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Today I scheduled off from work as a sort of mental health day.
So I took it as an opportunity to go see one Mr. H. Potter.
Mostly, I loved the movie. I loved falling back into that magical world, being enveloped by its atmosphere.
I did have a few minor problems, those being:
1.) the lack of Neville.
2.) the lack of Remus.
3.) the scaled back climax.
The first two I expected. Neville's hardly in the book, anyway. At least Matt was in a lot of shots, even if he only did get one line. (I "awww"ed out loud when he showed up in the serving jacket. Poor Neville. They better do right by you in The Deathly Hallows is all I'm saying.) And David Thewlis is always underappreciated and underused. However, I expected a little bit more of Remus, particularly later on. Which leads me to the third problem.
Yates truly rendered the climax an anticlimax. It wasn't bad. It just seemed like a missed opportunity. There's all that frenetic action at the end of the book, but only a fraction of that made it onto the screen. No fighting and a minimal Harry/Snape confrontation? No regrouping of Dumbledore's Army? I don't get it. Why eliminate that? Sure, the BIG CLIMAX is coming with the final movie. But that doesn't mean HBP needs to be climax-less.
Ah well.
Oh, wait. And Sirius wasn't mentioned at all, was he? Hrmm, that's odd.
What I did love was pretty much everything else. The other omissions weren't missed. And I really loved the scene in the fields outside of the Burrow-it was manic and excellent. That kind of deviation from text is a-okay with me.
Overall, I felt it remained loyal to the book as well as loyal to the HP movie verse-much more loyal than The Order Of The Phoenix. All the details made me tremendously happy: Mr. Weasley's collection of Muggle electronics, Luna's lion hat, the return of the Marauder's Map, Felix Felicis, the madness of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Ginny's pygmy puff, the Potions book, the degradation of Diagon Alley almost matching it up with Knockturn Alley, Riddle's stolen souvenirs, etc., etc.
Speaking of another type of riddle (sorry, I have pun issues), the cave scene in the book always reminded me strongly of "Riddles in the Dark" in The Hobbit. And then. Well. Did the movie's Inferi remind anyone else of Gollum? A gaggle of Gollums. Hee. (What's it got in its pocketses? A horcrux!)
Jim Broadbent made a perfect Slughorn. Seriously, HP has used up all the best British actors, hasn't it?
I loved Harry's joy at the magic used to clean up Slughorn's cottage; I love that he still has a sense of awe and wonder.
The humor was right on. Ron, naturally, had most of the best lines. Also, man, Rupert is getting huge! All the kids are... well, they're not really kids anymore, are they?
I loved the Pensieve scenes. Even though they were reduced, I feel that Yates used what was necessary for the story. He got the atmosphere exactly right. And the ink in water effect was fantastic.
Alan Rickman continues to be made of awesome. <333
I've never been much of a Draco fan, but Tom Felton did a remarkable job.
The cinematography took my breath away. It always does, but it felt like they upped the ante this time. When Harry commented at the end about never realizing how beautiful Hogwarts was, it not only seemed poignant in that it spoke of Harry's loss of innocence-cum-appreciation of things in the face of loss, but it pretty much felt like he was pointing his finger at one of the most gorgeous shots in the film: a Hogwarts turret beyond him, and the lake beyond that, nestled in the Scottish hills. CGI helped, I'm sure. But that was exquisite. As was the shot of Fawkes soaring in the sky. So majestic and melancholy: it summed up the tone of the funeral in the book, without needing to show all of that. Well done.
So, even though I don't think HBP was flawless, I do think the good far outweighs the less-good. I'm hoping to see it at least once more before it leaves the theaters.
You know, it hurts to realize that there will only be one more HP movie to look forward to now. Only one more chance to go to the theater and get chills when Hedwig's Theme (or some variation thereof) fades in. *sniff*
New Leverage tonight!
In the meantime, I'm going to go play with my Pushing Daisies season two dvds. And Coraline arrived from Netflix, so that's tempting me too.
I hope you're all well. <3 I'll try to catch up later.
So I took it as an opportunity to go see one Mr. H. Potter.
Mostly, I loved the movie. I loved falling back into that magical world, being enveloped by its atmosphere.
I did have a few minor problems, those being:
1.) the lack of Neville.
2.) the lack of Remus.
3.) the scaled back climax.
The first two I expected. Neville's hardly in the book, anyway. At least Matt was in a lot of shots, even if he only did get one line. (I "awww"ed out loud when he showed up in the serving jacket. Poor Neville. They better do right by you in The Deathly Hallows is all I'm saying.) And David Thewlis is always underappreciated and underused. However, I expected a little bit more of Remus, particularly later on. Which leads me to the third problem.
Yates truly rendered the climax an anticlimax. It wasn't bad. It just seemed like a missed opportunity. There's all that frenetic action at the end of the book, but only a fraction of that made it onto the screen. No fighting and a minimal Harry/Snape confrontation? No regrouping of Dumbledore's Army? I don't get it. Why eliminate that? Sure, the BIG CLIMAX is coming with the final movie. But that doesn't mean HBP needs to be climax-less.
Ah well.
Oh, wait. And Sirius wasn't mentioned at all, was he? Hrmm, that's odd.
What I did love was pretty much everything else. The other omissions weren't missed. And I really loved the scene in the fields outside of the Burrow-it was manic and excellent. That kind of deviation from text is a-okay with me.
Overall, I felt it remained loyal to the book as well as loyal to the HP movie verse-much more loyal than The Order Of The Phoenix. All the details made me tremendously happy: Mr. Weasley's collection of Muggle electronics, Luna's lion hat, the return of the Marauder's Map, Felix Felicis, the madness of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Ginny's pygmy puff, the Potions book, the degradation of Diagon Alley almost matching it up with Knockturn Alley, Riddle's stolen souvenirs, etc., etc.
Speaking of another type of riddle (sorry, I have pun issues), the cave scene in the book always reminded me strongly of "Riddles in the Dark" in The Hobbit. And then. Well. Did the movie's Inferi remind anyone else of Gollum? A gaggle of Gollums. Hee. (What's it got in its pocketses? A horcrux!)
Jim Broadbent made a perfect Slughorn. Seriously, HP has used up all the best British actors, hasn't it?
I loved Harry's joy at the magic used to clean up Slughorn's cottage; I love that he still has a sense of awe and wonder.
The humor was right on. Ron, naturally, had most of the best lines. Also, man, Rupert is getting huge! All the kids are... well, they're not really kids anymore, are they?
I loved the Pensieve scenes. Even though they were reduced, I feel that Yates used what was necessary for the story. He got the atmosphere exactly right. And the ink in water effect was fantastic.
Alan Rickman continues to be made of awesome. <333
I've never been much of a Draco fan, but Tom Felton did a remarkable job.
The cinematography took my breath away. It always does, but it felt like they upped the ante this time. When Harry commented at the end about never realizing how beautiful Hogwarts was, it not only seemed poignant in that it spoke of Harry's loss of innocence-cum-appreciation of things in the face of loss, but it pretty much felt like he was pointing his finger at one of the most gorgeous shots in the film: a Hogwarts turret beyond him, and the lake beyond that, nestled in the Scottish hills. CGI helped, I'm sure. But that was exquisite. As was the shot of Fawkes soaring in the sky. So majestic and melancholy: it summed up the tone of the funeral in the book, without needing to show all of that. Well done.
So, even though I don't think HBP was flawless, I do think the good far outweighs the less-good. I'm hoping to see it at least once more before it leaves the theaters.
You know, it hurts to realize that there will only be one more HP movie to look forward to now. Only one more chance to go to the theater and get chills when Hedwig's Theme (or some variation thereof) fades in. *sniff*
New Leverage tonight!
In the meantime, I'm going to go play with my Pushing Daisies season two dvds. And Coraline arrived from Netflix, so that's tempting me too.
I hope you're all well. <3 I'll try to catch up later.