The scene was okay for the first time, but now watching is so rushed and everything, I hate it! Couldn't we get 3 more seconds for Tonks to finish her sentence, then Moody could have said his lines! Grr!
It's been a while, but I have a lot to comment on to make up for it. Hopefully more people decide to engage in the discussion than in the past. Those who do all contribute greatly, so I encourage you to keep up the good work. I vaguely recalled the name of the book chapter and figured it would be better to use than any title I could come up with. So we start off with a decent establishing shot of the Burrow, although I think the sky is overly blue, unflattering even. Harry and Hagrid approaching Molly and Ginny is decent, but it feels so...I dunno, lifeless. In some respect, it seems realistic that Molly would try to keep her emotions in check, but dramatically speaking I think it would have been more effective if she had seemed more nervous rather than just concerned. Emphasize that by having her speak faster and rushing to hug Harry, as opposed to just standing there and pausing between "Harry, Hagrid...." and "where are the others?" Her last comment, "well, thank goodness you two are alright" doesn't sound entirely genuine to me, but that may just be me. That's not necessarily a bad thing however. It's certainly understandable from her point of view. Clearly she really is glad that they are safe, but at that very moment it's hard to express happiness because she's too worried about her own family.
Our first Harry and Ginny moment is simply put unmemorable. There's no attempt to re-establish their relationship for the audience at the get-go. Instead, the lack of a passionate hug (or a kiss) just makes you think of Ginny as an exposition friend. A useless one in that aspect because the other characters appear as soon as she announces that they should have been back. Furthermore, since everybody went together, it makes you wonder why she simply doesn't state that "everybody should be back now" as opposed to addressing a few names. Personally, I would have liked a little bit of suspense here by showing some POV shots of the field with some ominious wind hustling and eventually seeing a couple of characters approaching them from distance.
The interesting thing is that most of them apparate to the place. This made me think at first that they did in fact head for different places, only that it was not announced to the audience. However, I find it more likely that they decided to disapparate away when Harry was out of sight and they were of no use for his protection anymore in order to save their own skin from the Death Eaters. Anyway, I like the quick pan from Harry and Ginny to Lupin and George for making you feel as if you are in their shoes, as well as the surprising amount of gore that Heyman allowed Yates to show.
If the scene had been a little lacking in energy so far, it makes up for it when Lupin unexpectedly grabs Harry up against a wall. The nice triangle composition of the shot is suitable because it captures both Lupin's rage of being betrayed (could be misinterpreted as directed towards Harry, but I'll get back to that!), Harry's reaction as well as Ginny's shocked puzzlement. That being said, the moment doesn't exactly shock you because we haven't seen much of the fun, caring coach-like side of Lupin since POA (with the exception of him trying to hold back Harry after the death of Sirius); instead it seemed almost consistent with the serious, slightly troubled and down-to-business Order member Yates has always showed him as. That is not to say that he doesn't care about Harry, but I'll bring up a couple of examples that show otherwise when I'm finished complaining about Harry mentioning the grindylow. It's another unfortunate example of Kloves sticking to book details to please fans when he in my opinion should have mentioned the boggart instead because that was the first classroom scene we saw in the film. More importantly, audiences love spotting such connections between films in the same series. You could argue that one simply must assume that the grindylow moment happened off-screen, but for me it's lazy scriptwriting which merely contributes to making the film series too reliant upon the source material as opposed to making completely sense on its own.
Moving on, I like Lupin's bit of exposition there which was necessary to drive home the point that they were betrayed, and what's worst, possibily by one of their own. Dan is great in this scene, I like his respectful and understanding nod to Lupin in particular, who in the next moment shields Harry from Kingsley. I got the impression that it was not just because he was business-oriented in protecting Harry, but also because he genuinely cares about him. If that is lost on the viewer here, it was further emphasized at the wedding when he sends Harry away with Ron and Hermione.
Once again I have to mention how clever the dialogue is in this scene. "The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us" followed with "Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him" is both a logical way to recognize each other that effectively advances the plot and it also singles out Harry as the Chosen One to bring down Voldemort. It's even relevant for the theme of faith. While not dominant enough in the film as a whole IMHO, it does shine through subtly at certain points.
Nice adaptation choice in having Hedwig give Harry away as opposed to a DE recognizing his trademark spell (i.e. expelliarmus) which was just an unecessarily contrived explanation in the book. I love, love Alexandre Desplat's music here as the thestral (of which I'm glad to see again despite the overly dark lighting) arrives. Cute moments between Hermione/Ron and Tonks/Lupin. Thanks to a certain picture in the thread "Funny HP pics" of which I'm too lazy to link to (would be appreciated if anyone did in case anyone hasn't seen it), Harry embracing his friends is forever immortalized in my head as him ruining the fun. I like the change of mood in the music reflecting Arthur's smile being replaced by concern in a good dynamic shot of him walking closer to the camera and placing himself in the golden ratio of it. It's a shot with great depth; one character in the front, two in the middle and three in the background. The picture wouldn't show up, but here is the link to it: http://www.homeofthenutty.com/harrypotter/screencaps/displayimage.php?album=29&pid=158759#top_display_media
The joke inside the house was neither the best nor the worst I've heard, but Fred's honest response saved it at the very least. I'm surprised that mrs. Weasley actually liked the joke, but I guess she was just happy to see him alive. The reveal that Mad-Eye is dead fell a little flat because it was just spurted out so randomly, but the pause between the lines was just perfectly timed. The little we got of sad/shocked reactions gave it a little impact, most notably the one of Lupin. Not enough of course, but a little. However, considering that Yates shot the beginning of the escape scene from Moody's perspective, I'd expected a better send-off for him. An idea Braveheart suggested, which I expanded upon, was to show him getting blasted off his broom.
The cut to Ron in his bed really served no purpose when the entire focus of the scene is on Harry's nightmares. I mean, why do we need to be shown that he's there as well? That's assumed. Don't convince me that it's some subconscious way to connect Ron to the Harry/Voldemort connection in the viewers' mind. Still, it's not totally wasted in my mind because the camera tilt interestingly made it resemble the very short nightmare scene at Grimmauld's place in OotP and I just love such connections, however useless they might be. As for the nightmare itself, I found it stylistically shot in re-introducing the horcruxes. I find it clever how the editing ties Harry's mission to Dumbledore's insurance to Harry in trusting him with the inclusion of him saying "trust me" in a voice-over from the tower scene in HBP. As said earlier, this is what DH 1 should have emphasized far more throughout the film as a way to connect all the events with Harry's personal development.
The last scene of the chapter, Harry's attempt to flee, is a real goodie in terms of adaptation for tranferring his guilt of everybody around him sacrificing themselves for him into dialogue, which goes to show that a too literal adaptation would probably just suck out certain characteristics and themes in the book. I mention themes here as well because Ron points out to Harry that Mad-Eye didn't die for him, but for the common good, which the book was about in some aspects. Easily one of the best adapted scenes - and dare I say most underrated ones even if I normally don't use that term - of the film.
Overall, it started out a little bland, but it improved considerably. Despite one unfortunate misstep sort of representing an adaptation fault of the entire series, it was otherwise adapted very well. Coupled with solid acting, well-balanced shots and sharp dialogue it made for a good scene.
Just quoting this to point out that I would have gotten rid of Hagrid there. He ruins the triangle composition of the shot and it kinda looks like he grows out of Harry's head.
I actually really like this chapter, and At the Burrow is one of my favorite tracks on the score. While the tension of waiting for everyone to return wasn't really there, the scene did a great job with sort of establishing relationships and building a foundation that the rest of the film didn't really build on. I really liked Lupin in this scene, though it was pretty nonsensical to include the gryndlow line, but what else is new with Kloves.
The moment between Tonks and Lupin is great and is more than we ever see from Bill and Fleur who serve no purpose. R/Hr and the trio hug was wonderful too. I agree that Harrh trying to leave is a great example of adaption. In fact, it's probably the most character development we see from Harry in the entire film.
Fred and Georges' little scene was good and a little heartwarming.
Still, it's not totally wasted in my mind because the camera tilt interestingly made it resemble the very short nightmare scene at Grimmauld's place in OotP and I just love such connections, however useless they might be.
Just quoting this to point out that I would have gotten rid of Hagrid there. He ruins the triangle composition of the shot and it kinda looks like he grows out of Harry's head.
Although it must be noted that you could draw another triangle from Harry to Hagrid to Lupin and to Harry again. However, Hagrid still looks completely out of place.
I really liked this scene, it was perfectly adapted. I was glad they didnt put Mrs Weasley wailing like in the book. Her angst is shown perfectly. And the one thing I didnt realize was Arthur's sad expression, after viewing it so many times, i never noticed the moment him and Molly actually shared while he walked in.
Fred's reaction to George loosing his ear was on point for me. They are so underated in this series but this scene really shows how much they care for each other and even in the face of danger, they can still laugh.
I use to think that they should have revealed that Snape blew his ear off in the movie, so it could've been shown in the Prince's Tale but I had to rethink that and came to the conclusion that it wasnt that important to the main point of his story.
The Harry and Ron scene was well written by Kloves. It showed Harry's desperation to start finding the horcruxes and how much this mission meant to him.
LoyalWeasley18 - POTTERMORE EARLY MEMBER -CRIMSONICE199-
I pretty much agree with most of what people are saying, with a few exceptions.
For the most part this scene was really well adapted. Not revealing Snape as the attacker and not having the Order all come in from different safehouses helped keep the narrative from getting too clogged with unnecessary details. The grindylow thing doesn't annoy me because it's so small, and you don't need to know what a grindylow is to understand that Harry answered correctly. I suppose they could have asked what form is Patronus takes, as that would have been helpful later, as many people seemed to think the doe was Harry's patronus, but no big deal. And I still remain shocked by the amount of blood Yates got away with in this scene. I'd have expected Heyman to veto this and make it a more undetailed magical blast to his ear, but it looks really realistic. I used to think Part 2 was the bloodiest Potter movie, but in reflection I'd say Part 1 wins that. The gore is certainly MUCH more detailed and raw in Part 1 than Part 2, and it works really well.
I do however have a couple of major issues with this chapter - well, their effects aren't felt here, but this is where they are first certain big elements are first ignored, to the detriment of the narrative later in the movie.
Firstly, Harry's wand saving him should have been addressed. Voldemort's search for a wand to trump Harry's is essentially the containable plot arc of this movie, so they should not be downplaying it as much as they did. The film is just confused on the point of what the hell happened to Lucius's wand and it needed some clarity. The fact that Harry shows no surprise at this makes absolutely no sense, and it wrongfoots you. Why Harry's wand acted the way it did is never explained, and that's just lazy, they never even bother to acknowledge that something out of the ordinary happened with Harry's wand. So basically that means the wand plot is a mess right from the start. I know Harry discussed this with Ron and Hermione in the script, and it should never have been cut. It's so important to understanding what it going on with the wand plot, and not bothering the address it does nothing but prevent these adaptations from being truly great movies.
Secondly, the way they handled Ollivander's torture. If they had included Ollivander's torture properly, the absence of a conversation about Harry's wand acting the way it did might not be so glaring, but to almost entirely ignore both of these plot points makes the movie sloppy and confusing. This scene was also in the script, with Voldemort interrogating Ollivander in full. I suspect someone probably thought a torture scene was too intense, but it there was necessary exposition in there. I know they showed a one second glimpse of it and you can faintly hear Voldemort say "You lied to me, Ollivander" but that is nowhere near enough to be able to follow what's going on with the wand plot. I generally don't like how incoherent and nearly impossible to follow Harry's visions are in this movie. Someone obviously got carried away with it and tried to overload them with random images and sounds, and it doesn't really work beyond being flashy.
I'm so glad they finally had a scene with just Ron and Harry though, and one where Ron is actually written well. Part 1 is probably the best writing Kloves did for Ron. I think this is the first time the wedding is mentioned; it's just kind of awkwardly thrown into the mix of the conversation, but I'm glad they at least set that up and didn't just throw us into a wedding scene.
I agree that Harry's wand acting on its own should have been addressed, but I don't see where such a conversation between Harry, Ron and Hermione would have fit in naturally in this sequence. Do you by any chance remember how Kloves wrote it in the original script? I suppose Yates did shoot the scene and decided in post-production to cut it for pacing reasons, but ideally he should have realized this before shooting began and re-written that part, for instance by having Hagrid ask Harry what the hell happened when they arrive at the Burrow, to which Harry answers that he has no idea; the wand acted on its own. I'm unsure about how much Hagrid saw of the confrontation with Voldemort, if anything at all considering he was stunned in the tunnel, but regardless I feel that this would be a natural point in the story to address the issue when it's still fresh in audiences' minds. Furthermore, another idea I suggested in the previous chapter was to have Ollivander explain to Voldemort while being tortured that Harry's wand probably recognized Harry's number 1 threat in the world and acted on its own to protect its master from harm or whatever deus ex machina explanation JKR threw up. My point is that any explanation, no matter how convoluted, would be better than simply glossing over it, which is just lazy as you said.
That said, it's much easier for us to see these things in retrospect and in the context of the entire series than it was for Yates and co while they were in the hectic shooting process of this big-budget production, not having the luxury to step back, take a break and reflect on the bigger picture. That is not to say that I give these minor shortcomings a pass, just that I understand why they occurred; Kloves I'm sure included pretty much everything essential to the plot, but sometimes he bogs down certain scenes with too many details which is detrimental to the the rhythm and pacing of said scenes. This is particularly evident in the cut scenes from the DH 1 script. Consequently, this more or less forced Yates to omit certain plot points in post-production at a time where he either didn't have the time or the resources to re-shoot anything.
The primary function of this chapter, as well as the next one, is to introduce us to a lot of crucial plot devices and side stories. The previous scene ended with Ron reminding us shortly what a horcrux is and randomly saying that in order to kill the other horcruxes they have to find them. That's pretty obvious, isn't it Ron? Worst line in the film for me. Once again the screen fades to black, as it does quite a lot in this film, but so far the fade-outs have been appropriate. The next scene (the one we are at now) begins with a nice little shot inside the house of a Bill and Fleur banner, although in my ideal film their names would have been replaced with Tonks and Lupin. That being said, as abruptedly as their wedding is set up in the film, a small thing like Ron mentioning the wedding as a side note strengthens the impression of life unfolding realistically in the universe as opposed to making the viewers pay attention to the fact that an author is deciding the course of the story. Ron's mentioned lines about the horcruxes on the other hand stuck out like a sore thumb because it was constructed merely to inform an audience about something rather than find a way to convey the same information through a credible conversation between the characters.
As we move on, we get close-up of a newspaper headline: "Dumbledore's dark secrets revealed." To be a little nitpicky I would have put together this scene a bit differently. I would have started it with a fade-in on the picture of Dumbledore closing the door as a direct parallel to Ron and Harry closing the door in the previous scene. Why? Just as a subtle way to link their mission to the person sending them out on the mission or even to Dumbledore's "dark secrets". As we know, Dumbledore did have an agenda all the time: To sacrifice Harry for the greater good. Then progress with showing the headline and Ginny interrupting him and let the scene continue the same way as in the film, although I would have shown the Bill and Fleur banner in the same shot as Harry zipping up Ginny. Let me clarify that this is more a suggestion of how it could be done rather than criticism.
Harry and Ginny shares an alright moment which also emphasizes how people in times of war arrange weddings and parties in an attempt to forget about the dreadful conditions around them and have fun together if only for a moment. So far the best Ginny/Harry moment for me. It's certainly better than the cliched fairytale kiss in the RoR in HBP. I could have given it a pass if Yates had broken up the melodramatic tone with some self-irony, for instance like seeing the harp play the music accompanying the scene, but he handled it all to seriously given the little time devoted to developing it properly. I mean, who actually bought that Harry's sadness of seeing Dean kissing Ginny apparently was equal to Hermione's pain? Not to mention that he fell instantly for her the same evening as he checked up a random waitress. I'm not saying it can't happen, just that for a film it goes to undermine his supposed "ZOMG I can't live without her" mentality he hints about to Hermione. Anyway, Yates seems to have realized how messy their relationship was handled in the sixth film and sort of pokes fun at it here (yes, I'm reading too much into it, but I want it to be the reason) with the inclusion of George sneaking in while brushing his teeth. It's hilarious and suitably awkward as opposed to the HBP romance.
After an unneeded moment of the Weasley family and Hagrid cooperating to set up the wedding tent, a character apparates to the place in an establishing shot in typical Yates style by starting the camera high up and craning it down to reveal the person (or sometimes vice versa). In HBP for instance he chose not to show Harry apparating to the corn field, but only signified it through sound effects, which he continues doing throughout this film. Be it due to financial or creative reasons, I like that it's just signified at times for not repeating the same special effects too much and in turn not making the effect seem repetitive. The following close-up of the minister from behind emphasizes his authority; it's shot from ground level, making him appear important, big and superior to the environment. Notice the symmetry of the shot with the corn fields on both sides of the shot sort of representing people looking up to the minister who determinedly walks along the carved path in the middle, which could be interpreted as a visual symbol of his powerful position in the wizarding world, being allowed to create his own path which people are following so to speak.
I didn't quite buy Harry's polite greeting given his past experiences with the ministry, but that whole transitional scene might just as well have been cut. I'm nitpicky, but I would also have taken out the awkward silence at the beginning of the will scene. Instead just start by showing a close-up of the testament. As it is, George asks what the minister is doing there, Harry asks the minister to what they owe the pleasure and once again asks him what the parchment is about. In other words, it was a bit repetitive to include three similar questions in a row when George's was more than enough to get to the point. Other than the need of a little trimming, a bigger problem with the scene is that while it gets us from A to B, it does so in a functionally slow way that doesn't feel particularly engaging. Hermione gets her book, Ron gets a deluminator and Harry a snitch, but Grint is the only one who shows some actual enthusiasm over the gift. However, they all seem a bit curious about the snitch and it's built up in a way that you expect something extraordinary to happen when he touches it. The anticlimax of that was handled fairly well, as was the conversation about the sword.
Still, the scene is a bit lacking because there's no relation and in turn no tension between the minister and the trio unlike in the book where he had a history. They try to build up some sort of...not exactly animosity as in the book, but at least a conflict of interest between Harry and the ministry at the end with the minister commenting that Harry can't fight this war on his own and indirectly implying that he should trust the ministry. However, it falls completely flat because it is not developed further, Harry does not consider it at all in the film and even the editing could have been more effective. Rather than show Harry as we hear the minister off-screen and cut to a stern face of Scrimgeour, I would instead have shown Scrimgeour as he advices Harry to seek help and then cut to a close-up of Harry to emphasize that he is pondering over this. Yes, pondering. If it were to be handled as half-hearted as this, they might as well have had Minerva McGonagall delivering the gifts. Mainly because she's not in DH 1 and I miss her, but also to set up her role in the next film. It could have provided a great contrast for one thing if she first wants to know what mission Dumbledore gave him and is sceptical about sending Harry out on his own and thus offers him help similarly to Lupin in the book, whereas in DH 2 she understands that Harry knows exactly what he is doing and gives him time to do what must be done.
All in all an unmemorable scene that establishes some magical objects in a functional, but boring way.
Things of note:
- Hagrid gets to perform magic with his umbrella again. - The light from the deluminator is reflected in Harry's glasses. - The music track in HBP titled "When Ginny kissed Harry" sounds similar to Desplat's track "Harry and Ginny":
PS! It would be appreciated if someone once again updated the title of the thread to the current chapter.
Looking at this scene, they should probably just have kept Fudge as Minister all the way through the series, especially after they never introduced Scrimgeour in HBP. It was simply too much to cram introducing Scrimgeour and trying to establish some kind of tension between him and Harry - their seeming familiarity at the start of the scene suggests they have a history but none of it really engages. It doesn't help that there is effectively no acknowledgement that this is a new Minister for Magic (a tiny sub-heading tucked in the left hand corner for a few frames at the beginning of the last movie doesn't count). People probably just assumed the other actor died so they replaced him.
There's something weird going on with the camera in this scene too. It seems like Yates is going out of his way to avoid showing Scrimgeour's face, particularly when he speaks. Maybe there was some dubbing going on, just as there was in HBP when Leanne said the necklace was for Dumbledore? His parting words about not fighting this war on their own seem to come quite out of nowhere, so I'm guessing there was some stuff cut here. It also seems weird that Scrimgeour turned up to the house unguarded. It doesn't really give us the sense that there is a great amount of threat in the wizarding world. I know there was a cut line explaining that he thinks he doesn't need them anymore, but he could have had a couple of dodgy looking guards with him to set up that things weren't too safe for him.
Having the sword be missing was a neat and simple way to avoid the convoluted dispute and subplot in the book. It saves some time later on speculating where the sword is and gives an easy excuse for why Harry doesn't get it without getting into the whole argument too much. It would have been nice for Harry to call the Ministry out on their methods though. They never really explored the idea that the Ministry was grossly incompetent or doing wrong in their fight against Voldemort, not beyond OOTP anyway. That's why Fudge should have remained; we already have a pre-existing tension between him and Harry over the Voldemort situation, and the announcement of his death would have more impact, because a long-serving recurring character would have been suddenly killed, instead of one who just turned up two scenes ago.
The Dumbledore headline was a nice concise way of introducing Dumbledore's shadowy past, and the footage of him shutting the doors was actually cut footage from OOTP I believe, so nice touch. I also like that we see the Weasleys setting up the wedding tent; it eases us into the idea of the wedding, which was already thrust upon the audience too suddenly. Throwing us into the next scene without establishing the tent would probably have been way too jarring, like Hagrid's introduction in Part 2 jarring.
I forgot to mention that I found it odd how Scrimgeour knew about Harry's whereabouts considering the main purpose of using thestrals, brooms etc instead of apparition or a portkey was to hide him from the corrupted ministry. It makes even less sense than Snape's motivation in the Malfoy Manor scene. Was that explained in the book?
I forgot to mention that I found it odd how Scrimgeour knew about Harry's whereabouts considering the main purpose of using thestrals, brooms etc instead of apparition or a portkey was to hide him from the corrupted ministry. It makes even less sense than Snape's motivation in the Malfoy Manor scene. Was that explained in the book?
In the book they weren't bothered about the Ministry knowing Harry was there; in fact, Snape mentions how they provided enchantments to protect the Burrow. They just avoided those means of transport controlled and regulated by the Ministry because they were worried that would be an easy way for infiltrators to capture Harry while travelling.
It would have been nice if had there been some indication of Harry's protected status, but I think it was okay not to have it. That kinda stuff becomes a problem for me later in the film and I'll talk about it when we get to it.
I guess it was an okay scene. I say okay meaning that I don't really have any particular feelings about it. I wish Scrimgeour had been in HBP, though being replaced by Fudge is a good idea. The H/G scene was passable but didn't do anything to fix HBP's mistakes, though I don't really fault it for that.
I'll stand by what I've always... stood by, and that's that Part 1 gets phenomenal when they go to the Ministry up until them being caught by the snatchers. Everything before is just very very good (except the intro which is fantastic) and everything after is just good (except Dobby's death which is fantastic) but the real strengths of Part 1 lies in the moments that a lot of people seem to find boring. I find it compelling with amazing filmmaking.
Which is why I think the middle section stuff is the best because it does feel like a cohesive whole. I think the opening and some of the ending stuff is slightly rushed but I'm too busy being thankful that it wasn't a lot more rushed or shorter than it was, because without the split it would have been a nightmare.
It does seem a little bit like a string of fantastic setpieces and sequences with a few small scenes in between, with nothing really driving them together. Part 2, on the other hand, has a very fast pace and it makes it all flow a bit more.
I still really love Part 1 though, it's definitely underrated and it is at the top of the list for me.
I will stand by what I said before: "Hogwarts should have been in Part 1". To me everything dealing with Neville and everyone at Hogwarts in Part 2 seems out of place. I would have loved to see some first years get tortured, Neville, Ginny and Luna get caught trying to steal the Sword, and the Carrows classroom scene where they could've wrote where the students were learning the Dark Arts and show some character development with Neville, and the Carrows taunting the students why harry wasnt there, and the DA retreating to the ROR and so on.. There are many possibilities.
LoyalWeasley18 - POTTERMORE EARLY MEMBER -CRIMSONICE199-
I also think it was best, they needed to focus on Harry's journey and showing Hogwarts was only going to make the "change" of pace way less significant. It's Harry out of Hogwarts, on the run. The shock of this new setting wouldn't be that great if they showed the castle.
Which is why I think the middle section stuff is the best because it does feel like a cohesive whole. I think the opening and some of the ending stuff is slightly rushed but I'm too busy being thankful that it wasn't a lot more rushed or shorter than it was, because without the split it would have been a nightmare.
Personally I thought the section from Ron leaving to the destruction of the locket was the best. The dance, the Godric's Hollow sequence, the forest of dean scene and the silver doe and horcrux destruction scenes were all pretty excellent and included many beautiful scenic shots. Sadly the film ended on a damp squib, and the first part of the camping was pretty bland and predictable and did not flow too well.
@richard Thank you rich. Because again I watched DH 1 and 2 again and I still agree Neville and the DA and the others should have been in Part , help set up the characters for Part 2. Kloves was so "Trio centric" he forgot that the Trio wasn't the only characters in the story, and that those supporting characters were gonna need their screen time when it was needed and in Part 1 I saw many opportunities for Hogwarts to be added into the story.
I know everyone keeps saying that "Hogwarts would have interrupted the journey with the Trio" but coming from a filmmakers standpoint, it wouldnt have. Part 2 has so many questions that needed to be answered so the audience could understand, like how did the DA get into the room of requirement, Why Neville was looking like he was a in a battle, Fred's death, even the Carrows. My friend asked me "Were the Carrows in the film?" and I said "Yes, they were the man and woman standing behind Snape in the Great Hall in Part 2" and she was like "OHHHH, i totally didnt notice them, I wish we saw more from them"
I also think it was best, they needed to focus on Harry's journey and showing Hogwarts was only going to make the "change" of pace way less significant. It's Harry out of Hogwarts, on the run. The shock of this new setting wouldn't be that great if they showed the castle.
Yeah, but don't forget that Harry not at Hogwarts is a new setting too, for the past six films previous to DH 1 we were used to Harry and the others always there to save the day at Hogwarts, Kloves could've explored that setting but again he was so "Trio centric". And everyone has to admit that Part 1 did have some slow moments.
LoyalWeasley18 - POTTERMORE EARLY MEMBER -CRIMSONICE199-
You are free to take over the reins of the thread if you want. Otherwise I'm afraid there will be even less forward momentum than in the film.
lol I'll start Chapter 7 in a few hours
I don't necessarily think the film needed Hogwarts but I do think it needed something else to help drive it. I think it wasn't the amount of camping scenes that was the problem just that there was no break from them while they were going on. A number of things could've served as a break from the camping scenes: Hogwarts, a DE attack on the trio, or showing more about how the DEs are wreaking havoc on the outside world.
Well I'm gonna try this lol. If no one responds... Well it was worth a try.
Chapter 7: The Wedding
I like the little set of shots that go around to show what everyone was up to at the wedding. Hagrid and Madame Maxime was a nice nod to GoF and the fans who would remember. Ron's look at Hermione is great. I don't think Krum was really needed, though I think a nice idea would just be showing Ron asking Hermione to dance, sort of contrasting with him not asking her in GoF.
The introduction of Xenophilius Lovegood is done well enough. We get that he has the DH symbol, loves his daughter, supports Harry, and is also eccentric in just a little scene.
I wish they hadn't cut Lupin and Tonks making Harry the godfather here. I wish even more they had cut Bill and Fleur and made it R/T's wedding, but I've said that way too many times lol.
The conversation with Muriel and Doge (sp?) is actually well done, I thought. It's not bogged down with tons of details and gets across stuff that is relevant later on. Bagshot, Aberforth, and Godrics Hollow were all established effectively. Harry's doubt over Dumbledore is also established well, but unfortunately this never goes anywhere in the film.
The chapter technically cuts off right when the Patronus flies in, so I'll stop here.
Though it was badly built up to (Bill, Fleur, and a wedding were completely thrown in) and one of the major points of the scene never goes anywhere, the scene on its own is good IMO. it accomplished what it needed to accomplish.
I agree with what you said. It's another so-called "set-up" chapter, but this one feels much more engaging. The conversation with Muriel and Doge is both informative and flows well. Harry being a curious outsider to the conversation and asking questions integrates the exposition into the conversation naturally and shifts the focus over to Harry's curiosity about his dead mentor. Unfortunately, Muriel's teasing gossips about Dumbledore's past is not followed up later in the film, nor is Harry's doubts about Dumbledore. As such, when Harry declares to Aberforth in DH 2 that he isn't interested in what happened between him and Dumbledore, what could have shown character development on Harry's part instead falls flat at its best and at worst sticks out as a little inconsistent considering Harry is characterized differently here.
Lastly, a little observation: In the background of the conversation you can see Tonks (with a hand on her stomach) and Lupin conversing with Molly, who reacts with joy to what surely is their baby news. While it's nice that they care about background details, this shouldn't be treated as one IMO because it takes you out of the moment when Lupin all of a sudden is said to have a son in the forest scene in Hallows: 2. I noticed this detail first when I watched the scene on its own and looked for background details. If you want the audience to notice background details without needing to look for them, however, you should shoot it in a way that draws the attention to the background without making it compete with the point of interest. Yates chooses a nice triangle composition with Muriel being the point of interest in the middleground. One might think that because Lupin, Tonks and Molly are standing right behind her you are going to notice them, but I think very few paid attention to them, let alone caught the pregnancy news on their first or even second viewing. Basically, the lines in the triangle makes it all about Harry, Doge and Muriel and deems everything else "less important".
Comments
It's been a while, but I have a lot to comment on to make up for it. Hopefully more people decide to engage in the discussion than in the past. Those who do all contribute greatly, so I encourage you to keep up the good work. I vaguely recalled the name of the book chapter and figured it would be better to use than any title I could come up with. So we start off with a decent establishing shot of the Burrow, although I think the sky is overly blue, unflattering even. Harry and Hagrid approaching Molly and Ginny is decent, but it feels so...I dunno, lifeless. In some respect, it seems realistic that Molly would try to keep her emotions in check, but dramatically speaking I think it would have been more effective if she had seemed more nervous rather than just concerned. Emphasize that by having her speak faster and rushing to hug Harry, as opposed to just standing there and pausing between "Harry, Hagrid...." and "where are the others?" Her last comment, "well, thank goodness you two are alright" doesn't sound entirely genuine to me, but that may just be me. That's not necessarily a bad thing however. It's certainly understandable from her point of view. Clearly she really is glad that they are safe, but at that very moment it's hard to express happiness because she's too worried about her own family.
Our first Harry and Ginny moment is simply put unmemorable. There's no attempt to re-establish their relationship for the audience at the get-go. Instead, the lack of a passionate hug (or a kiss) just makes you think of Ginny as an exposition friend. A useless one in that aspect because the other characters appear as soon as she announces that they should have been back. Furthermore, since everybody went together, it makes you wonder why she simply doesn't state that "everybody should be back now" as opposed to addressing a few names. Personally, I would have liked a little bit of suspense here by showing some POV shots of the field with some ominious wind hustling and eventually seeing a couple of characters approaching them from distance.
The interesting thing is that most of them apparate to the place. This made me think at first that they did in fact head for different places, only that it was not announced to the audience. However, I find it more likely that they decided to disapparate away when Harry was out of sight and they were of no use for his protection anymore in order to save their own skin from the Death Eaters. Anyway, I like the quick pan from Harry and Ginny to Lupin and George for making you feel as if you are in their shoes, as well as the surprising amount of gore that Heyman allowed Yates to show.
If the scene had been a little lacking in energy so far, it makes up for it when Lupin unexpectedly grabs Harry up against a wall. The nice triangle composition of the shot is suitable because it captures both Lupin's rage of being betrayed (could be misinterpreted as directed towards Harry, but I'll get back to that!), Harry's reaction as well as Ginny's shocked puzzlement. That being said, the moment doesn't exactly shock you because we haven't seen much of the fun, caring coach-like side of Lupin since POA (with the exception of him trying to hold back Harry after the death of Sirius); instead it seemed almost consistent with the serious, slightly troubled and down-to-business Order member Yates has always showed him as. That is not to say that he doesn't care about Harry, but I'll bring up a couple of examples that show otherwise when I'm finished complaining about Harry mentioning the grindylow. It's another unfortunate example of Kloves sticking to book details to please fans when he in my opinion should have mentioned the boggart instead because that was the first classroom scene we saw in the film. More importantly, audiences love spotting such connections between films in the same series. You could argue that one simply must assume that the grindylow moment happened off-screen, but for me it's lazy scriptwriting which merely contributes to making the film series too reliant upon the source material as opposed to making completely sense on its own.
Moving on, I like Lupin's bit of exposition there which was necessary to drive home the point that they were betrayed, and what's worst, possibily by one of their own. Dan is great in this scene, I like his respectful and understanding nod to Lupin in particular, who in the next moment shields Harry from Kingsley. I got the impression that it was not just because he was business-oriented in protecting Harry, but also because he genuinely cares about him. If that is lost on the viewer here, it was further emphasized at the wedding when he sends Harry away with Ron and Hermione.
Once again I have to mention how clever the dialogue is in this scene. "The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us" followed with "Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him" is both a logical way to recognize each other that effectively advances the plot and it also singles out Harry as the Chosen One to bring down Voldemort. It's even relevant for the theme of faith. While not dominant enough in the film as a whole IMHO, it does shine through subtly at certain points.
Nice adaptation choice in having Hedwig give Harry away as opposed to a DE recognizing his trademark spell (i.e. expelliarmus) which was just an unecessarily contrived explanation in the book. I love, love Alexandre Desplat's music here as the thestral (of which I'm glad to see again despite the overly dark lighting) arrives. Cute moments between Hermione/Ron and Tonks/Lupin. Thanks to a certain picture in the thread "Funny HP pics" of which I'm too lazy to link to (would be appreciated if anyone did in case anyone hasn't seen it), Harry embracing his friends is forever immortalized in my head as him ruining the fun. I like the change of mood in the music reflecting Arthur's smile being replaced by concern in a good dynamic shot of him walking closer to the camera and placing himself in the golden ratio of it. It's a shot with great depth; one character in the front, two in the middle and three in the background. The picture wouldn't show up, but here is the link to it: http://www.homeofthenutty.com/harrypotter/screencaps/displayimage.php?album=29&pid=158759#top_display_media
The joke inside the house was neither the best nor the worst I've heard, but Fred's honest response saved it at the very least. I'm surprised that mrs. Weasley actually liked the joke, but I guess she was just happy to see him alive. The reveal that Mad-Eye is dead fell a little flat because it was just spurted out so randomly, but the pause between the lines was just perfectly timed. The little we got of sad/shocked reactions gave it a little impact, most notably the one of Lupin. Not enough of course, but a little. However, considering that Yates shot the beginning of the escape scene from Moody's perspective, I'd expected a better send-off for him. An idea Braveheart suggested, which I expanded upon, was to show him getting blasted off his broom.
The cut to Ron in his bed really served no purpose when the entire focus of the scene is on Harry's nightmares. I mean, why do we need to be shown that he's there as well? That's assumed. Don't convince me that it's some subconscious way to connect Ron to the Harry/Voldemort connection in the viewers' mind. Still, it's not totally wasted in my mind because the camera tilt interestingly made it resemble the very short nightmare scene at Grimmauld's place in OotP and I just love such connections, however useless they might be. As for the nightmare itself, I found it stylistically shot in re-introducing the horcruxes. I find it clever how the editing ties Harry's mission to Dumbledore's insurance to Harry in trusting him with the inclusion of him saying "trust me" in a voice-over from the tower scene in HBP. As said earlier, this is what DH 1 should have emphasized far more throughout the film as a way to connect all the events with Harry's personal development.
The last scene of the chapter, Harry's attempt to flee, is a real goodie in terms of adaptation for tranferring his guilt of everybody around him sacrificing themselves for him into dialogue, which goes to show that a too literal adaptation would probably just suck out certain characteristics and themes in the book. I mention themes here as well because Ron points out to Harry that Mad-Eye didn't die for him, but for the common good, which the book was about in some aspects. Easily one of the best adapted scenes - and dare I say most underrated ones even if I normally don't use that term - of the film.
Overall, it started out a little bland, but it improved considerably. Despite one unfortunate misstep sort of representing an adaptation fault of the entire series, it was otherwise adapted very well. Coupled with solid acting, well-balanced shots and sharp dialogue it made for a good scene.
The moment between Tonks and Lupin is great and is more than we ever see from Bill and Fleur who serve no purpose. R/Hr and the trio hug was wonderful too. I agree that Harrh trying to leave is a great example of adaption. In fact, it's probably the most character development we see from Harry in the entire film.
Fred and Georges' little scene was good and a little heartwarming.
Fred's reaction to George loosing his ear was on point for me. They are so underated in this series but this scene really shows how much they care for each other and even in the face of danger, they can still laugh.
I use to think that they should have revealed that Snape blew his ear off in the movie, so it could've been shown in the Prince's Tale but I had to rethink that and came to the conclusion that it wasnt that important to the main point of his story.
The Harry and Ron scene was well written by Kloves. It showed Harry's desperation to start finding the horcruxes and how much this mission meant to him.
For the most part this scene was really well adapted. Not revealing Snape as the attacker and not having the Order all come in from different safehouses helped keep the narrative from getting too clogged with unnecessary details. The grindylow thing doesn't annoy me because it's so small, and you don't need to know what a grindylow is to understand that Harry answered correctly. I suppose they could have asked what form is Patronus takes, as that would have been helpful later, as many people seemed to think the doe was Harry's patronus, but no big deal. And I still remain shocked by the amount of blood Yates got away with in this scene. I'd have expected Heyman to veto this and make it a more undetailed magical blast to his ear, but it looks really realistic. I used to think Part 2 was the bloodiest Potter movie, but in reflection I'd say Part 1 wins that. The gore is certainly MUCH more detailed and raw in Part 1 than Part 2, and it works really well.
I do however have a couple of major issues with this chapter - well, their effects aren't felt here, but this is where they are first certain big elements are first ignored, to the detriment of the narrative later in the movie.
Firstly, Harry's wand saving him should have been addressed. Voldemort's search for a wand to trump Harry's is essentially the containable plot arc of this movie, so they should not be downplaying it as much as they did. The film is just confused on the point of what the hell happened to Lucius's wand and it needed some clarity. The fact that Harry shows no surprise at this makes absolutely no sense, and it wrongfoots you. Why Harry's wand acted the way it did is never explained, and that's just lazy, they never even bother to acknowledge that something out of the ordinary happened with Harry's wand. So basically that means the wand plot is a mess right from the start. I know Harry discussed this with Ron and Hermione in the script, and it should never have been cut. It's so important to understanding what it going on with the wand plot, and not bothering the address it does nothing but prevent these adaptations from being truly great movies.
Secondly, the way they handled Ollivander's torture. If they had included Ollivander's torture properly, the absence of a conversation about Harry's wand acting the way it did might not be so glaring, but to almost entirely ignore both of these plot points makes the movie sloppy and confusing. This scene was also in the script, with Voldemort interrogating Ollivander in full. I suspect someone probably thought a torture scene was too intense, but it there was necessary exposition in there. I know they showed a one second glimpse of it and you can faintly hear Voldemort say "You lied to me, Ollivander" but that is nowhere near enough to be able to follow what's going on with the wand plot. I generally don't like how incoherent and nearly impossible to follow Harry's visions are in this movie. Someone obviously got carried away with it and tried to overload them with random images and sounds, and it doesn't really work beyond being flashy.
I'm so glad they finally had a scene with just Ron and Harry though, and one where Ron is actually written well. Part 1 is probably the best writing Kloves did for Ron. I think this is the first time the wedding is mentioned; it's just kind of awkwardly thrown into the mix of the conversation, but I'm glad they at least set that up and didn't just throw us into a wedding scene.
That said, it's much easier for us to see these things in retrospect and in the context of the entire series than it was for Yates and co while they were in the hectic shooting process of this big-budget production, not having the luxury to step back, take a break and reflect on the bigger picture. That is not to say that I give these minor shortcomings a pass, just that I understand why they occurred; Kloves I'm sure included pretty much everything essential to the plot, but sometimes he bogs down certain scenes with too many details which is detrimental to the the rhythm and pacing of said scenes. This is particularly evident in the cut scenes from the DH 1 script. Consequently, this more or less forced Yates to omit certain plot points in post-production at a time where he either didn't have the time or the resources to re-shoot anything.
The primary function of this chapter, as well as the next one, is to introduce us to a lot of crucial plot devices and side stories. The previous scene ended with Ron reminding us shortly what a horcrux is and randomly saying that in order to kill the other horcruxes they have to find them. That's pretty obvious, isn't it Ron? Worst line in the film for me. Once again the screen fades to black, as it does quite a lot in this film, but so far the fade-outs have been appropriate. The next scene (the one we are at now) begins with a nice little shot inside the house of a Bill and Fleur banner, although in my ideal film their names would have been replaced with Tonks and Lupin. That being said, as abruptedly as their wedding is set up in the film, a small thing like Ron mentioning the wedding as a side note strengthens the impression of life unfolding realistically in the universe as opposed to making the viewers pay attention to the fact that an author is deciding the course of the story. Ron's mentioned lines about the horcruxes on the other hand stuck out like a sore thumb because it was constructed merely to inform an audience about something rather than find a way to convey the same information through a credible conversation between the characters.
As we move on, we get close-up of a newspaper headline: "Dumbledore's dark secrets revealed." To be a little nitpicky I would have put together this scene a bit differently. I would have started it with a fade-in on the picture of Dumbledore closing the door as a direct parallel to Ron and Harry closing the door in the previous scene. Why? Just as a subtle way to link their mission to the person sending them out on the mission or even to Dumbledore's "dark secrets". As we know, Dumbledore did have an agenda all the time: To sacrifice Harry for the greater good. Then progress with showing the headline and Ginny interrupting him and let the scene continue the same way as in the film, although I would have shown the Bill and Fleur banner in the same shot as Harry zipping up Ginny. Let me clarify that this is more a suggestion of how it could be done rather than criticism.
Harry and Ginny shares an alright moment which also emphasizes how people in times of war arrange weddings and parties in an attempt to forget about the dreadful conditions around them and have fun together if only for a moment. So far the best Ginny/Harry moment for me. It's certainly better than the cliched fairytale kiss in the RoR in HBP. I could have given it a pass if Yates had broken up the melodramatic tone with some self-irony, for instance like seeing the harp play the music accompanying the scene, but he handled it all to seriously given the little time devoted to developing it properly. I mean, who actually bought that Harry's sadness of seeing Dean kissing Ginny apparently was equal to Hermione's pain? Not to mention that he fell instantly for her the same evening as he checked up a random waitress. I'm not saying it can't happen, just that for a film it goes to undermine his supposed "ZOMG I can't live without her" mentality he hints about to Hermione. Anyway, Yates seems to have realized how messy their relationship was handled in the sixth film and sort of pokes fun at it here (yes, I'm reading too much into it, but I want it to be the reason) with the inclusion of George sneaking in while brushing his teeth. It's hilarious and suitably awkward as opposed to the HBP romance.
After an unneeded moment of the Weasley family and Hagrid cooperating to set up the wedding tent, a character apparates to the place in an establishing shot in typical Yates style by starting the camera high up and craning it down to reveal the person (or sometimes vice versa). In HBP for instance he chose not to show Harry apparating to the corn field, but only signified it through sound effects, which he continues doing throughout this film. Be it due to financial or creative reasons, I like that it's just signified at times for not repeating the same special effects too much and in turn not making the effect seem repetitive. The following close-up of the minister from behind emphasizes his authority; it's shot from ground level, making him appear important, big and superior to the environment. Notice the symmetry of the shot with the corn fields on both sides of the shot sort of representing people looking up to the minister who determinedly walks along the carved path in the middle, which could be interpreted as a visual symbol of his powerful position in the wizarding world, being allowed to create his own path which people are following so to speak.
I didn't quite buy Harry's polite greeting given his past experiences with the ministry, but that whole transitional scene might just as well have been cut. I'm nitpicky, but I would also have taken out the awkward silence at the beginning of the will scene. Instead just start by showing a close-up of the testament. As it is, George asks what the minister is doing there, Harry asks the minister to what they owe the pleasure and once again asks him what the parchment is about. In other words, it was a bit repetitive to include three similar questions in a row when George's was more than enough to get to the point. Other than the need of a little trimming, a bigger problem with the scene is that while it gets us from A to B, it does so in a functionally slow way that doesn't feel particularly engaging. Hermione gets her book, Ron gets a deluminator and Harry a snitch, but Grint is the only one who shows some actual enthusiasm over the gift. However, they all seem a bit curious about the snitch and it's built up in a way that you expect something extraordinary to happen when he touches it. The anticlimax of that was handled fairly well, as was the conversation about the sword.
Still, the scene is a bit lacking because there's no relation and in turn no tension between the minister and the trio unlike in the book where he had a history. They try to build up some sort of...not exactly animosity as in the book, but at least a conflict of interest between Harry and the ministry at the end with the minister commenting that Harry can't fight this war on his own and indirectly implying that he should trust the ministry. However, it falls completely flat because it is not developed further, Harry does not consider it at all in the film and even the editing could have been more effective. Rather than show Harry as we hear the minister off-screen and cut to a stern face of Scrimgeour, I would instead have shown Scrimgeour as he advices Harry to seek help and then cut to a close-up of Harry to emphasize that he is pondering over this. Yes, pondering. If it were to be handled as half-hearted as this, they might as well have had Minerva McGonagall delivering the gifts. Mainly because she's not in DH 1 and I miss her, but also to set up her role in the next film. It could have provided a great contrast for one thing if she first wants to know what mission Dumbledore gave him and is sceptical about sending Harry out on his own and thus offers him help similarly to Lupin in the book, whereas in DH 2 she understands that Harry knows exactly what he is doing and gives him time to do what must be done.
All in all an unmemorable scene that establishes some magical objects in a functional, but boring way.
Things of note:
- Hagrid gets to perform magic with his umbrella again.
- The light from the deluminator is reflected in Harry's glasses.
- The music track in HBP titled "When Ginny kissed Harry" sounds similar to Desplat's track "Harry and Ginny":
PS! It would be appreciated if someone once again updated the title of the thread to the current chapter.
There's something weird going on with the camera in this scene too. It seems like Yates is going out of his way to avoid showing Scrimgeour's face, particularly when he speaks. Maybe there was some dubbing going on, just as there was in HBP when Leanne said the necklace was for Dumbledore? His parting words about not fighting this war on their own seem to come quite out of nowhere, so I'm guessing there was some stuff cut here. It also seems weird that Scrimgeour turned up to the house unguarded. It doesn't really give us the sense that there is a great amount of threat in the wizarding world. I know there was a cut line explaining that he thinks he doesn't need them anymore, but he could have had a couple of dodgy looking guards with him to set up that things weren't too safe for him.
Having the sword be missing was a neat and simple way to avoid the convoluted dispute and subplot in the book. It saves some time later on speculating where the sword is and gives an easy excuse for why Harry doesn't get it without getting into the whole argument too much. It would have been nice for Harry to call the Ministry out on their methods though. They never really explored the idea that the Ministry was grossly incompetent or doing wrong in their fight against Voldemort, not beyond OOTP anyway. That's why Fudge should have remained; we already have a pre-existing tension between him and Harry over the Voldemort situation, and the announcement of his death would have more impact, because a long-serving recurring character would have been suddenly killed, instead of one who just turned up two scenes ago.
The Dumbledore headline was a nice concise way of introducing Dumbledore's shadowy past, and the footage of him shutting the doors was actually cut footage from OOTP I believe, so nice touch. I also like that we see the Weasleys setting up the wedding tent; it eases us into the idea of the wedding, which was already thrust upon the audience too suddenly. Throwing us into the next scene without establishing the tent would probably have been way too jarring, like Hagrid's introduction in Part 2 jarring.
I guess it was an okay scene. I say okay meaning that I don't really have any particular feelings about it. I wish Scrimgeour had been in HBP, though being replaced by Fudge is a good idea. The H/G scene was passable but didn't do anything to fix HBP's mistakes, though I don't really fault it for that.
I thought this was a very good line and better than the canon one.
Pottermore user name: SilverQuest212
I still really love Part 1 though, it's definitely underrated and it is at the top of the list for me.
I know everyone keeps saying that "Hogwarts would have interrupted the journey with the Trio" but coming from a filmmakers standpoint, it wouldnt have. Part 2 has so many questions that needed to be answered so the audience could understand, like how did the DA get into the room of requirement, Why Neville was looking like he was a in a battle, Fred's death, even the Carrows. My friend asked me "Were the Carrows in the film?" and I said "Yes, they were the man and woman standing behind Snape in the Great Hall in Part 2" and she was like "OHHHH, i totally didnt notice them, I wish we saw more from them"
Yeah, but don't forget that Harry not at Hogwarts is a new setting too, for the past six films previous to DH 1 we were used to Harry and the others always there to save the day at Hogwarts, Kloves could've explored that setting but again he was so "Trio centric". And everyone has to admit that Part 1 did have some slow moments.
I don't necessarily think the film needed Hogwarts but I do think it needed something else to help drive it. I think it wasn't the amount of camping scenes that was the problem just that there was no break from them while they were going on. A number of things could've served as a break from the camping scenes: Hogwarts, a DE attack on the trio, or showing more about how the DEs are wreaking havoc on the outside world.
Chapter 7: The Wedding
I like the little set of shots that go around to show what everyone was up to at the wedding. Hagrid and Madame Maxime was a nice nod to GoF and the fans who would remember. Ron's look at Hermione is great. I don't think Krum was really needed, though I think a nice idea would just be showing Ron asking Hermione to dance, sort of contrasting with him not asking her in GoF.
The introduction of Xenophilius Lovegood is done well enough. We get that he has the DH symbol, loves his daughter, supports Harry, and is also eccentric in just a little scene.
I wish they hadn't cut Lupin and Tonks making Harry the godfather here. I wish even more they had cut Bill and Fleur and made it R/T's wedding, but I've said that way too many times lol.
The conversation with Muriel and Doge (sp?) is actually well done, I thought. It's not bogged down with tons of details and gets across stuff that is relevant later on. Bagshot, Aberforth, and Godrics Hollow were all established effectively. Harry's doubt over Dumbledore is also established well, but unfortunately this never goes anywhere in the film.
The chapter technically cuts off right when the Patronus flies in, so I'll stop here.
Though it was badly built up to (Bill, Fleur, and a wedding were completely thrown in) and one of the major points of the scene never goes anywhere, the scene on its own is good IMO. it accomplished what it needed to accomplish.
Lastly, a little observation: In the background of the conversation you can see Tonks (with a hand on her stomach) and Lupin conversing with Molly, who reacts with joy to what surely is their baby news. While it's nice that they care about background details, this shouldn't be treated as one IMO because it takes you out of the moment when Lupin all of a sudden is said to have a son in the forest scene in Hallows: 2. I noticed this detail first when I watched the scene on its own and looked for background details. If you want the audience to notice background details without needing to look for them, however, you should shoot it in a way that draws the attention to the background without making it compete with the point of interest. Yates chooses a nice triangle composition with Muriel being the point of interest in the middleground. One might think that because Lupin, Tonks and Molly are standing right behind her you are going to notice them, but I think very few paid attention to them, let alone caught the pregnancy news on their first or even second viewing. Basically, the lines in the triangle makes it all about Harry, Doge and Muriel and deems everything else "less important".