[HPFGU-Movie] HPFGU-Movie impressions of POA--spoilers

[Diana Williams]

Just having got back from the movie, these were my impressions:

Overall, I liked it.  It felt more like a grown-up movie rather than
appealing to the kiddies, and the magic was down-played instead of "oh,
gosh, magic!"

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Things I really liked:
The twins - like the way they look with the longer hair.  Suddenly, all the
fanfiction about the Weasley twins makes sense.  Yum!  *g*

Sirius and Harry's moment together outside the Whomping Willow.  I really
felt the emotion in that scene.  Considering that most of the rest of the
movie seemed to be on speed, that moment of contemplation and quiet talk was
nice.

The humor - the lines "Professor Lupin is having a really bad night" from
Harry and Snape's comment about Sirius and Remus bickering like an old
married couple made everyone around me laugh.  And Hermione popping up with
Ron trying to figure out where she came from - that was a nice running joke.
And Sirius telling Harry that James said he should stay Padfoot permanently,
and Sirius saying he wouldn't mind the tail but couldn't take the fleas -
LOL!

Hagrid's suit - that was just as ugly as I imagined it from the book.

The acting - I think it was better than in the past movies, improving with
age.  I mostly liked Thewlis as Lupin, although he acted a little
punch-drunk during the boggart scene.  I particularly liked his scenes with
Harry: on the bridge and at the end.

Snape-in-a-dress - particularly when he looked so confused.  What can I
say - I'm a pervert.  (Anyone really surprised by that?)

The Knight bus - what a scream!  I loved that part.

Things I was ambivalent about:
Michael Gambion as Dumbledore.  I liked some of the quirkiness he brought to
the role, but I didn't get a sense of either great wisdom as I did from
Richard Harris, nor of power that you get from Gandalf's portrayal in LOTR.

The change in costuming - it really doesn't matter to me what they're
wearing, but I didn't feel as much cohesiveness with them out of uniform for
most of the movie.  And where is Harry getting clothes that fit him from?

Marge blowing up - while I like that bit, it did seem to drag while she was
inflating.  I'd rather that they sped up the whole thing, and save the
screen time for more important scenes.

Trelawney - I liked Emma Thompson in the role, but again, there wasn't a
chance to develop the character.  Hermione's outburst seems a bit much given
that we hardly get to see Trelawney's phoney act - she acts a bit like she's
having a temper-tantrum because she's been insulted (which is what Lavender
and Parvati think, but we know differently).

The werewolf - okay, while it was a cool looking creature, I thought
werewolves were supposed to look more like wolves, otherwise why the need to
have ways to spot the differences between wolves and werewolves.  I would
think "walking around on two hind legs and looking like a skinny, hairy,
naked man" would be quite evident.  No way I'd confuse that with a wolf.
Now, Sirius as Padfoot - *that* I would confuse with a wolf.


Things I didn't like:
Flitwick - why on earth did they change him?  I wanted to break into "We
represent the Lollypop League" when I first saw him.

The Shrieking Shack scene - why on earth did they leave out the history of
the Marauders?  Someone who hasn't read the books would have no idea why
Sirius was a dog, or Peter a rat, and James as a stag is never mentioned, so
the whole power behind the stag patronis and Harry thinking it is his dad is
lost.  You get no sense of the closeness of the three, and why it was such a
betrayal on Peter's part - all that's said is that he followed Sirius around
a lot.  Sounds more like a stalker than a good friend.  And the back-story
between Snape and Sirius - it gives me a bad feeling for what they're going
to leave out in films 4 & 5 if they're not going to touch on the animosity
between Snape and Sirius.  Snape just comes out as looking vindictive for no
reason.  I would rather cut out the ride-the-whomping-willow scene to
include the most dramatic scene in the whole series (in my opinion).

The hospital scene - okay, I admit I'm a Snape fan, but there's more than
just the anticipation of Snape tearing up the scenary from that scene.
Snape's triumph turning into disappointment, the looks exchanged between him
and Dumbledore, the sense of dynamics between the characters changing -
gone.

Ron's attack - why did they leave that out?  It was a perfect opportunity to
show how murderous Black is and that he's gotten into the castle more than
once.  Instead they have Ron dreaming about spiders making him tap-dance?
Huh?

Super-Hermione - I like the character, but honestly, if she gets any bigger
of a part, they might just as well rewrite it to be The Girl Who Lived.
Doesn't anyone else think around there?  What would they do without the
"brightest witch of your time"?  And speaking of the last bit, about halfway
through the movie, the people sitting in front of me started saying "wimpy
wimpy wimpy" every time we saw Draco or Ron and "hefty hefty hefty" every
time we saw Hermione.  It would have been annoying if it hadn't been damn
funny...

The Firebolt - I'm less concerned about this missing bit than the shack and
infirmary scenes, but I thought the way it stresses the dynamics of the
Golden Trio was important.

Harry's crying scene - that seemed so false to me (and not just Dan's
attempt to act like he was crying).  Harry may not be the Angry-Young-Man
that he is in book 5, but I just don't see him running off to indulge in
tears like that.  Furius and upset enough to cry and yell at the same time,
but not boo-hooing cause his widdle feewings are hurt.

Okay, I think that's my take on it for now.  Will have to see it again to
absorb more of the movie - there was so much going on in it.

Diana W.