PoA Review! Eee!
Jun. 4th, 2004 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserI joined ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tersa and cyranocyrano for the first showing of the day (10:45 AM), borrowing their theory that kids would still be in school and most adults wouldn't be up and active yet. Luckily this was mostly true! We had just a couple little kids in the theater, and only one made noise (and even then it was minor and infrequent). It was showing on two screens at 10:45, and while according to online ticket selling one screen was sold out, ours was not. Very surprisingly, ours must have been two-thirds empty!
First off: I loved the movie to death.
That being said, if you hadn't read the book before seeing the movie, you would have been very, very lost. They cut a ton out (necessary, I know, but the plot was really hurt by it). Some things were changed or new, and of course every time something new appeared on the screen I said 'Ah ha! That must be a clue to book six or seven! ...but what does it imply?'.
I loved Lupin. Totally loved him. Thewlis did a wonderful job, IMO. He was strong and smart, but subdued and always under the cloud of the werewolf thing. Oldman played Sirius well, but... I still hate the character. I felt more of a connection with him than I did while reading the books, but I still don't like him. At all. I can't wait to see him die! (Sorry, puppy shipper people!)
Snape's on-screen time was really lacking, most notably in the Shack scene (he's blown away and then... nothing?). Though I've seen the Boggart scene countless times in ads and stuff, I still laughed a lot at seeing Snape in the grandmother's clothing. Poor fellow! :)
The effects were damned outstanding. Buckbeak was amazing, totally amazing; I 100% bought that he was a real, living creature. But as realistic as he was, the dementors were even better! The Quidditch scene with them flying around? My jaw was dropped, my mouth fully open, and all I could do was stare at the screen. Someone should win an award for the effects in this film.
There were some errors/issues, of course. What was with all the wandless magic? But bigger than that, why the heck did Peter-the-rat end up swimming in Peter-the-human's clothing after he changed?
There was so much background stuff to see! I feel like I missed so much, I want to go see it again now now now! All the paintings! Did you catch Sir Cadogan (spelling? The knight who replaces the Fat Lady after she was slashed)? And the ghosts on horseback must have been the Headless Hunt! (But did they have heads?)
What the heck was the deal with Tom? Didn't we see him in the first movie? Wasn't he a normal looking older man? Why the heck did he have a hunchback and act subhuman?
For me, all the teenage romance was a little... eh. Hermione clutching Ron while Harry clutched her? And the Ron/Hermione was just totally out in the open. (Het! Blech!) While it's not my pairing at all, the Lupin/Black moments did have me smiling: Yay slash!
The human actor for Peter (or rather, how they made him look/act) totally didn't work for me. Too over-the-top, too ugly, too dirty. Yes, he was a rat for a long time, but it's not like Ron rolled him in the mud on a daily basis.
Macnair (if that was really him) disappointed me a lot, but for totally fanish reasons. I have an exact image of how I see him (based onmaeglinyedi's Maeglin Yedi & the Order of the Serpent, I'll admit it!), and the movie him didn't fit at all. I was picturing a youngish, rough, semi-muscular, good looking (in a very rough way) fellow.
Even with those small issues, this was easily the best, best, best, best HP movie thus far. I wish Cuaron would do the next movies, too! I can easily see why JKR was impressed by PoA. I SO SO SO want a copy of it for my home viewing! (While my theater experience was really good, seeing it there is nothing like seeing it alone without any distractions. The seat next to me was occupied, and for that reason (along with others) I could never totally lose myself in the film. I was grounded to reality by the noises, the touches, just the knowledge that all these other folks were in the same room.)
If you haven't seen the movie yet, make time to! If you're a fan, you won't be sorry. :)
PS: Nope,peppygrowlithe, I didn't get any popcorn! I had had some at home yesterday, so wasn't in the mood for it. Plus, the movie ended at 2 PM and I hadn't had a single thing to drink or anything to eat other than a protein bar, so I was starving for "real food". I would have been nice to the kid behind the counter if I had ordered anything, though!
tersa and cyranocyrano for the first showing of the day (10:45 AM), borrowing their theory that kids would still be in school and most adults wouldn't be up and active yet. Luckily this was mostly true! We had just a couple little kids in the theater, and only one made noise (and even then it was minor and infrequent). It was showing on two screens at 10:45, and while according to online ticket selling one screen was sold out, ours was not. Very surprisingly, ours must have been two-thirds empty! First off: I loved the movie to death.
That being said, if you hadn't read the book before seeing the movie, you would have been very, very lost. They cut a ton out (necessary, I know, but the plot was really hurt by it). Some things were changed or new, and of course every time something new appeared on the screen I said 'Ah ha! That must be a clue to book six or seven! ...but what does it imply?'.
I loved Lupin. Totally loved him. Thewlis did a wonderful job, IMO. He was strong and smart, but subdued and always under the cloud of the werewolf thing. Oldman played Sirius well, but... I still hate the character. I felt more of a connection with him than I did while reading the books, but I still don't like him. At all. I can't wait to see him die! (Sorry, puppy shipper people!)
Snape's on-screen time was really lacking, most notably in the Shack scene (he's blown away and then... nothing?). Though I've seen the Boggart scene countless times in ads and stuff, I still laughed a lot at seeing Snape in the grandmother's clothing. Poor fellow! :)
The effects were damned outstanding. Buckbeak was amazing, totally amazing; I 100% bought that he was a real, living creature. But as realistic as he was, the dementors were even better! The Quidditch scene with them flying around? My jaw was dropped, my mouth fully open, and all I could do was stare at the screen. Someone should win an award for the effects in this film.
There were some errors/issues, of course. What was with all the wandless magic? But bigger than that, why the heck did Peter-the-rat end up swimming in Peter-the-human's clothing after he changed?
There was so much background stuff to see! I feel like I missed so much, I want to go see it again now now now! All the paintings! Did you catch Sir Cadogan (spelling? The knight who replaces the Fat Lady after she was slashed)? And the ghosts on horseback must have been the Headless Hunt! (But did they have heads?)
What the heck was the deal with Tom? Didn't we see him in the first movie? Wasn't he a normal looking older man? Why the heck did he have a hunchback and act subhuman?
For me, all the teenage romance was a little... eh. Hermione clutching Ron while Harry clutched her? And the Ron/Hermione was just totally out in the open. (Het! Blech!) While it's not my pairing at all, the Lupin/Black moments did have me smiling: Yay slash!
The human actor for Peter (or rather, how they made him look/act) totally didn't work for me. Too over-the-top, too ugly, too dirty. Yes, he was a rat for a long time, but it's not like Ron rolled him in the mud on a daily basis.
Macnair (if that was really him) disappointed me a lot, but for totally fanish reasons. I have an exact image of how I see him (based on
maeglinyedi's Maeglin Yedi & the Order of the Serpent, I'll admit it!), and the movie him didn't fit at all. I was picturing a youngish, rough, semi-muscular, good looking (in a very rough way) fellow. Even with those small issues, this was easily the best, best, best, best HP movie thus far. I wish Cuaron would do the next movies, too! I can easily see why JKR was impressed by PoA. I SO SO SO want a copy of it for my home viewing! (While my theater experience was really good, seeing it there is nothing like seeing it alone without any distractions. The seat next to me was occupied, and for that reason (along with others) I could never totally lose myself in the film. I was grounded to reality by the noises, the touches, just the knowledge that all these other folks were in the same room.)
If you haven't seen the movie yet, make time to! If you're a fan, you won't be sorry. :)
PS: Nope,
peppygrowlithe, I didn't get any popcorn! I had had some at home yesterday, so wasn't in the mood for it. Plus, the movie ended at 2 PM and I hadn't had a single thing to drink or anything to eat other than a protein bar, so I was starving for "real food". I would have been nice to the kid behind the counter if I had ordered anything, though!
