Least Favorite Harry Potter Film

[Mr. Broken]

My wife simply put is a hopeless fanatic Harry Potter fan. As a result I too have been exposed to the books ( I have read them all and become a Rowling fan as well), and all of the movies. Now over all I consider the films to be brilliant adaptations of the story, but when judged next to each other , and watched in succession, one stands out as being significantly less than the others. That is why the Prisoner of Azkaban is my least favorite Harry Potter film.

[Menolly]

Oh Jenn...


...being mod of the JKR forum occasionally has its advantages...

[Cameraman Jenn]

WOW. POA is my favorite film. of the series. I thought that Alfonso Cuaron did a fab job directing. I loved the dark aspect he brought to the table and I thought it was a brilliant film and the most brilliant of the series. I think that the following films tried to carry his brilliance and failed. The first two films were cute kid candy, POA dark and deceptive and brilliant for what he was given via actors and screenplay. GOF was good, carried the dark well and morphed the story in a great way. OOP was mediocre in the screen writing and acting with the exception of Gary Oldman. The scene that sticks in my mind best is his morphing and giving Harry the photo album and also the scene in the room with the family tree wallpaper. Half Blood Prince was a disappointment. They had so much to work with and the film was just meh. Rupert Grint seriously learned to act and he has a future but the script was mediocre at best and the adaptation was horrifically bad. The screenwriter for that should be fired hardcore. It made some issues non adaptable and now the story is written by hollywood and not by JKR or her minions. Prisoner of Azkeban was asthetically brilliant and the best film of the series in my opinion

[Cagliostro]

I agree with everything my adopted twin sister said. Except for the bits about Half Blood Prince as I haven't seen it yet (but I just got it from Netflix).

[Menolly]

I agree with Jenn as well.

My only qualms with PoA was Cuaron's decision to go casual clothes all the time, instead of robes when on Hogwart's grounds. But that is truly being nit-picky. In all other ways, PoA is a brilliant and beautiful adaptation of the novel.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Ok, replace some of the brilliants with intelligent, visionary, amazing and it works.

[Mr. Broken]

For what its worth, I stand next to my assement of this film.

[Menolly]

You are entitled to your opinion, Mr. B.
Will you give us some of your reasons as to why PoA is lacking compared to the others?

[Cagliostro]

I mainly like the subversively naughty nod to his other piece, Y Tu Mamá También. Because I'm wired that way.

[Rigel]

For me, POA was my favorite because it was the most mature of the bunch. The others are all kid candy. Even 4, 5 and 6 - they're darker kid candy, but kid candy still.

[Mr. Broken]

I guess to put it simply it seemed less magical. That is not to say that there was no magic in the movie, just the overall feeling you are left with after seeing it.
Now Im even more curious, which is your least favorite?

[Menolly]

Now Im even more curious, which is your least favorite?

Order of the Phoenix I think.
I still have no idea how they will overcome the fact that the pocket watch found in number 12, Grimmauld Place while the kids were cleaning was extremely important, when it wasn't even depicted in the movie.

Plus I was not happy with the end of Sirius.
Although...

I think that scene was actually handled better in the movie than the book, though I didn't get the sense of familial familiarity and competition JKR describes in the book that is between Sirius and Bellatrix from the movie.

[Rigel]

Now I'm even more curious, which is your least favorite?

Goblet of Fire for me. Not coincidentally, it's also the one with Michael Gambon's weakest acting.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I hope I didn't offend you with my rebuttal and you are certainly entitled to your opinion and are correct because we ARE talking about opinions and everyone is affected in different ways by different things. I would say that it would have to be either "Order of the Phoenix" or "Half Blood Prince." I like all the films for various reasons and have dislikes about all the films as well. Most of my dislikes are nit picky stuff like Menolly's ones. I disliked the way they portrayed Flitwick in SS and quite frankly Emma Watson was a terrible actress then. I also thought the troll should be a bit scarier looking and less cartoony. COS I can't think about anything off the top of my head. I'm a bit tired from a long day so bear with me. In POA I didn't particularly care for the werewolf depiction. I wanted the werewolf to be hairier and less effeminate especially since in the books, Harry has a hard time telling the difference between dog and werewolf when Tonks's patronus changes. I also thought the Pettigrew to rat transformation was too cartoony looking for my liking. In GOF I agree with my adopted twin brother Cag, Michael Gambon was not on his game for that film. I also thought Stanislav Ianevski was very pretty to look upon but a lousy actor. Viktor Krum was not supposed to be hot. However, Brendan Gleeson as Mad Eye was some brilliant casting and brilliant work on his part. I also agree with Menolly that the death scene was not what it could be. The slow fade into the veil kind of took away the pain and drama of the moment. I also HATED that they blamed the discovery of the DA on Cho. That actually pissed me off a bit. I also agree about the locket not being seen. I wonder how they will deal with that in the final films. Is Dumbledore going to have left a potential horcrux list in with the items he wills to the kids? I'll spoiler my complaints with HBP for Cag's sake.

Spoiler

I did NOT like the way they treated the Ginny/Harry romance AT ALL. It almost seemed like the one tiny childish kiss was all in his imagination. I also did NOT like the fact that they cut the entire battle between the DA/OOP members and the Death Eaters out entirely. I think they are cutting Luna and Neville out too much and they are quintessential to the story line in it's entirety. I also don't think the Harry/Dumbledore bonding was portrayed as deep enough and I was mad that they left out the whole back story of the ring and the locket which I think is also very important. OH! and another thing that annoyed me was that they wasted time with things like showing Lavender putting the necklace on Ron but never addressed why it was embarrassing. Why bother at all then? I thnk that was thirty seconds of wasted film time that could have been better spent on something actually important to the story.

[Mr. Broken]

I think youve touched on something here about the Werewolf animation, it was one of my unmentioned detractors, it stands out like a sore thumb against the rest of the films animated scenes. I try not to let storyline flaws affect my judgement because they nearly always occur during the transition from original story, to screenplay, but the depiction of the Werewolf was dissappointing, the Black Dog was scarier looking.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I usually am pretty cool with storyline flaws to a degree but HBP strays so much that it's almost like there are a few moments that slightly resemble the book. Ok. I guess I answered the question after all. HBP IS my least favorite film. For the storyline reason alone. I loved some aspects of it though. The cinemetography was excellent and Rupert Grint finally learned to act.

[wayfriend]

I thought HBP was pretty underwhelming. The only one in the series with no set action piece; it seems to trust that we'll be so into those kids that a movie about them just doing stuff will be entertaining (sort of like Jon and Kate plus Eight). So it's my least favorite, too.

[Cameraman Jenn]

speaking of action... (blacked out for my Cagbro)

Spoiler

when exactly did the deatheaters attack and burn down the burrow in the book? Did I miss something?

[Menolly]

speaking of action... (blacked out for my Cagbro)

Spoiler

when exactly did the deatheaters attack and burn down the burrow in the book?

heh
They don't. Never happens.

Spoiler

Did I miss something?

Nope.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I was actually being sarcastic.... I honestly didn't quite see at all what that scene even meant to the film or what purpose it served. Again, spoilered for Cagbro..

Spoiler

Why couldn't they just have stuck to the book and had a big climactic ending battle scene instead of creating a battle that never existed and taking some of the oomph out of the havoc Draco caused by his cabinet fixing? It just didn't make sense to move the battle from that scene at all.