Kevin's Watch

Yah, I'm actually pumped to see this one. I read all the books after seeing the movie version of "Prisoner of Azkeban", and found myself delighted in the style and story. My wife, who second language is English, is reading "the Goblet of Fire" very slowly and wanted to finish it before the movie. Alas, this wil not happen. And watching a trailer she is pointing at the TV and going, "Oh, I've read that part!" "Oh that's the professor!" (Mad Eye Moody), all just like a little kid.

Well, it's my birthday tomorrow, so in addition to a dinner and mini-party hosted by my dad, mi dulce amor will be taking me to see the movie on Friday. Can't wait!

I'm glad most of the reviews are positive. Both of my kids are wild for the Harry Potter books, and we'll probably head out to see the movie Thanksgiving weekend.

The wife and I will be seeing it Friday evening.

I liked it, ending was a bit of a downer though.

Gripes-Pacing too fast!Dumbledore acted out of charactar(director or actor?Dumbledore had a couple of very un Dumbledore like fits of rage),NO HOUSE ELVES!Dobby gives Harry the gilly weed,not Neville!Likes-The graveyard scene was done quite well,and it is by far the funniest of the films.

Great movie. The best of the bunch. And they did a good job of cramming the essentials in to it. Who gave whome the gullyweed is not that important, and since they were doing away with the house elves part of the story (fine with me), having Neville give it to him (through Mad-Eye) was a good idea.
Stuff I liked:
- special effects are brilliant. Absolutely flawless. 'nuff said.
- they did a good job of giving some of the secondary characters (Neville and Ron's twin brothers for examples) good screen time. Considering HOW MUCH was being crammed in to a 2 and half hour movie, well done!
- Pacing was furious! I liked it, but also knew this was a side-effect of 'cramming' as I mentioned already.
- the nasty reporters role was condenced ALOT! And thank the gods, for I didn't think she was that 'necessary' to the story. They put in enough of her to give the notion of what pressure Harry is under, and a nice poke a media in general.
- Dumbledore! Gambon's portrayal of this charactrer is EXACTLY how I pictured him reading the books. I love Richard Harris, but Gambon plays him perfectly. He is old but oh so playful and realy spry when he needs to be. Check out that scene where he and Snape rush in near the end (no spoilers...) Perfect!
- the portrayal of these kids going through puperty was great. The whole dance stuff was so on-the-mark. And so funny.
- the depiction of evil near the end was scary and fantaastic! Ralph Feinnes does a great job! And I love that actor who plays Lucius Malphoy.

What I didn't like:

-Necessary, especially for what is to come, were more senes with Black contacting Harry through the fire. The man is desperate to come out of hiding and help Harry, and this would have been better portrayed with at least one more contact.
- Not enough Snape! We need more Snape!
- that I will have to wait another year and a half for the next movie![/spoiler]

Saw it yesterday, it was fantastic.

They did a superb job with cutting characters out, and transferring little things to other characters and the little tweak here and there to the plot line.

The only minor little quips I had was until they got to school, it was even difficult for me to keep up with the choppiness and the quick progression of plot. Would it really have made much difference if the studio had given them just 5-10 more minutes of air time to change scenes in the beginning more comprehensively? When we went yesterday (12 noon showing) we got there at about 11:50, and it wasn't sold out, and we got good seats (it was showing on 4 or 5 screens, starting about every half hour). So, I think 10min longer movie wouldn't have had any impact on theatre's opportunity for # of showings, so no box office impact, IMHO.

I also think it would've been nice had we seen at least a snippet of the other 3 champion's dragon bouts, but, I understand those had to be cut, still, even 30 seconds each (Like maybe just show them getting the egg).

So much of the movie actually surpassed my imagination visually, it was stunning.

The graveyard scene, yea Pettigrew was a little too willing to "give his right arm", but, they still kept his grovelling weaselyness, so, that was OK to me in the interest of saving time on not trying to weasel out of it. Voldemort was great, but, I expected his voice to be higher and raspier (more snakelike) and was he supposed to have red eyes, or was that my own interpretation?

I definitely give it at least 9 out of 10, it was far and away the best yet, and far better than I dared hope for.

OotP has the potential to be incredible, Thestrals, the MoM, Grimmauld place, etc. And HBP with cave scene and the inferi.

^ That reminds me. They never explained why Peter Pettigrew was now being called "Wormtail"

SPKx wrote:^ That reminds me. They never explained why Peter Pettigrew was now being called "Wormtail"

Well, he is an animagus who turns into a rat, and the Marauders Map has one of it's makers as being called Wormtail, so, even not knowing the books, you should be able to figure out from the movies

Ah, but the movies never mention who the map makers really were!...
The movies are great, but there is so much little tid-bits of information like this in the books that make them a must-read if you liked the movies. After seeing PoA, I went out and bought all the books.

Usivius wrote:Ah, but the movies never mention who the map makers really were!...
The movies are great, but there is so much little tid-bits of information like this in the books that make them a must-read if you liked the movies. After seeing PoA, I went out and bought all the books.

If you have the PoA DVD check again. I'm pretty sure the map tells you (as in the books) that it was made by the Marauders by nickname. It just doesn't "Scooby Doo" for you that Moony is Lupin, Wormtail is Pettigrew...

So, in effect, by GoF using the name Wormtail for Pettigrew, it is explaining to you that the Map was made by Harry's Dad and his friends (In case you weren't able to put the clues in PoA together to figure it out)

This is true, but I think anyone who had not read the books would be hard pressed to pick up on that by just watching the movie. Whereas, in the book (PoA) it is laid out quite plainly.

Usivius wrote: Whereas, in the book (PoA) it is laid out quite plainly.

Yea, that's what I meant by "Scooby-Doo'ed"