(no subject)
Just saw OotP at St. Anthony Main (which is a neat little area, by the way) and I wrote a review of sorts.
SPOILERS AHEAD, YE BE WARNED.
The biggest problem with Harry Potter being made into movies is that there's so much extra stuff you enjoy reading about that has pretty much nothing to do with the plot, that you can't conceivably have in a movie because it'd take too long (OotP, especially, just because there was SO MUCH to that book).
In other words, they basically took the book and shaved off pretty much everything that wasn't the main plot. But I guess you kind of have to, considering the book was 800 pages and they had to put it into a 2 hr-20 minute movie.
Random notes I have accumulated!
YAYS
~Dean Thomas is hot.
~Lucius Malfoy is hot. Especially since his hair isn't thick, fake, and ladylike. I mean, it's probably still fake but it's way better than it was. And I like that black/silver number he was wearing in the Ministry. Rawr. :B
~Voldy in a suit? WTF xDDD Hilarious.
~I thought Kingsley was going to be more Samuel L. Jackson-y. ("I've had it with these mother------ snakes in this mother------ Ministry!") But he was very cool nonetheless. :3
~Helena Bonham Carter did a very nice take on Bellatrix. Captured the "maniacal" very nicely. ;)
~The girl who played Luna (Evanna Lynch) did an amazing job. Probably my favorite of the student actors.
~Dumbledore's actor was better in this one. He wasn't screaming his head off like in GoF, at least. x3
~Thestrals were pretty good. Better than the werewolf anyway. I LIKED THE BAAAABY THESTRAL ^_____^
~I did like the relationship between Harry and Sirius, especially since most of the bonding they did were in the 4th and 5th books, but Sirius wasn't in the 4th movie except for the fire scene. (Although in the Ministry during the fight, when Sirius said "Well, done, James", I thought that was really interesting.)
~Good effects, especially on the Patronuses.
~I like how they turned Umbridge's tyranny into a montage. It moved kind of fast, but it was really effective.
~OMG THE KITTENS. I loved and hated the kittens. (But mostly loved them.)
~YOUNG SNAPE. I D'AWWWWWED. :) EVEN IF HE TURNS OUT TO BE EVIL I WILL FOREVER BE HIS. I MEAN HIS FAN. YEAH. o___o
NAYS
~I'm sorry, this is my personal bias of not especially liking how Hermione is written for the movies (or Emma Watson's portrayal of her for that matter), but I was smacking my forehead at one point - Hermione with Grawp. Hermione was TERRIFIED on the verge of TEARS of Grawp in the book, while in the movie she was like, "oh yeah, I'm cool and calm and collected, I can handle this" King-Kong-esque weirdness that I didn't like at all. It just seemed very out-of-character.
~There was a lack of Lupin, Tonks, and everyone else who wasn't Harry.
~Umbridge, although well-acted, seemed too 1950's house-wifey, which took away some of the repulsiveness of her character. Still pretty repulsive, though. x3
~Grawp was too adorable and too easy to relate to. I expected him to be more troublesome.
~Dudley in the beginning when he's taunting Harry... I dunno. That was weird. Like, "I'm going to stare at you looking slightly stoned and cross-eyed". Acting? What's that? D:
~Arabella Figg was disappointing. In the book where she's ranting and raving, it's hilarious because it's so unexpected. But the movie-Figg was like, "... ooze".
~When Harry was spazzing out due to Voldemort nightmares, there were lots of weird, unnecessary neck shots. It was strange.
~Kreacher. I realize that they were going to cut him out, but JEEZ. It was like, "Hi I'm an obligatory cameo! The end! :D" and it didn't really work.
~This is just me being biased and feeling cheated that my favorite chapter in OotP was cut down to 5 seconds, but THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE "SNAPE'S WORST MEMORY". LIKE, THE [I]ENTIRE[/I] MEMORY WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE. D< *shakes fist* x3
And, OK, Harry Potter on his emo trip in the book was just irritating. Harry Potter on his emo trip in the movie was hilarious. Not as much as Spider-Man 3, but still. I am gonna have SO much fun making a parody of this movie. xDD
The whole movie, overall, had its moments and was a pretty good adaptation of the events in the book considering the restrictions that they had. But it also felt like one giant montage of moments and scenes from the book with no cohesive movement or flow between them.
Overall - could have been better, could have been worse.