie. In the GoF book, Padma is a Ravenclaw. The change of house is a departure from the book, although not a hugely significant difference in the long run. One could argue that it helps with the flow of the movie to have them in the same house. However, I find the change distracting and mildly annoying. I've kept up with these characters! I know what houses they are in.

I suppose if it doesn't bother JKR, I need to get over it.;-)

Posted by Dawn from Little Rock, Arkansas on September 14, 2006 09:34 AM

Quite frankly, the question of which house Padma was in never bothered me and really I think it's kind of trivial. That said, I would like to make a picky point about the fact that Padma and Parvati are clearly not identical. Would it have been so difficult to hire a pair of identical twins to play identical twins? They managed it quite well with the Weasley Twins and those were much larger and presumably more difficult to cast.

Posted by DeliaDee from Philadelphia on September 14, 2006 3:34 PM

I wondered about this issue too, Dave, and assumed that her sister had let Padma into the common room. She doesn't need to know the password, just hook up with her sister outisde the tower so they can, for instance, go hang out in her dorm room and talk about boys or whatever. (Would she overhear the password? Well, maybe, but you'd think people from other houses often do, so perhaps the fat lady really does distinguish between gryff's and non-gryff's...) But when I watched film 4 a couple nights ago, I was pulled out of the movie when I saw the sisters walk by the table together in the great hall earlier in the movie - what color was that tie? I had to rewind and freeze-frame through it to check, it was so quick, but definately neither one was wearing blue and silver... (Nice catch, Dawn, I see you noticed that too). So, the first time through it probably didn't pull me out of the movie, I was just enjoying the experience, but the second time, the common-room scene did pull me out (but by then I was having fun nit-picking and relating things to the book anyway), and this last time (the 3rd or 4th) the matching uniforms did literally stop the flow of the story line for me. But that's OK, I see myself as a picky person and I rather like spotting these things, it makes me feel smart, so as long as they stick to apparently trivial things like this I don't get upset at the changes.

Posted by MissJubilee on September 14, 2006 9:01 PM

In the 2nd book, Harry and Ron use the potion to change there "appearance" to enter the Slytherin common room to question Drao about the chamber of secrets but if there was a something magical to stop anyone from entering, it would not be enough just to appear different. they should not have gotten either but they did. This means its possible.

Posted by Rebel from Green Bay Wis on September 15, 2006 01:50 AM

The thing about Padma Patil being in the Gryffindor common room is not an issue. Her sister is a Gryffindor and had the password so she could get in with her sister no matter what house she was in. in the 3rd book Sirius Black got in with Neville's password list. It didn’t matter that he was not a Gryffindor because he had the password. So really it is not an issue.

Posted by Jessica on September 17, 2006 4:42 PM

It's an issue if you're not expecting it. Besides Sirius, when has this ever happened in any of the books?

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on September 17, 2006 4:44 PM

I'm really enjoying all the comments, and I'd like to add one.
Or maybe two, Hermione's dress was blue in the book and pink in the movie, also Harry's dragon he had to face was Black with yellow eyes, and Fleur's hair was alomat white and real long and she kept fliping it over her shoulder and I could go on and on. The movies are okay, but the books are the very best and I can't understand why the movie director thinks he can tell a better story than J.K. can.

Posted by Anonymous on September 18, 2006 8:00 PM

Hi, really like the site...I realised the thing about both the girls being in the common room together in the movie and I have to say that I am a little sceptical when it comes to movies made from books because directors usually feel that they can completely change the storylines but god, the hp films are the worst! I think though, as someone put it that they just wanted both of them in that scene so that it would make an impact rather than anything else. And why they couldn't at least get sisters is just beyond me - they don't have to be identical but the ones in the movies don't even look like sisters! Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember vagely that the Patils' parents came to take them from Hogwarts, I think after dumbledore d? I'm not sure I can't seem to remember so maybe they won't be back for the 7th book?

Posted by Jui from London on September 19, 2006 3:31 PM

I know changes/omissions have to be made for the sake of time. But there were other changes/omissions as well. Does Harry's dragon leave the arena in the book? It makes a more suspenseful scene for the movie, doesn't it. Important omissions have been evident in every movie. There have been omissions in previous movies that should never have been left out that were crucial to the story.

Posted by Stephanie on September 19, 2006 5:55 PM

While I definitely found the fact that a Ravenclaw was in the Gryfffindor common room jarring, the most jarring part was the fact that the Patil twins are not identical in the GoF movie. Yes, they ARE supposed to be identical in the books. To quote Hermione from GoF: "Parvati Patil’s twin’s in Ravenclaw, and they’re identical."
I don't think it would be possible for a Ravenclaw to enter the Gryffindor common room, even if she knew the password or if someone else let her in. The Fat Lady seems to know all the Gryffindor students by sight, and she would definitely not allow a student from another house to enter. The only time a non-student (who was an ex-Gryffindor, though) entered - i.e. Sirius in PoA - is when Sir Cadogan was on guard duty. And he was certainly a terrible guard, in more ways than one.

Posted by Mitali Mehta on September 20, 2006 01:45 AM

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