Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Well, that was kind of disappointing, wasn't it?
I will admit that when Hedwig died and Dobby died, I cried. But then I cried when they died in the book, so that wasn't exactly a surprising reaction.
The beginning with all the different Harry's was awesome and I thought they did that very well. Same does with the Deatheaters finding Harry, Ron and Hermoine at the cafe. And the bit where they broke into the Ministry of Magic was pretty awesome and I thought done better than it was in the book.
And George walking in on Harry and Ginny kissing and finding the whole thing amusing and just standing there, winking at them, was very funny.
But, other than that...meh. It's about all I can say.
They didn't mess up the trio staying at Sirius's house - for which I'm grateful because that was my favourite bit in the book. I mean, it wasn't brilliant, but it wasn't awful.
I can say that when Harry and Hermoine danced (seriously, wtf was that?) and when Ron was describing the light going into his heart, pretty much the entire audience was laughing.
I thought Ginny had more personality in those few lines than she'd had in any of the previous movies.
Ron having the radio was a very good way of not having to meet up with Dean while they were camping in the forest - well, spy on Dean, but you know what I mean.
Snape's hair looked particularly fluffy when the Death Eaters were meeting at Malfoy Manner.
Lucius looked decidedly scruffy and particularly yummy.
One thing I did like was Neville standing up to the Death Eaters who stopped the Hogwarts Express. That was kind of awesome and just made me realise even more how much I would have preferred to watch Neville bring the DA back together and defy Snape.
And, I need someone who remembers the books a bit better than I do, but, when it came to the Hallows themselves, were they explained in the books the same way they were explained in the film? Because if they were, I managed to miss that entirely.
Because, if they had been explained away as a wizarding fairytale/myth/legend/children's story I would have been a lot more forgiving. Because having Ron know the story of the three brothers made all the difference to me.
I mean, I still think the Hallows were a deux des machina, but they seem slightly less shoehorned in than before.
Oh, but that reminds me, the animation for the telling of the brothers' tale was all kinds of awesome, and in amongst some really boring stuff, that was kind of a highlight.
I think the three biggest problems the film had were:-
1) Daniel Radcliffe, while he has improved vastly over the years, just isn't good enough to hold a good portion of the film together when he's one of two people on screen. The Harry and Hermoine parts were SO boring - I couldn't wait for them to end. He also doesn't really have the range to convey all the emotions Harry must be feeling. I never really feel it with Harry
2) Because it's all/mostly from Harry pov it means we can't go places and see the more exciting stuff happen. Or stay with the more exciting stuff. We miss the fight from Pivot Drive because Hagrid has to get Harry away. We miss the fight at the wedding because Harry, Ron and Hermoine get away so quickly.
It's a problem the books kind of have, but it's kind of less noticeable in a book. On film, it is WAY more noticeable. Just as things look to be getting interesting on screen, we go and we never see what happens.
Due to the near mind-numbing tedium of camping in various forests and moors, surely this would have been a good time to stay with some of the action, regardless of whether Harry was there or not.
(Like in LOTR:TTT - even when going through the marshes with Frodo, Sam and Gollum, you knew that you were going to get back to what was happening with Merry and Pip and with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli.)
3)It felt like the film makers were just going through the motions, hitting certain marks - it was like they had a check list and they were so busy ticking it off they forgot to actually stay and marvel at things.
Like the bit in Godric's Hollow with Nagini. That should have been awesome, but it felt as though they were eager to finish it just so they could get to the next bit.
And, finally, I have to repeat something that son_of_darkness pointed out, aren't Hermoine's parents going to be a bit confused by all the empty photos they have on the wall? And, even more, aren't they going to be really confused when their neighbours start asking how their daughter is doing?
And, are the neighbours going to call the cops when her parents can't remember her, and swear blind they've never had a daughter? And what will they do when shown birth certificates and the like?
I'm sure it's supposed to be tragic, but I can't find something that inexplicable, tragic. Sorry.
I can easily wait until July for the next one. Not a problem at all.
On the plus side, I'm probably going to go to the movies again tomorrow, and see either Megamind or Unstoppable.
And now for bed. So tired.