I saw the first two films before I read any of the books - the scene in Chamber of Secrets where Dobby levitates the cake was an improvement on the book.
That was the point I made earlier - I'm not sure if I'd have got everything that was going on if I'd just seen the films and not read the books.
My first encounter with HP was watching the film of THBP on DVD with a young friend who is a huge fan. I really thought it was awful - it just seemed to me a string of incidents with no characterisation or coherence.
Admittedly, I may have felt differently had I seen the earlier films.
It was after this disappointing beginning, that she told me I couldn't fail to like the books once I started to read them. I tried them as a favour to her, and she was right.:)
But I wonder how much viewers-alone rather than readers-and-viewers get out of the films. I'm sure if I'd just seen the films I'd have thought them amusing little stories for kids (in spite of the "darkness" of DH 1 & 2, whereas they are so much more than that.
IMO, the hallows movies are their own beast, not just because they feature so little of Hogwarts but you can just sense that the acting levels from all concerned have cranked up a notch. I think the movies captured the themes of the book perfectly.
For the rest of them, I think there's enough magic and story in the films to keep viewers entertained, plus the movies make no secret that they are stories based on JK's novels so there's license right there to skim over certain things as it's assumed people will know them.
Comments
IMO, the hallows movies are their own beast, not just because they feature so little of Hogwarts but you can just sense that the acting levels from all concerned have cranked up a notch. I think the movies captured the themes of the book perfectly.
For the rest of them, I think there's enough magic and story in the films to keep viewers entertained, plus the movies make no secret that they are stories based on JK's novels so there's license right there to skim over certain things as it's assumed people will know them.