Top Ten Tuesday: The Most Frustrating Things Left Out of the Harry Potter Films

For my first TTT, I figured I would play to expectations and do a Harry Potter post. Plus, now that all the films have been released on home media platforms, I've been noticing all the things the films have gotten wrong more and more. So here it is: the ten most grievous sins of the Harry Potter series (according to just me)...

10. Tonks and Fleur

To start things off, we have the two most marginalized women of the Harry Potter series. Fleur is introduced in Goblet of Fire, and Tonks in Order of the Phoenix. Both are incredibly underused, to the point where they don’t bring anything worthwhile to their screentime. While neither is important to the main plot, they provide dimension to other characters (particularly Lupin) and remind us of how close-to-home the war hits for our main trio.

If we had gotten to see a bit more of Fleur’s relationship with the Weasleys and Tonks’ relationship with Lupin, Fleur and Bill’s wedding and Tonks and Remus’ death in Deathly Hallows would have felt more earned. Otherwise, they should have just been cut completely.

9. The Marauders' Map

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry is given the map by Fred and George. Check. Then Harry sees Peter Pettigrew on the map. Check. When it all falls apart is when Lupin offers no explanation as to why he knows the map is a map. I could be okay with this, but then at the end of the film, Sirius seems to have knowledge of how the map works (he says, “the map never lies!”). Then the plot is resolved without EVER giving viewers an explanation for Sirius and Lupin’s intrinsic knowledge of the map.

With this one exception, Prisoner of Azkaban is the most entertaining of the Harry Potter films. By adding just a few lines of dialogue explaining the map’s backstory, the makers could have answered questions and tied the movie together.

8. The Death-Day Party

In Chamber of Secrets, Harry, Ron, and Hermione attend a party celebrating the 500^th Death-Day of Nearly-Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost. The event doesn’t hold any importance to the actual plot, so it’s easy to see why it got cut.

However, I’ve always thought this would have been a fun little scene to see on screen. It also would have served to build the world of Hogwarts a bit more.

7. S.P.E.W.

Here’s another one that would have just been fun to see onscreen. Goblet of Fire, the limp noodle in the film series, is in desperate need of subplots, and this one would have provided humor, given Ron and Hermione some much-needed screentime, and would have let the film feel less episodic. It’s easy to see why the movie is without subplots though, since the main story is so involved. Once upon a time, there was a plan to split this one into two films, (“Genius!” I said.) but I guess WB executives weren’t quite convinced that would have panned out.

On the other hand, I can’t think why the execs didn’t require this subplot to make it to film, if only to sell T-shirts. Don’t even try to convince me those wouldn't have sold like hot cakes.

6. The Quidditch World Cup

I think I speak for everyone when I say, “WHAT THE EFF, WB?!”

I don’t think there was one person who watched this movie who didn’t feel cheated when we didn’t get EVEN A MINUTE of such a fan-favorite part of the book.

Ugh. I’m still bitter.

5. Patronuses

To be clear, the patronuses were featured in the movies just as much as they were in the books. But the way they were presented was very uneven. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry’s climatic patronus (meant to be a stag) is just a big, bright shield. Later in Order of the Phoenix, while Harry is teaching Dumdledore’s Army how to cast the spell, we see different characters’ patronuses take animal forms (like they’re supposed to).

Some may say this is a nitpick, but I disagree (shocker!). Harry’s patronus is connected to the subplot of the Marauders, and if the film had done both of these points justice, later films would have made more sense.

4. Harry/Ginny

Out of all the romantic pairings throughout the series, Harry/Ginny was always my favorite. In the books, she is such a great foil for all his angst and bitterness, that it’s all the more tragic that she isn’t more developed in the movies. Bonnie Wright is a fine actress, but the lines she is given are incredibly wooden and don’t give the character much room to breathe.

If anything, I would have liked to see Harry and Ginny in an actual relationship like the one they have in the back-half of the Half-Blood Prince novel. It would have given more gravity to Harry’s decision to hunt horcruxes and made their stolen kisses in Deathly Hallows more meaningful.

3. Christmas on the Closed Ward

This one was a big disappointment for me. In the whole series, this has got to be one of my favorite scenes in the books. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to St. Mungo’s Hospital to visit Mr. Weasley and reconnect with an oblivated-but-still-big-headed Gilderoy Lockhart. This is also the scene that solidified theories that Neville would have a huge role to play in the final battle. The trio meet Neville’s parents, who have gone insane thanks to Bellatrix LeStrange.

Had this scene made it to film, we would have been treated not only to more world-building (St. Mungo’s), but a callback to an earlier story (Prof. Lockhart). On top of that, Neville’s arc as “The-Boy-Who-Was-Almost-The-Boy-Who-Lived” would have been done justice.

2. The Half-Blood Prince Plot-Line

This one really bugs me. It’s probably the main reason why I think Half-Blood Prince is one of the weakest Harry Potter films. The book was uneven to begin with, what with the title relating only an incredibly little bit with the plot, so we can’t fault the movie too much.

Anyway, in the film, Harry finds the Advanced Potions book with the half-blood Prince’s scribbling all over it. I’m pretty sure he asks Ron and Hermione about it (Ginny even throws in some awkward flirt-teasing). Other than that, we get NOTHING. That is, until the finale, when Snape pretty much just says, “Oh heyyy, I’m the half-blood Prince. For serious. Kthxbai,” without any explanation! I mean, really. If the story is called Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, wouldn’t you think you would need to devote some time to that plot? But oh well. More on the disjointed-ness of Half-Blood Prince later.

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1. The House of Gaunt

Another reason Half-Blood Prince is a weak movie for me is because it doesn’t tell a coherent story. It flits back-and-forth between so many different plotlines that they all feel like subplots. No one storyline is given preferential treatment. The one that should have been given chief focus is easily the memories of Voldemort. In the book, Harry and Dumbledore dive into the Pensieve over and over again to find out why Tom Riddle grew up to become You-Know-Who. In the film, we see two memories. TWO! And one of them, we see TWICE. Out of all the memories that could have (and should have) made it to film, the one featuring Voldemort’s grandfather, uncle, and mother is easily number one.

Had this been in the movie, the story as a whole would’ve flowed better, and we would have seen Harry almost pity the Dark Lord, which would have been an interesting dimension to explore. Plus, it would've just been cool!

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So...what do you think? Did I get 'em right? Or did I leave out something you've always wished had been a part of the films? Let me know in comments!

FYI, some runner-ups for the list were: Peeves, Draco's involvement, Sirius' presence, "Weasley is Our King".

-Danul