Reactions of Non-readers to the HBP movie

[AccioHP]

So I was wondering of those of you who went with people who didn't read the books...what did they think of the movie? Were they surprised at certain parts?

I went with my sister and my uncle. My sister is a fan of the movies, my uncle has seen them but probably only once each. He was really there just to take us

My sister mentioned to me that she didn't think Snape was like that (meaning evil and that he'd kill Dumbledore). So from my experience it seems like alot if not all of the non book readers are believing that Snape is on the Dark Side, Which will set up a shock in DH2.

So what did your friends/family members think of it? (if they were non readers)

[Dinkydudydums]

This is my friend's friend, but she said that he said that he never would have guessed that Dumbledore died at the end. I mean, that was sooo, unexpected, right? Harhar.

[hplova15165]

My sister hasn't read any of the books, and she's sort of a fan of the movies (I've dragged her along to all of them).

But she really thought it wasn't as exciting as the previous movies. There were action scenes and all, but she said that it just didn't have that suspense/action feel that OoTP did.

She thought Lavender and McLaggen were hilarious, but she wouldn't have known McLaggen's name if I hadn't told her.

She really, really hates Snape.

She laughed when she saw Malfoy crying. She thought the whole "light the sky and take away the Dark Mark" thing with the wands was stupid.

She thought the movie ended abruptly, and she says it wasn't as good as I told her it would be, and definitely not as good as any of the other ones.

[magic_is_might]

My brother and my sister have seen the movie. They are non-readers and they were completely lost. I spent the entire movie explaining it to them. I felt that they didn't get the true feeling for the plot and couldn't appreciate what was going on since the filmmakers assumed you knew what was going on.

The movie was fine for me, since I knew what was happening and I really enjoyed, but I'm just speaking for the people who didn't know what was going on and weren't able to appreciate the movie as much as I did.

[FleurDeLaPointe]

Originally Posted by NEOgaf member

Saw this at midnight last night.

I have never read the books, so my commentary is on the film alone.

The pacing in this movie was just all over the map. I rewatched the first 5 movies this week to get refreshed on this one. What the heck happened? At the end of 5 Potter was in the middle of building an army to fight the snake eaters and the world is facing empending doom.

In this one the snake eaters burn down a few buildings while we watch Ron date an annoying girl. The army Harry built seems to have disbanded due to lack of hormone control.

The big twist in the movie seems to be that Voldemort has brought himself back to life by splitting his soul into random objects.. I thought this was pretty well known already from the second movie.. but I guess we have a number now that they have to hunt down and destroy.

Also, I didn't understand why Harry and Jennie had to hide the book so Harry couldn't find it. My friend explained to me afterwards that they missed the point completely. Harry wasn't hiding the book so he couldn't use it, he was hiding it so Snape wouldn't find out he had it so that Harry could continue to use it.

Pretty bad overall. This series hit it's high point with the third movie and has been downhill from there.

Hilarity.

[SevrusSnape]

I went with 6 others to the midnight and another person the next day and 6/7 had never read the book and I was most interested in their views and all of them really liked it and according to them weren't confused about anything and 3 of them said that it is now their 1st or 2nd favorite movie in the series. Some of them were at first annoyed with Lavender Brown thinking she played a cheesy character, but I informed all of them that that's how she is in the book and was portrayed perfectly in the movie in my opinion...but other than that all of them really liked it

[Navalina]

I went with my father, who hasn't read any of the books but has seen all the films - and he was totally confused. A lot of the time he didn't know what was going on, because, like magic_is_might says, they kind of seemed to assume you already knew the plot. Many things were inadequately explained. He also said the first half was rather boring, he didn't get what the story was supposed to be because they were just lounging around Hogwarts.

[Molineux]

I went with my mom, who's only read number 1 (to me, when i was young ). She too seemed very confused, although she wouldn't admit it.

She said that up until Harry and Dumbledore head to the cave it felt more like a very long film trailer than an actual film, because of the way it jumped from section to section with nothing inbetween.

She had tissues for me though, when Dumbledore died, so that was ok :P

[Pearl_Took]

Originally Posted by FleurDeLaPointe

Hilarity.

The army Harry built seems to have disbanded due to lack of hormone control.

OMG, Fleur, that is awesome.

I love how this non-HP reviewer calls the DEs 'Snake Eaters'!

Pretty good name for them, actually.

I am sure I will enjoy the film more than he did, but that was a very entertaining read, nonetheless.

[elfwoo2]

My friend came along with me, he was not only a non-reader but also a non movie seer, etc.

He had seen none of the movies and read none of the books, he loved the movie.

and lets just say hes 1/2 way through the philosophers stone now!

[KDOG]

My sister only read the first three books and missed the last two movies. She loved it and is almost as excited as me for the next movie. I was stunned.

[yoshi2542]

My mum thought it was OK but left the cinema not really grasping the story. My dad didn't like it and didn't understand any of it.

[boushh]

A non-reader saw the movie and really liked it, and came out of it understanding it completely and explained stuff to me without any prompting whatsoever. She didn't get the terms right, but she knew what was going on. She also came out of there suspecting that there was more going on between Dumbledore and Snape, and that Snape may not be bad, and that Dumbledore may not be dead. Sounds like she's on the right track.

[Siriusly_C]

I had two friends go along with me, one who'd read the first two books and seen a few of the movies, the other who'd read up to GoF and seen all the movies at least once. They both had to ask me quetions about little things here and there, but they seemed to really enjoy it.

[NumberEight]

I received a text message yesterday from a friend who hasn't read the books and she said the movie is very good. I haven't spoken to her so I don't know if she misunderstood anything but I am going to assume that she didn't. The movie spells things out for you and I don't understand how anyone can be confused by the plot or the information given. It's quite funny that people think horcruxes bring back the dead. That was not said in the film. My friend mentioned that she was going to buy Deathly Hallows to find out what happens.

[LordThingy]

I went with my brother, who likes the movies and has read the first book. He really liked it. He told me it was his favorite movie so far. The only thing he was confused about was the Half-Blood Prince storyline and he didn't understand why they had to hide the potions book.

One of my other friends who hasn't read the books called me after she saw it and said she thought it was just ok. She said she didn't like the fact that Ron was cool in this one. If that is the only thing she didn't like about the movie, then I think we're doing ok

[lil_snuffles]

I went with two non readers and they both fell in love with the movie. They said it was the best in the series.

[Dedalus Diggle]

My daughter (14 years old) wished there had been more fighting and other action. But she said the most insightful thing - "It felt like it was just the first part." In many ways the book felt like that, too, and that's exactly how JKR said she felt about HBP and DH.

[Panduhbear]

My dad has only read the first book, and he came with me to see the film. He was very confused by the horcruxes part, which he said wasn't explained well enough. He also said that some parts of the memories confused him a bit. But he really did like the movie.

[ThaiHPFan]

I went with my dad who read the book years ago and forget about 95% of it so I think he can be considered a non-reader too. I could obviously tell that he's bored by some drawn-out scenes and the romance stuff in the middle, but other than that he seems to enjoy it. He loves movies with good acting and drama (he actually whispered to me during the scene when Slughorn gives Harry the memory that: "I think that was really well done").

After the movie, he said that there was too much of Ron's stuff and there should be more action at the end. He likes how Draco & the cabinet plot was explained though (said he didn't understand this plot when reading the book, but it was pretty clear in the movie).