More reflections and ratings of the actors - very, very long

[Elizabeth Dalton]

Susan,

I agree with your ratings of the actors, for the most part. I think Daniel might
have been correct in being rather "wooden" at the Dursley's, though. Harry is
suppressing practically everything about himself while he's around them-- he's a
classic abused child. And maybe he was "scared stiff" in the Forest, though I
know I'm reaching a bit here. I thought he was weakest at the beginning of the
final Quirrel confrontation, before Voldemort appears (what's all that shifting
around? DO something!) but I blame that on the script and directing-- that scene
just doesn't work for me. But as I've mentioned before, the glare he gave Dudley
at the zoo was pretty convincing, and the smirk after Dudley falls into the
snake's enclosure was priceless. And many of his other moments were very good. I
thought he did a nice job with the mirror, and that's a tricky scene. I *really*
wanted to see him railing on at Hermione and Ron about how bad things would be
if they didn't try to stop Voldemort. <sigh.>

In SS/PS, the Dursleys *are* more or less caricatures, don't you think? I've
always felt that was rather a weak point in the books, since the other
characters tend to have more depth, so the Dursleys really stand out as flat and
cartooney. But they start to get more interesting in GoF, and I'm hoping for a
lot more development in OoP. I keep reminding myself that SS/PS is, after all,
told from the point of view of an 11-year-old, and his perceptions are not
always accurate. He sees most things as simpler than they really would be. The
Dursleys are stupid and evil; Dumbledore is loony, but likeable; Snape is a
menacing villain. The characterization of all the characters becomes deeper as
Harry matures (and, not coincidentally, Rowling gets more writing experience).
Hopefully that will happen in the movies, as well.

That being said, I thought all three of the Dursleys were pretty weak, and I
really didn't get the over-the-edge feeling about Vernon that I should have.
Dudley's "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he" seemed almost necessary to make the
point, when in the book Dudley is probably the last one to notice this obvious
fact.

(Couldn't the makeup team do *something* with Hermione's hair to make it look
actually frizzy, instead of messy? I suppose it would be too much to ask for
them to add caps to her teeth....)

Elizabeth