Potter the fifth
I saw the OotP movie tonight, Wednesday night (no not opening night at midnight, I was too tuckered out by my trip and recovering from my eyebrow* ring). The crowd wasn't the fandom madness that I imagine it was the night before (though one woman did come in full costume; I was dressed in my Cedric tee and wore my Gryffindor scarf in my hair, but no one batted an eyelash) and I swear most of them had never read the book. Everyone kept laughing at the oddest things, and my friend and I would look at each other and mouth "What the hell are they laughing at?" They also expressed shock and surprise at plot points that were clearly in the book, which incited sarcastic comments from us. I do wonder what they (non book-readers) thought, as it was very choppy and awkward, and I imagine especially so if you don't have the books to fill in the blanks.
Spoiler-free thoughts: Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I'd seen a lot of stills before going in, so I knew pretty much which scenes were in and what they looked like (and how some were different than the book). Some scenes I was looking forward to disappointed me, and the movie was incredibly choppy, but it did succeed in squeezing an impressive number of details in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
THE GOOD
1. Ron and Hermione making googly eyes at each other the whole movie. Hee. Incredibly cute, though not exactly canon. But I'm a R/Hr shipper and each knowing glance made me feel light and fluffy with glee.
2. Luna was amazing. I was never a big Luna fan, but recent re-readings have made me appreciate her more. This actress is perfect for her, and positively enchanting. Luna had a lot of screen time and I welcomed it.
3. As someone else on my flist said, Ron seemed more like himself this movie, not like the shallow caricature of earlier movies. Bravo. Also, hot. *fans self* The boy's legal now, yes?
4. I really liked all the decrees nailed to the wall in such a clunky fashion, especially when they shattered and fell upon the Weasley twins' departure. Though I was disappointed with the departure itself - where's the moat and the continuing disruptions?
5. I'm glad they changed the "special effects" for the talking head floo powder thing. Sirius made of ash, no more!
6. The Dumbledore's Army scenes were great. They went on long enough to give you a sense of this going on for a long time and how much the kids learned.
7. In general, any NEW scenes to the story I loved. They seemed to elaborate on the written text in a way that made sense visually and complimented the story being told - like Crookshanks playing with and eating the Extendable Ear. Hilarious, and exactly what a cat would do in that situation!
8. Bellatrix LeStrange was pretty damn cool. Her licking the Dark Mark? Ewwwwww.
9. Likewise, Kreacher was totally sweet. (As in cool, not saccharine.) His inclusion points to a big role for him in book 7, as he could have easily been cut out. (For that matter, what else about the movie provides evidence as to what might or might not be in book 7?)
10. Tonks was also fun, but I would have liked to have seen her developed more.
11. It was nice seeing Lupin again! When we first saw him at Grimmauld Place, standing beside Sirius, I thought: "Oh, yes, they are so shagging."
12. CEDRIC! Oh, how could I have almost forgotten him? Three minutes into the film and his head is on the screen, the size of a king's sized bed, and I say to my friend "Now that was worth the price of admission." And his photo on the mirror at DA meetings. That was so sweet and touching and wins a lot of points from me.
13. SEAMUS! I also LOVED his role here. That was a clever example of how to, yes, change things in the book, or at least choose one thread of many and highlight that to show how many people don't believe or trust Harry. And it helps that the actor is totally hot (he's legal now, yes?) and has a wickedly disarming accent. Very nice continuity and development throughout.
14. I admit the Grawp scene was cute. And it was nice that in the movie, Hermione's intentions of leading Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest seem to be to scare her with Grawp (and since we'd established that he was, for the most part, friendly and would remember at least her, it was a fair assumption that this was a "safe" way to scare Umbridge). Rather than the book's depiction of Hermione arrogantly assuming she can use the Centaur's aggressiveness to her advantage and get off scott-free because she's a "youngling".
THE BAD
1. Cho was supposed to be crying during the kissing scene. It wasn't supposed to look all hot and romantic. It was supposed to be a let-down. I know this is a Hollywood movie, but. That makes "the kiss was wet" comment sound hella different.
2. In general, I disliked many of the changes that were made to the written story. What kind of fan would I be if I didn't? ;) I'd say about half of them I can live with, they made sense in a way that tightened up the film, etc. For example, I'm actually okay with Ron and Hermione not being made prefects and that whole storyline being erased.
But a good number of the changes just irked me. Why did they have the entire (I think) DA writing lines for Umbridge with her torture quill(s)? That didn't upset me so much, I just don't see the need for it. I didn't really like how the beginning of the movie was really sped up either (the dementors/the Ministry letter/the Order picking Harry up). Or how Sirius became the one to show give Harry the old Order photograph -- and to imply it is so bloody important that he chased Harry through the train terminal to give to him at the last moment. And Harry takes it as a sentimental gift, not as the unwelcome realization that the Order is expendable like he did in the book.
3. No Hedwig! *sniff* (According to my friend, she was in two scenes.)
4. Wow, I didn't miss Hagrid at all. And his "bruises" were entirely unconvincing. Why don't you put the raw meat against your actual face?
5. I'm really thinking that Bonnie Wright (Ginny) is not developing into the kind of character that Ginny becomes in the books - an equal to Harry in every way, not intimidated by him in the way that both Ron and Hermione are, challenging and relentless. You see this start to emerge in OotP the book, and a couple of well-placed comments in the movie would have helped out a lot in that regard. Why do we have googly Ron and Hermione - who in the books haven't even hooked up yet - and absolutely no foreshadowing of the Harry/Ginny romance??
6. THE VEIL IS DRAPERY, GODDAMMIT.
7. The ending was way too abrupt. I should not be saying "That's it??" after a 2 hour and 15 minute movie.
THE UGLY
1. THE PROPHECY WAS RECITED AS SOON AS HARRY PICKED IT UP, WTF?!?! That makes the next half hour make NO sense at all. Why the fuck do the Death Eaters want it, then, if they just heard it, or they can hear it again by making Harry pick it up again? Why do Harry and friends IMMEDIATELY AFTER talk about, gosh, I wonder what the prophecy is about? Or when Lucius tries to tell Harry the prophecy will answer all his questions, why didn't Harry say "Well, I just bloody well heard it, so no thanks mate."
2. CHO is the movie's Marietta Edgecomb, the one who betrayed the DA? Oh snap! I'm glad they at least redeemed her at the end in implying that Umbridge used her Snape-proferred veritaserum. But before that scene, I was seething. How out of character! What a way to make the end of her and Harry's relationship seem totally like her being a bitch! Even after that scene, I don't know how I feel.
3. Um, so wizards can now FLY and become SMOKE??!?!??! What the HELL, Yates?? That was just odd, and I hope future directors ignore it.
4. The young Marauders pensieve scene -- okay, I can get past it being a memory that Harry found through legilimens rather than explaining the whole backstory of pensieves. But I was REALLY looking forward to this scene, and we barely saw anything at all!!! No Lily that I saw, and I barely had time to register anyone but James and Snape. James did look like an ass, so that's good, but for all the hype around this scene and the excitement fans have had for it... I think it was a huge honking let down.
In conclusion: I really did enjoy this movie, though perhaps it was not as mindblowing as I was expecting. As the changes sink in and I start to accept them, I'm sure I'll enjoy this movie more and more. There were certainly enough fan-pleasing elements (more the characters than the plot perhaps) to make this movie worthwhile for any HP fan.
The unexpected highlight of the movie was seeing the giganto-sized trailer for GOLDEN FREAKING COMPASS! It looks so frikken sweet. I'm not sure what they're going to do with the second movie, since the book is so much shorter and the story more modest than the trilogy bookends, but this first movie looks AMAZING.
*Why do I type "eyebrown" every time I type "eyebrow ring"? I swear, every bloody time. Just did it again. The hell?
Spoiler-free thoughts: Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I'd seen a lot of stills before going in, so I knew pretty much which scenes were in and what they looked like (and how some were different than the book). Some scenes I was looking forward to disappointed me, and the movie was incredibly choppy, but it did succeed in squeezing an impressive number of details in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
THE GOOD
1. Ron and Hermione making googly eyes at each other the whole movie. Hee. Incredibly cute, though not exactly canon. But I'm a R/Hr shipper and each knowing glance made me feel light and fluffy with glee.
2. Luna was amazing. I was never a big Luna fan, but recent re-readings have made me appreciate her more. This actress is perfect for her, and positively enchanting. Luna had a lot of screen time and I welcomed it.
3. As someone else on my flist said, Ron seemed more like himself this movie, not like the shallow caricature of earlier movies. Bravo. Also, hot. *fans self* The boy's legal now, yes?
4. I really liked all the decrees nailed to the wall in such a clunky fashion, especially when they shattered and fell upon the Weasley twins' departure. Though I was disappointed with the departure itself - where's the moat and the continuing disruptions?
5. I'm glad they changed the "special effects" for the talking head floo powder thing. Sirius made of ash, no more!
6. The Dumbledore's Army scenes were great. They went on long enough to give you a sense of this going on for a long time and how much the kids learned.
7. In general, any NEW scenes to the story I loved. They seemed to elaborate on the written text in a way that made sense visually and complimented the story being told - like Crookshanks playing with and eating the Extendable Ear. Hilarious, and exactly what a cat would do in that situation!
8. Bellatrix LeStrange was pretty damn cool. Her licking the Dark Mark? Ewwwwww.
9. Likewise, Kreacher was totally sweet. (As in cool, not saccharine.) His inclusion points to a big role for him in book 7, as he could have easily been cut out. (For that matter, what else about the movie provides evidence as to what might or might not be in book 7?)
10. Tonks was also fun, but I would have liked to have seen her developed more.
11. It was nice seeing Lupin again! When we first saw him at Grimmauld Place, standing beside Sirius, I thought: "Oh, yes, they are so shagging."
12. CEDRIC! Oh, how could I have almost forgotten him? Three minutes into the film and his head is on the screen, the size of a king's sized bed, and I say to my friend "Now that was worth the price of admission." And his photo on the mirror at DA meetings. That was so sweet and touching and wins a lot of points from me.
13. SEAMUS! I also LOVED his role here. That was a clever example of how to, yes, change things in the book, or at least choose one thread of many and highlight that to show how many people don't believe or trust Harry. And it helps that the actor is totally hot (he's legal now, yes?) and has a wickedly disarming accent. Very nice continuity and development throughout.
14. I admit the Grawp scene was cute. And it was nice that in the movie, Hermione's intentions of leading Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest seem to be to scare her with Grawp (and since we'd established that he was, for the most part, friendly and would remember at least her, it was a fair assumption that this was a "safe" way to scare Umbridge). Rather than the book's depiction of Hermione arrogantly assuming she can use the Centaur's aggressiveness to her advantage and get off scott-free because she's a "youngling".
THE BAD
1. Cho was supposed to be crying during the kissing scene. It wasn't supposed to look all hot and romantic. It was supposed to be a let-down. I know this is a Hollywood movie, but. That makes "the kiss was wet" comment sound hella different.
2. In general, I disliked many of the changes that were made to the written story. What kind of fan would I be if I didn't? ;) I'd say about half of them I can live with, they made sense in a way that tightened up the film, etc. For example, I'm actually okay with Ron and Hermione not being made prefects and that whole storyline being erased.
But a good number of the changes just irked me. Why did they have the entire (I think) DA writing lines for Umbridge with her torture quill(s)? That didn't upset me so much, I just don't see the need for it. I didn't really like how the beginning of the movie was really sped up either (the dementors/the Ministry letter/the Order picking Harry up). Or how Sirius became the one to show give Harry the old Order photograph -- and to imply it is so bloody important that he chased Harry through the train terminal to give to him at the last moment. And Harry takes it as a sentimental gift, not as the unwelcome realization that the Order is expendable like he did in the book.
3. No Hedwig! *sniff* (According to my friend, she was in two scenes.)
4. Wow, I didn't miss Hagrid at all. And his "bruises" were entirely unconvincing. Why don't you put the raw meat against your actual face?
5. I'm really thinking that Bonnie Wright (Ginny) is not developing into the kind of character that Ginny becomes in the books - an equal to Harry in every way, not intimidated by him in the way that both Ron and Hermione are, challenging and relentless. You see this start to emerge in OotP the book, and a couple of well-placed comments in the movie would have helped out a lot in that regard. Why do we have googly Ron and Hermione - who in the books haven't even hooked up yet - and absolutely no foreshadowing of the Harry/Ginny romance??
6. THE VEIL IS DRAPERY, GODDAMMIT.
7. The ending was way too abrupt. I should not be saying "That's it??" after a 2 hour and 15 minute movie.
THE UGLY
1. THE PROPHECY WAS RECITED AS SOON AS HARRY PICKED IT UP, WTF?!?! That makes the next half hour make NO sense at all. Why the fuck do the Death Eaters want it, then, if they just heard it, or they can hear it again by making Harry pick it up again? Why do Harry and friends IMMEDIATELY AFTER talk about, gosh, I wonder what the prophecy is about? Or when Lucius tries to tell Harry the prophecy will answer all his questions, why didn't Harry say "Well, I just bloody well heard it, so no thanks mate."
2. CHO is the movie's Marietta Edgecomb, the one who betrayed the DA? Oh snap! I'm glad they at least redeemed her at the end in implying that Umbridge used her Snape-proferred veritaserum. But before that scene, I was seething. How out of character! What a way to make the end of her and Harry's relationship seem totally like her being a bitch! Even after that scene, I don't know how I feel.
3. Um, so wizards can now FLY and become SMOKE??!?!??! What the HELL, Yates?? That was just odd, and I hope future directors ignore it.
4. The young Marauders pensieve scene -- okay, I can get past it being a memory that Harry found through legilimens rather than explaining the whole backstory of pensieves. But I was REALLY looking forward to this scene, and we barely saw anything at all!!! No Lily that I saw, and I barely had time to register anyone but James and Snape. James did look like an ass, so that's good, but for all the hype around this scene and the excitement fans have had for it... I think it was a huge honking let down.
In conclusion: I really did enjoy this movie, though perhaps it was not as mindblowing as I was expecting. As the changes sink in and I start to accept them, I'm sure I'll enjoy this movie more and more. There were certainly enough fan-pleasing elements (more the characters than the plot perhaps) to make this movie worthwhile for any HP fan.
The unexpected highlight of the movie was seeing the giganto-sized trailer for GOLDEN FREAKING COMPASS! It looks so frikken sweet. I'm not sure what they're going to do with the second movie, since the book is so much shorter and the story more modest than the trilogy bookends, but this first movie looks AMAZING.
*Why do I type "eyebrown" every time I type "eyebrow ring"? I swear, every bloody time. Just did it again. The hell?