Second timer

[Barb]

Just got back from seeing the movie with my husband and kids.  My 
husband loved it completely.  He was just grinning from ear to ear 
the whole time.  And this is someone who technically has not read 
the books.  He's read large parts of the books, since each of our 
kids is reading one of the books at any given time, and we take 
turns reading chapters to them every night.  So, for instance, I 
read chapter 14 of GoF to my daughter last night, while my husband 
read chapter 16 of PoA to our son.  Which means tonight he'll read 
chapter 15 of Gof to our daughter...So he's gotten rather a strange 
impression of the books, never having actually sat down and read one 
himself, cover to cover.  He's been getting strange out-of-sequence 
snippets of the four books for the last ten months.  I think he was 
happy to be able to go through the entire story in one sitting, and 
he especially loved Hagrid's "I shouldn't've said that..." schtick.  
I bit my tongue. ;)

The kids are very, very happy, but one of the first things my 
daughter noticed was that Hermione's potion/logic problem didn't 
make the cut, and she's the only one I've heard mention that 
Quirrell's stone defense wasn't in the movie either.  (His was a 
troll, interestingly enough; in the book, when the trio find the 
troll, the DADA teacher has already knocked him out.)  My daughter 
is a very observant 7-year-old!  She also missed Peeves.

On a second viewing I have to say that I like it even more than I 
did yesterday and that Emma Watson grates less on me now, but her 
line to Harry near the end about his being a great wizard is either 
badly written, badly delivered, or both.  Also, because we don't see 
him in class (except for when he's being upbraided by McGonagall and 
Snape) we don't know what the basis for this declaration is.  We 
just have to take her word for it.

I felt that the scene where he sees them on the balcony after he 
gets out of the hospital wing was superfluous; they could easily 
have had the same exchange in the Great Hall before the announcement 
of the House Cup, and it could have been done quicker in that 
setting.  

Speaking of the Great Hall, going back to the welcoming feast, there 
was a bit of discontinuity.  Just after Hermione's sorted, she goes 
to sit next to Percy.  Ron sits across from the two of them after 
he's sorted.  Harry then sits next to Ron after HE'S sorted.  Switch 
to Dumbledore, saying unnecessarily, "Let the feast begin!" and 
suddenly, Harry's sitting on the other side of the table BETWEEN 
PERCY AND HERMIONE.  Ron is still on the opposite side.  I suppose 
Harry COULD have walked around the table and changed seats, but what 
would be the point?

Something I really appreciated this time that I hadn't noticed 
before was Sean Biggerstaff's physical performance as Oliver Wood.  
(Stop chuckling.)  I'm referring specifically to the way he wrestles 
the bludger back into the trunk when he's introducing Harry to the 
game of Quidditch.  When you think about it, OF COURSE that metal 
ball isn't really trying to keep from being strapped back in the 
case, but Biggerstaff convinced us that it was a dangerous magical 
object without overdoing it or looking like a hack.  Not an easy 
thing to do.

Next Friday we're taking our son and two of his friends as a 
birthday celebration, and our daughter will probably be bringing one 
of her friends along as well.  It goes by so fast, I'm sure I'll 
notice more when I see it for the third time!  (Unless I fall 
asleep, like Neil...Nah!)

--Barb
(who agrees with Cindy C. that no product placement is a definite 
plus!)