Review of Movie from Chris Dickson (SPOILERS!)

[Penny & Bryce]

Hi everyone --

Chris Dickson just posted a review of the Movie from a payphone in 
Scotland to the Magical Mods address.  Payphones don't allow for spoiler 
space, so he posted it in 4 parts to the Mods for us to reformat.  From 
a payphone, the text came through a bit garbled in places, but I've 
tried to reconstruct.  Chris can correct anything I mis-edited later. 
So, here's your spoiler space:

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The film is about as close to human perfection as is possible to 
achieve, given the decisions about the overall effects.  It is much 
better than the stills, trailers & soundtrack have conveyed so far.
It has clearly been thought through long & hard by real fans, and they 
have captured the spirit of the book better than I had thought possible.

The script is definitely an accelerated version of the book & so 
inherently not as good.  However, it makes sense on its own terms.  The 
dialogue is very very good indeed -- not strictly true to the original 
but it feels right & realistic.  The cuts that were made don't matter 
much in the context.

The voice acting is excellent throughout.  Possible weak link here is 
Richard Harris as Dumbledore.  He is good but still a little flat to be 
great.  There are a few instances where Radcliffe was asked to do too 
much as Harry in a shot angle, but apart from this, a class job.  I know 
this is unfair because there is a mental image to live up to that actors 
in non-book adapted films don't need to match.  Rupert Grint has the 
best comic timing of any 13 yr old actor.

The standout surprise is the actor playing Oliver Wood.  He has a 
limited role but hits it perfectly.  Hagrid is definitely a bit 
different in the movie by necessity -- not as time spent on one aspect 
of his character [from Penny: I'm not sure what Chris meant here].  It's 
different but works well in context.

Special effects are top notch but the script calls for some extremely 
inhuman human animation.  This isn't possible yet.  The movie succeeds 
at least as well as any I've seen but is clearly imperfect in this 
regard.  The quidditch sequence is very ambitious.

The professors are all very good indeed -- wouldn't change a thing. 
None of the characters irritate at all, which is a big achievement.
Other kids are well acted.  Neville doesn't get enough screen time for 
his character.  Ginny has 2 words!  The animal characters are really 
great but used rather less than in the book by necessity.  This is not a 
problem.

No belly laughs but many smiles.  Warm fuzzies from the happy bits too, 
which is key.  It all bodes very well for the CoS movie.  The changes 
from book to film have been well thought out.  Really satisfactory film!

Will say more later -- forgive the scattery nature of this (editor is 
hopeless).

Chris

[Note from Penny: I hope I haven't entirely butchered this -- it came 
through very garbled in places]