(no subject)

[mari4212]

First off, I took a Latin test today after having missed a lot of the classes leadin up to it. I don't think I managed an A, but I'm confident I got a B. So yay!

Secondly, I saw the Harry Potter movie last night. My thoughts are under the cut, don't click if you don't want some spoilers.


I have very mixed feelings about this movie. Parts of it were very good, and parts of it were absolutely atrocious. There wasn't much middle ground.

Good parts:
+Neville!!!!!! He was so cute, and he was the first boy to stand up and dance with the girls during the practice, and he loved dancing and guh. *loves Neville*
+Maggie Smith as McGonagall. She did a wonderful job, and will forever be my McGonagall.
+Snape monitoring during the study session and getting such a thrill out of slapping Ron and Harry upside the head for talking.
+The dance practices.
+Hagrid and Madame Maxime's romance was touching and well played.
+The climax, where Voldemort is reborn, up to Harry's return to Hogwarts was excellent.
+Harry's clinging to Cedric's body, sobbing, and then Amos Diggory's grief were excellent.
+Dumbledore's talk with Harry at the very end.

Dislikes:
-The movie really felt like a greatest hits version of GOF. You blink from one big scene to the next, with little continuity. If you've read the book, you can make sense of it, but it gets really jarring at times. I understand they can't film the entire book, but could they at least make it more continuous?
-Characterization issues. It's most evident with Dumbledore, but there were several times when I was jarred out of the movie because the characterizations were just so off.
-So much of the backstory that sets up the various different situations, and which leads into the rest of the series was left out.
-No Quidditch World Cup. They do the intro, and then skip right on to the celebration afterwards.
-Costuming department? You're all fired. Come back when you've read the books and know what they are supposed to be wearing. I'll give you some creative licence, and the Durmstrung outfits were great, but there was so much that you just ignored, and it got beyond irksome.
-"Eternal Glory"? What the heck is up with that? That is not Dumbledore. That is pod!Dumbledore, who has apparently abducted our beloved headmaster for most of the movie.
-the character assasination of Ron. Having Ron see the dragons and not tell Harry directly destroys a lot of what makes Ron what he is. Yeah he was jealous, but he's also a true and loyal friend.
-The Crouches were not done well. Crouch senior comes off looking too noble given what we know from the books, and Crouch junior comes off as psychotic far too early on. And since Crouch senior is painted as being noble, Sirius's comments about him come from nowhere and are not supported.
-The other champions are not fleshed out. Cedric is, at least a little, but there's nothing there for either Fleur or Viktor.
-And last but not least, I've decided that Hermione is not actually in the movies. Emma Watson is playing a character loosely based on a few fanfics about Hermione. Our Hermione was shoved into the vanishing cabinet sometime shortly after the second movie, and she hasn't surfaced since. Harry and Ron are under a confundus charm so they didn't notice the switch.

On the whole, the movie is okay. But I've decided that I really don't want to see more of my favorite books being turned into movies if they come out like this. Harry Potter had the potential to be wonderful, not just okay.

Comments

[rynmorianqueen.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the movie yet, and I'm not a HUGE fan of the books (I like them, they just don't speak to me in the way they seem to for the big fans), but I resent seeing any work of good literature turned into a not-half-bad film. THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! I enjoy the movies for their sweeping grandeur and lovely color and effects, but plot discontinuity (is that a word?) really drives me up a wall. I agree with your last sentence, and I always believe that when something could be done well, it's nobody's right to do it badly.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

See, that was the reason I loved Lord of the Rings. The people making it loved the books and loved the characters, and it showed in the effort they put forth. The Harry Potter movies, unfortunately, seem to miss that, and they suffer for it.

And discontinuity is a word.

[rynmorianqueen.livejournal.com]

Exactly my thoughts about LOTR. The trilogy is such a labor of love. With Harry Potter, changing directors, changing actors (I know they couldn't help it with Dumbledore, but it was unfortunate), and nobody really pouring and pouring love into it...just makes for less quality. It's too bad. :-(

[toniabarone.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet and now I'm not sure I wanna. Okay, so I was seriously thinking of protesting it due to the coming attactions alone but still. *shakes her head* I've said from the beginning that it was wrong of them to leave the little stuff out. It's what gives the characters life and the story heart.

...but I will see it, if only because I'm masochistic and curious enough to see the horror for myself.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good points. I'm more reacting on the fact that because of those good points, I know they could do better on the others, and they aren't. I know a lot of people who loved the movie.

[toniabarone.livejournal.com]

*nods* What's in there is damn good, but what they left out sucks. Yeah. What worries me though is yer evaluations of Ron an' Hermione. Maybe I should go to the movie and treat it like a fanfic?

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

For most of it, Ron is good. But I didn't like the fact that they had him know about the dragons.

Treating it like a fanfic is probably a good idea.

[toniabarone.livejournal.com]

*shakes her head and thinks* I never got around to rereading it. Ron DOESN'T see Charlie when he's there, does he? In the book, I mean. *but makes note to see the movie as a fanfic, not an actual interpretation of the book*

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Not then. The first time he learns about the dragons is when he watches the tournament and realizes how much danger Harry was in.

[toniabarone.livejournal.com]

*nods* I didn't think Ron did.

[heylittleriver.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Now you're making me kinda doubting wanting to see it too. Goblet is my favourite of all the books so...

Though, I kind of just want to see it because of your reaction about Neville! I've always liked him in the books. And Hagrid and Madame Maxine!

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Neville is worth seeing, as is the romance between Hagrid and Maxime. Really, there are a lot of good points, it's just that the movie fails in other areas.

See it once at least, it's worth that.

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen it now and well...

I'm wondering if my view of it is kinda bad because I saw a dl-ed version on a tiny screen, but they really did let it down. Though I adored Neville (Eeeeee! Neville!) and some of the humour, and the graveyard scene oh so much.

The jumpiness did bug me a lot. Strangely, it was actually some of the camera angles that annoyed me the most - they were trying to make it *really* dramatic when the scene wasn't that dramatic...

One of my friends had forgotten the book so she was confused for a while. They really did cut a lot. :/ So, yeah, I agree with your assessment of it. Still wondering whether to see it at the cinemas; maybe it'll change my mind.

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Like I said, Harry Potter is the movie series that makes me scared of people making movies of my favorite books. Parts are great, but so much of it is a letdown.

And Neville!

[heylittleriver.livejournal.com]

*headesk* That was me!

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

kind of figured.

[ljmckay.livejournal.com]

Sorry this is so late; I waited to read your reactions until I saw it myself.

I agree with you for the most part, especially about Neville (I seriously thought of you in the scene where he dances around the dorm) and Ron knowing about the dragons. Initially, too, I was put off by the too-quick switching from scene to scene but either that faded as the movie went on or I got used to it.

I think my first impression of this one is better than I had of PoA, though, interestingly enough. I'm not sure what it is exactly; maybe I'm just doing like toniabarone and thinking of it as a fic more.

Anyway, interesting to see your thoughts on it!