[HPFGU-Movie] Movie Thoughts--Spoilers!

[Chocobo]

Replying to this down below the spoiler space...
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: bruinfan1988 

  Spoiler Space

  Go see the movie!

  Spoiler Space

  Go see the movie!

  Spoiler Space

  Go see the movie!

  Spoiler Space

  Go see the movie!

  Spoiler Space

  Go see the movie!

  Spoiler Space


  Only three scenes stood out as not quite right--and each of these 
  scenes prompted inappropriate laughter from the audience:  

  1) First, in the Chamber when Harry is healed by phoenix tears and 
  explains to Ginny that, hey, that's right, phoenix tears heal wounds, 
  so he's not going to die after all--seemed too pat, too convenient, 
  and cracked up the audience.  I think this is a writing/directing 
  problem--it would have worked better if the scene played out like in 
  the book, with Riddle taunting Harry while the phoenix cried, then 
  realizing that Harry was being healed, and then getting his due when 
  Harry drove the fang through the book.  The movie order (fang/book 
  then phoenix) made Harry seem more heroic, but made the scene seem a 
  little less plausible.

I thought the movie order worked a lot better on the screen than the book order would have. The problem was just in the directing... phoenix swoops in, makes it all better, then Harry says "thanks"... sucked the life out what could have been a very good scene. But on the other hand, #1 this is a movie a lot of little kids are watching so seeing Harry really almost die is something they wanted to avoid, and #2 it would be worse if they made it too dramatic instead, IMO.

  2) Second, in Dumbledore's office, when Dumbledore told Harry to pick 
  up the sword, and Harry picked it up with both hands by its bloody 
  BLADE, rather than using the hilt.  Hmm, not such a sharp blade, 
  huh?  Made the audience laugh.  Obviously a directing problem.

Yeah this was just stupid, can't believe no one noticed it during filming.

  3) Third, the infamous Hermione returns to the Great Hall scene.  
  When Ron saw Hermione and smiled so big, the audience hooted and whoo-
  ed.  And then when Harry did the same, they started to laugh--like, 
  do they BOTH like her, jeez?  And it sort of continued through the 
  hug/handshake part.  I'm not sure Chris Columbus's idea for that 
  scene worked out as well as he intended.

Well, I don't think the part where Hermione returned was bad... lots of people were worried about her, and seeing her all right was a big deal. But the ending with Hagrid, complete with the "slow clap building to huge applause"... it wasn't actively BAD, it just didn't make a lot of sense, and wasn't the best way to end it. Hagrid and Hermione could both have returned, show everyone is happy, then go to the outside the castle view and end it there without the nonsense.

Overall though, I thought it was an amazingly good movie. I just don't understand what in the world people have been thinking to say it was disappointing (I'm new to the list and have been going through archives of the past few days). This movie, with an inferior story to work with compared to the first book, was a far superior movie to the first. It really captured the feeling of the books a lot better than the first movie, and included virtually everything that was possible to include in a realistic amount of time for a movie. I know that big fans would love a 5 hour movie that's exactly like the book, but that just isn't going to happen.

And not only was all of the good stuff included, they actually improved a lot of stuff. The flying car was way cooler than I imagined (though Harry falling out was unnecessary), the spider scene seemed lame in the book but was amazing in the movie, and the added jokes were pretty good. Overall, the huge amount of good things in this movie totally makes up for the few tiny shortfalls.

Besides is it that bad that Hermione, not Ron, explains what a mudblood is? After all, it was very unlike her to not know a well-known wizarding term in the book. Is it that bad that instead of having Dobby attack for no reason, Lucius Malfoy raises his wand to attack Harry first? He barely had any screen time and it backs up the impression the audience is supposed to get of him being evil or whatever. Sure, it doesn't make sense for him to attack Harry in public if you go by how well you know his character from reading all the books... but come on. Do these small problems really hurt the movie that bad?

I can understand some people not being crazy about this movie, but for a HP fan to not like it just doesn't make sense to me. It was much better than the first, and it along with Spirited Away are the two best movies I've seen in years.


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