My POV on PoA + DD, foreshadowing, spoilers... long

[Lorna Timbah]

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I finally watched PoA today, and my thoughts about Gambon playing 
Dumbledore is mixed. I agree that he reinforces a more intellectual 
side of DD, but what's more obvious to me is that his portrayal 
doesn't quite have that closeness and warmth that I would expect DD 
to have, especially when he was interacting with Harry and Hermione 
just before the time turning. He lacks that twinkling in his eyes 
when he purposely gave H & H tips on how to go about solving their 
problems. Or probably it's just the camera angle.

But oh my, the foreshadowing is almost very telling. The ones that 
caught me most are two scenes:
1) When Harry was figuring out the best memory he could have to 
conjure his Patronus, he mentioned that it was not really a memory, 
but some feeling or impression strong enough, that, in the end helped 
him do his charm.
2) When Sirius tells Harry all he needed to held his hand to Harry's 
heart just before Sirius leaves with Buckbeak.
These brought my thoughts back to OotP, when, before Harry fainted, 
he had wished himself that he would rather just die so he could be 
with Sirius. I'm not going to explain any more, but I think most of 
us who watched it could guess that those tidbits of info are defining 
the strength that Harry has and need to use in order to defeat LV at 
the end.

More on the movie:
The whole 'shipper thing... I suppose it can't be ignored. I couldn't 
help giggling together with the crowd as we looked at 
Ron<Hermione<Harry group hug *giggles*. Then, there was the chat 
between Hermione and Ron after they came out of the Whomping 
Willow... "they're gonna chop it off" "no they won't" "yes they 
will"... back and forth... awww :)
I love the pace of the movie, from start to finish. I'm impressed 
that they managed to squeeze so much info into one short 2-hr-plus 
movie. I don't mind that the movie lacks what some might call fun and 
innocent elements. The movie feels just right to me because the 
emotions are still there.
The actors, needless to say, are fabulous.

I missed McGonagall, Sir Cardogan, and Flitwick's old looks. I don't 
get this Tom guy in the Leaky Cauldron (is he suppose to be like 
that?). Ron can be quite ridiculous at times, not quite like I 
remembered him from the books. The Gryffindor entrance is 
confusing... it's not suppose to be so obviously near the stairs, 
isn't it? I'm a little dissapointed they didn't explain 
Lupin/Sirius/James/Snape relationship, but I assume they'll do it in 
the next movie. I don't mind the Dursley scene that short, or 
Quidditch for that matter since the more important part is how Harry 
is affected by the Dementors. I am amazed with the hippogriff 
introduction, much better than I've imagined. Thank God no Cho, and 
Cedric can wait for the next film.

Still, PoA creates a less perfect world, a world that makes sense. I 
honestly loved the new Hogwarts and the atmosphere of 9-3/4. Such a 
contrast compared to the SS and CoS movies, they make me wish that 
magic is real. PoA on the other hand makes me *feel* that magic *is* 
real. MoviePoA is different from BookPoA, but the essence are still 
there.

My final thoughts --  I wonder how other non-HP-reading viewers would 
think... were they able to grasp the storytelling, coz I honestly 
think the movie is so fast-paced that they'd probably be lost 
somewhere through the story. The most evident question I assume 
they'll pose is, "How did Lupin know it's the Marauder's Map?"

"Lorna Timbah"