Peg and I went out and saw the new Harry Potter movie last night. Forthwith my rambling thoughts on it.
First off, be aware it's long -- at least 2 1/2 hours, maybe closer to 2 3/4. It won't seem like it for most viewers, mind you, but just so you don't go into shock when you look at your watch after it's over, be warned.
Overall, good job of adaptation. Things were, inevitably, left out, as OoTP is where Rowling's books start getting really big, but to my surprise a lot more major points made it in than happened with Goblet of Fire. Hmm. Kreacher's betrayal is gone. Marietta Edgecomb is gone, with unexpected repercussions, plot- and character-wise. The painting of Mrs. Black is hinted at rather than shown, and we never get to hear her go off on a tirade. And most disturbingly, almost all Ginny plot/sublot is gone. (More on this below.) Um. I'm sure there were more but I can't recall them now.
Pleasant surprises: The Thestrals -- one, for looking really well-done, and two, because the trailers with the shots of Harry on a broom flying through London led me to believe they might have scrapped the thestrals entirely. Luna Lovegood -- Evanna Lynch is a lot lower-key than I expected Luna to be, and a lot less, um, spacey, but surprisingly good. Sirius going through the veil is profoundly creepy -- and more heartbreaking because of how it's done.
Disappointments: Because of the sheer amount of material the move had to cover, Tonks, Shacklebolt and others in the Order had very little screen time. I especially wanted to see more of Tonks, because Natalia Tena seemed to be doing a particularly good job with her. She just didn't get to do much. The Ministry battle -- is unexpectedly gutted. All the heroism and tragedy of the DA's participation has been completely removed. They break into the prophecy room, they run into Death Eaters, they get cornered in the veil room, the Order comes and does the real fighting. Worst of all, the Prophecy is edited and Neville's part in it thrown away -- this is just unbelievable, given how central the prophecy is to the overall plot arc.
Unexpected: Umbridge. I'd been conditioned to expect a harsh-voiced hag; I wasn't expecting her infamous "hem hem" to turn out to be a high-pitched titter. Still want to murder her in her sleep, though. Harry's brief relationship with Cho seems more... grown-up? mature? ... than it does in the book.
No cast changes in the kids this film. Looks like they've finally standardized their Patil twins, so I think they've finally locked down the student cast (tho' they've had most of it permanently defined since the first one).
One major concern, related to that: Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny. She was hired for the first movie at something like 9 or 10, and all she had to do in it was hide behind Julie Waters and peer at Daniel Radcliffe. I don't remember much of her performance at all in Chamber of Secrets, and over the subsequent movies, I've noticed that she gets almost no lines. In this film, the only things I remember her actually saying are spell incantations! I am beginning to wonder if they signed her for a long-term contract, and then discovered that she couldn't act... because by god, they are writing the movies such that she is little more than a piece of moving furniture. She's got the most powerful zap in the DA, yes, but there's no real interaction between her and Harry. Luna Lovegood gets more screen time with Harry by orders of magnitude -- in fact, I think they were trying to set up a Harry-Luna relationship in this film! Harry and Luna have two good-length scenes together where it seems clear that they're trying to show a kind of kinship between the two, and Harry's clearly responding to something about her. I'd really like to know what other people think on this one when they see it.
Anyway... capsule review: Nicely done, far fewer inexplicable deletions than the last film, worth first run prices and the nearly 3 hours in the theatre that it'll take.
-- Bob
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The Internet Is For Norns.
First off, be aware it's long -- at least 2 1/2 hours, maybe closer to 2 3/4. It won't seem like it for most viewers, mind you, but just so you don't go into shock when you look at your watch after it's over, be warned.
Overall, good job of adaptation. Things were, inevitably, left out, as OoTP is where Rowling's books start getting really big, but to my surprise a lot more major points made it in than happened with Goblet of Fire. Hmm. Kreacher's betrayal is gone. Marietta Edgecomb is gone, with unexpected repercussions, plot- and character-wise. The painting of Mrs. Black is hinted at rather than shown, and we never get to hear her go off on a tirade. And most disturbingly, almost all Ginny plot/sublot is gone. (More on this below.) Um. I'm sure there were more but I can't recall them now.
Pleasant surprises: The Thestrals -- one, for looking really well-done, and two, because the trailers with the shots of Harry on a broom flying through London led me to believe they might have scrapped the thestrals entirely. Luna Lovegood -- Evanna Lynch is a lot lower-key than I expected Luna to be, and a lot less, um, spacey, but surprisingly good. Sirius going through the veil is profoundly creepy -- and more heartbreaking because of how it's done.
Disappointments: Because of the sheer amount of material the move had to cover, Tonks, Shacklebolt and others in the Order had very little screen time. I especially wanted to see more of Tonks, because Natalia Tena seemed to be doing a particularly good job with her. She just didn't get to do much. The Ministry battle -- is unexpectedly gutted. All the heroism and tragedy of the DA's participation has been completely removed. They break into the prophecy room, they run into Death Eaters, they get cornered in the veil room, the Order comes and does the real fighting. Worst of all, the Prophecy is edited and Neville's part in it thrown away -- this is just unbelievable, given how central the prophecy is to the overall plot arc.
Unexpected: Umbridge. I'd been conditioned to expect a harsh-voiced hag; I wasn't expecting her infamous "hem hem" to turn out to be a high-pitched titter. Still want to murder her in her sleep, though. Harry's brief relationship with Cho seems more... grown-up? mature? ... than it does in the book.
No cast changes in the kids this film. Looks like they've finally standardized their Patil twins, so I think they've finally locked down the student cast (tho' they've had most of it permanently defined since the first one).
One major concern, related to that: Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny. She was hired for the first movie at something like 9 or 10, and all she had to do in it was hide behind Julie Waters and peer at Daniel Radcliffe. I don't remember much of her performance at all in Chamber of Secrets, and over the subsequent movies, I've noticed that she gets almost no lines. In this film, the only things I remember her actually saying are spell incantations! I am beginning to wonder if they signed her for a long-term contract, and then discovered that she couldn't act... because by god, they are writing the movies such that she is little more than a piece of moving furniture. She's got the most powerful zap in the DA, yes, but there's no real interaction between her and Harry. Luna Lovegood gets more screen time with Harry by orders of magnitude -- in fact, I think they were trying to set up a Harry-Luna relationship in this film! Harry and Luna have two good-length scenes together where it seems clear that they're trying to show a kind of kinship between the two, and Harry's clearly responding to something about her. I'd really like to know what other people think on this one when they see it.
Anyway... capsule review: Nicely done, far fewer inexplicable deletions than the last film, worth first run prices and the nearly 3 hours in the theatre that it'll take.
-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.