Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Parts I and II) discussion

The Weasley Wedding at the beginning through to when the Trio is taken by the Snatchers, ending on a cliffhanger un route to Malfoy Manor.

I seriously doubt that, the lack of memories indicates the trio is going to be actively hunting the remaining horcruxes rather than just learning about them in memory, for example: [spoiler]rather than learning about the hufflepuff cup in a memory, I think they'll be doing active detective work after being given a start by dumbledore's collected memory and that leads them to bella (perhaps they find and question the old lady's house elf themselves?) then they find out at the start of part 2 that bella put it in her Gringotts vault.  You can also tell the story of the ravenclaw diadem in this part, again, begin with a dumbledore memory and then bulid on it, giving them a chance to investigate it.  So rather than them feeling helpless and having nothing to do that isn't locket related in the first book you combine the stories and hunt for those three horcruxes and make the hunt for them more active and investigatory.  part of the problem of their frustrated passivity in book seven was that dumbledore had already given Harry all the information/memories he really had in book six.  We haven't been given that info in the movies yet,  but it will be necessary to learn it.  Have them learn something about Nagini as well (or cut Nagini as a horcrux and have six horcruxes (seven parts of soul) rather than seven horcruxes (eight parts of soul) as in the book).  Cutting Nagini may be in the cards, did you note how Riddle said, "six or seven horcruxes?" in the movie version of his scene with Slughorn?  The dialog is substantially different then how the book treats that scene.

The other big subplot is dumbledore's back story which is most relevant to the tale of the three brothers. I would juggle learning the tale of the three brothers to the beginning of part II when they are imprisoned, have the tale come from Ollivander and Hermione, and have Hermione yanked at a major point of the story.  Deal with her torture, the breakout and if necessary get the rest of the story later from Lovegood or Hermione or whatever.  (or Lovegood can be imprisoned in Malfoy manner as well).  Additionally, having dumbledore's backstory come from Skeeter's articles and books is passive and annoying, better to get snatches  of it from people who knew him that the trio runs into during their quest (perhaps having Harry collect memories so we can SEE some of this backstory, and establish a nice little grace note of Harry stepping into Dumbledore's shoes in the task of collecting memories, only this time he's collecting memories about Dumbledore--the greatest 'good' wizard--rather than the greatest evil wizard.  It's a solid dramatic parallel and makes things more cinematic and the trio more actively engaged with the essential stories of the three  brothers and of dumbledore's past and connection to the deathly hallows. [/spoiler]

"Well, there's one where he comes and delivers Dumbledore's [Michael Gambon] legacy to the three children," Nighy replied, referring to Harry, Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint, with whom Nighy worked on the upcoming action-comedy Wild Target). "He gives them all of the things that Dumbledore has left them, and that's when it's first indicated that he may not be around for much longer. So it's quite an affecting scene."

So a key change from the book is that when Scrimgeour gives the Trio Dumbledore's gifts, he's not still desperately trying to save his political future; instead, he knows his death is iminient and is basically doing the only thing he can to give the good guys a shot. A less complex but also less disillusioning take on the character.

I'd like to see the story of Ravenclaw's diadem expanded or changed in the movie.  What I'd do is have the trio encounter a somewhat cured Gilderoy Lockhart and have him connected to the diadem. for instance, Lockhart's only real 'adventure' was when he tried to track down the diadem?  from the trio encountering Lockhart and perhaps getting a memory of his, they get a clue that leads them to the next step and then they figure out where it may be hidden by connecting it to dumbledore's memory of Riddle.