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Dobby not to appear in Order of the Phoenix
This little bit of news might seem like a minor thing, but it represents a bigger issue with the future of the Harry Potter movies.
When Harry Potter tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing his house elf, Dobby, at the end of “Chamber of Secrets,” he might have inadvertently magicked the helpful servant right out of the series. Dobby hasn’t appeared in any Potter films since and won’t be appearing in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix either, according to Toby Jones, the actor who voiced him in the series’ second installment.
Perhaps they didnt want another house elf to share the spotlight with Kreacher, the reluctant house elf that minds after the secret headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. But this does present some plot holes.
They have already glossed over and forgotten Hermoine’s edgy political movement to free the house elves from their role of servitude. But Dobby’s unwaivering loyalty to Harry is quite important in the 5th book. These are plot points that they may expose in different ways, and the help that Dobby offers might simply come from a nameless student or the pages of a book Hermoine digs up at the library.
As with any book to movie adaptation, much is left out, replaced, reworked to make it work on screen. With the first couple books, they were very short and it was not difficult for them to produce a page by page presentation of the story. However with the growing volumes of the books, more and more has to be left out or reworked to keep the movie under 6 hours.
Removing Dobby is unfortunate, but a neccessary step to squish the 766 page book in under 120 mins of movie. I just wonder what else is being cut out, and how this will affect the strong connection between the books and movies. The sixth book, the Half Blood Prince is just as long. We can only expect the seventh and final book of the series to follow.
just as with the last film,it seems as though the glaring plot omissions with Phoenix are true. i was really hoping that the last installment was just a glitch in the franchise,dumbing the series down for americans and/or the mtv audience. looks like Goblet was the death knell for Potter after all. cinematically anyway. add this latest news to Emma Watson wanting out & it’s all over. i’m sure the series will continue regardless as there are bucks to be made,but,the quality is gone gone gone. if they’d only gotten Alfonso Cuaron to continue directing after Azkaban. he was taking the series where it needed to be (though Campea would disagree methinks). ah well c’est la vie..
They’ve already cut out Peeves completely.
Dre – are you crazy?! Goblet of Fire was by far the most British of the films! (Especially since it was the first one to actually have a British director).
Youre right Dre, us Americans are so dumb. I am sure you are from the country where everyone sits around and reads physics books all day.
/end sarcasm
I agree with Rodney that removing Dobby from Order is probably a necessary cut to make. Order is the longest Harry Potter book by far. (Half-blood Prince is, in fact, noticiably shorter and, in my opinion, better than Order of the Phoenix.)
I think the key here is to realize that film adaptations are just that: adaptations. There will always be changes, cuts, and additions, because of the numerous differences in novel and film storytelling. Sometimes some fans of a book series (Harry Potter in this case) take any cut personally. I can understanding being disappointed if you were hoping to see something on the screen that they cut, but fans need to keep in mind that the original books will always be there for people to learn “what really happened”.
I personally feel that the best Harry Potter films were the ones that condensed more of the narrative (3 and 4) rather than remaining extremely faithful at the expense of good pacing (1 and 2). (And, yes, I know John and Doug’s opinion of 3, but I disagree with it.)
That’s some money that they can save on their effects budget and give to Hermione to stick around a little while longer:)
i hope they cut grawp. he is the lamest and most pointless part of book 5.
PLEASE cut Dobby, I can’t stand him and wish he’d never appear in the books again either. I thought he looked wretched in the second film anyway.
But then, I dislike the character quite a bit.
The movies are clearly adaptations and sometimes it’s hard to see certain things cut out. A lot of my favorite parts of Azkaban weren’t in the movie (i.e. the Knight), but I understood. My largest flaw in Azkaban was how they brushed over the importance of Harry remembering his mother’s death (the woman he hears scream when faced with a dementor), but hey, on a whole the movie was good. Goblet I enjoyed a lot, but I wish we could have seen Quidditch (so messed that up) championship, again I understood. You can’t put everything in the movie!
I wasn’t completely bummed they cut out Hermione’s movement to release the house elves – in fact, I was much like Harry and Ron in the book – I didn’t care! LoL I would have liked to see Ron and Hermione’s fueding, which happened a lot through the 4th book.
I’m not too broken up Dobby won’t be back, but he did play a good role in the 5th book. Honestly, I think the next movie will only be a shadow of the book and I’ll accept that – I simply hope it’s good.