Harry Potter Retrospective
As we get closer to the release of the final Harry Potter film, I've been re-watching the previous films. After the first film, I read all the books and would re-read them heading into the succeeding films. This time, I haven't read the books since Half-Blood Prince came out, so I'm seeing more of how the movie stands on it own and how well the movies flow together.
So far, I've watched the first three films.
I found the first two films to be pretty solid. The story made sense, you didn't need any prior knowledge to understand what was happening nor were you left with unanswered questions, and there weren't things poorly imagined from the book that either gave things away or were distracting. My only concern would be that the Basilisk was too big to travel through the pipes.
This changed with Prisoner of Azkaban. Given how things ended in the previous book, a couple things don't make much sense in this book. First, Hermoine spent much of the Spring semester petrified. While some of what she missed could easily be made up by reading during the Summer, there are plenty of spells and potions that she has had no opportunity to learn and/or practice. Nevertheless, when she returns for third year, she not only doesn't make up this missed time, but is allowed to take a heavier load of courses, even though doing so requires use of a time-turner. The film doesn't make clear what all the additional courses are, but she is often shown to be places where she wasn't a few seconds earlier. The second odd situation deals with Rubeus Hagrid. In the second film, he is finally exonerated for the crime which caused him to be expelled from Hogwarts and have his wand taken away. It's not made clear how much schooling he had before being expelled, but to given the job of teaching students who have more schooling than he has had is rather disturbing. He may have years of experience with magical creatures, but shouldn't he at least have to finish formal schooling and get his wand restored?
Back to the film itself. Through much of the film they do a good job of making it seem like Sirius Black is after Harry Potter, while also laying the groundwork for the revelation that Black was framed by Peter Pettigrew. However, it's never made clear why they think he's going after Harry rather than just leaving the country. Once we learn that he's actually been after Pettigrew, it doesn't make sense why we saw him just before Harry catches the Knight Bus.
In the fall, Harry's broom is destroyed after he falls off it during a Quidditch match. Somehow, he goes all the way through the rest of the year without replacing it and receives one as a gift from Sirius. While Harry can't go into Hogsmeade, you would think that he could either order a broom by owl or have someone else buy one on his behalf. We saw in the first film that Harry has lots of gold, so it's not like he can't afford to buy one himself.
Lupin as a werewolf is screwed up. When facing the boggart, Lupin steps in front of Harry AFTER it has taken the form of a dementor. When it changes into a sphere, it is clearly shown to be the moon because clouds are present. Now, this is problematic for a couple of reasons. First, he has no reason to fear the clouds, so they shouldn't be there. This is especially evidenced when he actually transforms later in the film as it doesn't occur until after the clouds clear the moon. By having this so close to when Snape teaches about werewolves, it's kind of obvious that Lupin is one. But can cloud cover really affect a human turning into a wolf? If it did, wouldn't you be transforming back-and-forth a lot during full moons when it's cloudy? Couldn't you just stay inside and be safe? There's mention of a draught that he should have drunk, but that's not explained either (especially since it would explain why Snape showed up in the Shrieking Shack).
Another topic not explained is Lupin's connection to the Maurader's Map. He knows how it works, as does Black, but movie fans are just left to conjecture that they are Mooney and Padfoot.
While Pettigrew is able to escape because Lupin transforms into a werewolf and drops his wand, it seems odd that you'd make no effort to restrain him. He could easily have grabbed any of the wands in the vicinity. When they go back in time, it might have been prudent to cast the Expelliarmus charm sooner from a different angle. Of course, it would have made it look like the first charm worked, so they wouldn't know to do it the second time. However, they could have stunned or otherwise stopped Pettigrew after he transformed back into a rat and maybe just not have found him the first time.
While many faults of the film are faults of the book; many aren't. Those from the book at least serve a purpose either later in this film (Harry and Hermoine using the time-turner) or in future films (Wormtail helping Voldemort). Those that are unique to the film are just poor story-telling. As a result, this is clearly the third-best of the first three films.
One other thing that is clear from the films is that Quidditch is extremely dangerous to the point that I question it as a sport for children. We've seen numerous characters been knocked from brooms or otherwise injured; part of the game includes hitting your opponents with a bludger, so I don't quite understand why all the other contact would be allowed. It seems like it would be a difficult game to practice growing up as it looks like the first time anyone rides a broom is first year at school, so you wouldn't have any practical experience before then. Can you imagine ice hockey if you couldn't skate until you were 10?
So far, I've watched the first three films.
I found the first two films to be pretty solid. The story made sense, you didn't need any prior knowledge to understand what was happening nor were you left with unanswered questions, and there weren't things poorly imagined from the book that either gave things away or were distracting. My only concern would be that the Basilisk was too big to travel through the pipes.
This changed with Prisoner of Azkaban. Given how things ended in the previous book, a couple things don't make much sense in this book. First, Hermoine spent much of the Spring semester petrified. While some of what she missed could easily be made up by reading during the Summer, there are plenty of spells and potions that she has had no opportunity to learn and/or practice. Nevertheless, when she returns for third year, she not only doesn't make up this missed time, but is allowed to take a heavier load of courses, even though doing so requires use of a time-turner. The film doesn't make clear what all the additional courses are, but she is often shown to be places where she wasn't a few seconds earlier. The second odd situation deals with Rubeus Hagrid. In the second film, he is finally exonerated for the crime which caused him to be expelled from Hogwarts and have his wand taken away. It's not made clear how much schooling he had before being expelled, but to given the job of teaching students who have more schooling than he has had is rather disturbing. He may have years of experience with magical creatures, but shouldn't he at least have to finish formal schooling and get his wand restored?
Back to the film itself. Through much of the film they do a good job of making it seem like Sirius Black is after Harry Potter, while also laying the groundwork for the revelation that Black was framed by Peter Pettigrew. However, it's never made clear why they think he's going after Harry rather than just leaving the country. Once we learn that he's actually been after Pettigrew, it doesn't make sense why we saw him just before Harry catches the Knight Bus.
In the fall, Harry's broom is destroyed after he falls off it during a Quidditch match. Somehow, he goes all the way through the rest of the year without replacing it and receives one as a gift from Sirius. While Harry can't go into Hogsmeade, you would think that he could either order a broom by owl or have someone else buy one on his behalf. We saw in the first film that Harry has lots of gold, so it's not like he can't afford to buy one himself.
Lupin as a werewolf is screwed up. When facing the boggart, Lupin steps in front of Harry AFTER it has taken the form of a dementor. When it changes into a sphere, it is clearly shown to be the moon because clouds are present. Now, this is problematic for a couple of reasons. First, he has no reason to fear the clouds, so they shouldn't be there. This is especially evidenced when he actually transforms later in the film as it doesn't occur until after the clouds clear the moon. By having this so close to when Snape teaches about werewolves, it's kind of obvious that Lupin is one. But can cloud cover really affect a human turning into a wolf? If it did, wouldn't you be transforming back-and-forth a lot during full moons when it's cloudy? Couldn't you just stay inside and be safe? There's mention of a draught that he should have drunk, but that's not explained either (especially since it would explain why Snape showed up in the Shrieking Shack).
Another topic not explained is Lupin's connection to the Maurader's Map. He knows how it works, as does Black, but movie fans are just left to conjecture that they are Mooney and Padfoot.
While Pettigrew is able to escape because Lupin transforms into a werewolf and drops his wand, it seems odd that you'd make no effort to restrain him. He could easily have grabbed any of the wands in the vicinity. When they go back in time, it might have been prudent to cast the Expelliarmus charm sooner from a different angle. Of course, it would have made it look like the first charm worked, so they wouldn't know to do it the second time. However, they could have stunned or otherwise stopped Pettigrew after he transformed back into a rat and maybe just not have found him the first time.
While many faults of the film are faults of the book; many aren't. Those from the book at least serve a purpose either later in this film (Harry and Hermoine using the time-turner) or in future films (Wormtail helping Voldemort). Those that are unique to the film are just poor story-telling. As a result, this is clearly the third-best of the first three films.
One other thing that is clear from the films is that Quidditch is extremely dangerous to the point that I question it as a sport for children. We've seen numerous characters been knocked from brooms or otherwise injured; part of the game includes hitting your opponents with a bludger, so I don't quite understand why all the other contact would be allowed. It seems like it would be a difficult game to practice growing up as it looks like the first time anyone rides a broom is first year at school, so you wouldn't have any practical experience before then. Can you imagine ice hockey if you couldn't skate until you were 10?