Reactions of Non-readers to the HBP movie

[CrazyMuggle]

I went with two friends who are both non-readers (well one of them had read the first 4 books and part of the 5th) and they both liked it a lot.

[REMEMBERALL]

My daughter and her boyfriend came along with me and they both hadn't read the book( dd read half..blasphamy ) I literally had to give him cliff notes on the book on the way out the door..he really liked it and didn't have too many questions re: what was going on.

[GemmaBlack]

I was suprised at how excited my older sister was to see this film, just from seeing the trailer. She's never been a fan of the films or books. I think she watched the first one when it came out and that was it.
But she really loved this! Suprisingly she didnt need much explaining at all. So the movie was easily followed.
She LOVED the love triangle. She thought Lavender was hilarious and thought Ron and Hermione were just lovely for each other.
The serious story lines she found interesting too, the memories and the cave e.c.t.
She said she didnt like the battle atthe Weasleys, because it was really sad. Which was its intended purpose

All in all,she loved it. When it ended she actaully said "What? I didnt want it to end yet."
Now she is excited for the next ones.

I've never spoke to her before about Harry Potter because I knew she just woudn't be interested, so im really glad and shocked she like HBP.

This film is obviously brilliant. She isn't easy to please but even she was caught up in the excitment. There is definatley something about this film though, seriously. Because when I woke up in the morning before going to see it, she actually jumped up and down in front of me saying, giddily, "You excited? I am"

[sambow87]

With 4 of my non-book reading friends, they all came out with generally the same conclusion:

Snape is bad, Voldemort is alive because of the Horcrux's, Harry, Ron and Hermione are going to destroy the Horcrux's in the next movie.

I think they got it right for the most part

[Noldus]

A friend of mine thought the film was a bit boring. When it was over he felt like nothing really happened this year. He also managed to figure out what Draco's mission was. But I am sure he thought it was fun and entertaining. He didn't say anything about the horcruxes, but I guess he didn't have any problems to understand how they worked. It's quite obvious they are pieces of Voldemort's soul. A cliché!

[Justine251]

My dad has never read the books, but was confused by some things, such as why Snape would give him the "Shh" symbol before he killed Dumbledore. And how the HBP had to do with the story. And he couldn't understand the movie saying they should pronounce the words better. And he thought they said "Brilliant" way too often, and predicted every time they said "brilliant."

I thought the film was fantastic, though.

[MaWeasley]

My daughter went with a very reluctant friend who has never read the books and has only seen the first two movies. She ended up really liking the movie, enjoying both the humor and the romance. She got confused about a few points--she thought Draco was trying to kill Harry, not Dumbledore, but I think it was supposed to be unclear what Draco's mission truly was. Not sure if she figured out Horcruxes without my daughter's help. But she went from being a non-fan to be enthusiastic, so that says something.

[Nessy]

The three non book-readers in our group all thought it was the best of the Harry Potter movies they had seen.

[snapegirl]

My husband has never read the books, but he's watched all the movies.

He understood what was going on and really liked it.

[lil_snuffles]

My friend got mad at me because, not only did I not tell her that Dumbldore dies, I didn't tell her who kills him. She slapped me like 5 times. But she got over it.

[ArryGrotter]

Originally Posted by AccioHP

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)

My dad thought Snape was bad the second Spinner's End happened, and probably didn't get much of a surprise at the end

Otherwise he thought it was a great film. He said there was lots of action and lots of romance I really want to get his opinion on Snape killing Dumbledore, RAB, and the horcruxes, but I haven't yet

[Dedalus Diggle]

Originally Posted by lil_snuffles

My friend got mad at me because, not only did I not tell her that Dumbldore dies, I didn't tell her who kills him. She slapped me like 5 times. But she got over it.

Er, someone who slaps you five times for not spoiling a movie is called a friend?

[ArryGrotter]

Originally Posted by Justine251

My dad has never read the books, but was confused by some things, such as why Snape would give him the "Shh" symbol before he killed Dumbledore.

Well that's good! - it'll be explained in DH2!

[MasterOfDeath]

My mom was a fan of Snape and thought he was good, so she was shocked and disappointed in Snape killing Dumbledore but....my parents were more affected by Dumbledore dying actually. My mom said she felt 'empty' after he died and how the films won't be the same anymore without him. They didn't cry, but my mom said she felt like she was leaving somebody's funeral when she left the theater. She hates Snape now and my dad hopes Harry gets him in the next film. He said it was clear that Snape was a superior wizard to Harry. They felt bad for Draco and think he's going to help Harry now. My dad noticed that it seemed like 'Dumbledore let himself open too much' on the tower, which is a major clue, but I just told him he was severely weakened from drinking that potion in the cave to get to the horcrux.

[TheWestTower]

I went with my older brother who hasn't read any of the books. It’s been years since he last watched any of the movies, but thanks to me, he does have an idea of the back-story and plot arc of the entire series. I told him the basic premise of this movie as we waited in line for good measure.

At the end of it, he said he disliked it. The amount of romantic-comedy put him off; a few times he leaned over and said that he felt like he was watching an "SNL skit." It was just too much he said. By the middle, his attention wasn't sustained as much, even during the important scenes.

He loved Luna though.

[dchristen03]

There was a couple sitting on my right (I think in their mid-40's) and when it came to the Horcruxes part, they didn't really understand. It wasn't really explained properly, as Dumbledore just said it was a part where a person concealed his or her soul. They should've included the Gaunts memories and Hepzibah's CUP and LOCKET.

But in the end, it made sense to them, as the woman said "Oh."

[lil_snuffles]

Originally Posted by Dedalus Diggle

Er, someone who slaps you five times for not spoiling a movie is called a friend?

Nah, she didn't slap me hard. Plus she was joking. It was pretty funny at the time though.

My mom doesn't read the books, but she enjoys the movies and will be seeing it on Sunday with me.

[padfoot__lives]

I went with 8 others.. My cousin read the books, my best friend read up until DH, and my other friend read half of HBP (why stop halfway through? I don't know).

I didn't catch the reaction of the others, but my boyfriend hasn't read the books but he loves the movies (and knows much more about them than I expected!), and he enjoyed it. He wasn't awfully confused or anything. And he had forced me to tell him everyone who dies in the upcoming movies, so he already knew about Snape killing Dumbledore.

The only complaint he had that he voiced to me was about how they sort of shoved Ginny and Harry down your throat, and how finding out Snape was the Half-Blood Prince seemed sort of forced/quick and not kind of more of a shock to Harry.

He didn't catch the RAB thing, probably because he was too tired or not paying attention when Slughorn explained who Regulus was, or just that he didn't get the connection. But I don't think he really cares who took the locket to begin with, anyway. He gathered that Greyback was a werewolf, though, which made me pretty happy (I don't know why).

As for everyone else, my cousin sort of ruined for my 2 friends that Dumbledore had actually made Snape kill him.. one of which had already guessed at it, because of Snape not doing anything to grab Harry in the Astronomy Tower.

But generally everyone liked it, book reader and non, and everyone said it's either their new favorite or second favorite.. and nobody was confused or anything at all.

[Jigga]

My friends didn't know why Dumbledore's hand was blackened.

[lil_snuffles]

Originally Posted by Jigga

My friends didn't know why Dumbledore's hand was blackened.

Neither did mine. I had to explain that to them.