PoA - my thoughts (long; spoilers)

[xenologue]

First post.  Needed to talk about the movie so here I am.  

I love the fact that the nature of the Internet meant I could go 
online at 2 am last night after seeing the movie and read reviews, 
both professional and amateur, to help me process and find words for 
the experience I just had.  I honestly did not expect to be as wound 
up about it as I was.  I'll try to put words to the reasons for that, 
and mention a few things about the movie, although some of them have 
been mentioned by other writers here.  Kudos to so many of you for 
being able to express yourselves so eloquently and find the perfect 
phrases to describe what I was thinking.  I'm sure I'll have 
forgotten things about the movie that I'd like to comment on, 
although your comments have prodded my aging memory.

Spoilers Ahoy!


Where I come from, fan-wise: I have read all 5 books and love the 
series, but often forget details and plot points even after having 
read a book a couple of times.  I don't know the books backwards and 
forwards.  I do often wonder what it would be like to have been 8 or 
9 or 10 years old when the first book came out.  I'd be so much 
crazier for the series than I am.  That's why I just think it's 
awesome to see the young kids – and even some of the older ones
-- 
wearing their costumes to the theatre.  I find it very touching 
actually.  More power to them!

I never go into a movie expecting it to be the same as the book.  
When it is the same, I'm usually delighted; when it strays, I always 
hope it strays in a direction I can accept logically and 
cinematographically.  If it doesn't, I have to chalk it up to the 
director's own interpretation and hope other people liked it.  I came 
in expecting certain parts of the book to be chopped for brevity (I 
realized ahead of time without seeing any spoilers that it would be 
most convenient to have only one Hippogriff, for instance).  

I'm also influenced by a certain affection for the character actors 
and for the visual representation of the series as provided by Chris 
Columbus.  Their acting abilities or occasional lack thereof aside, 
DR, EW and RG are appealing young people who, IMO, were well cast.  I 
admit to a degree of distant personal affection and compassion for 
them as they grow up alongside, and in some ways irretrievably 
connected to, these characters who have worked their way so quickly 
into popular conscience.  It is interesting to me, in particular, to 
see the development of the characters in both written and visual 
format through the physical, emotional and mental processes of 
puberty and adolescence, such a highly charged period in anyone's 
life.  

What I was not expecting, and was therefore jarred by, was the 
disregard Cuaron seemed to have for the Potter universe as 
interpreted by Chris Columbus.  I have not seen any of Cuaron's other 
work although I am aware of it. I guess I expected he would just 
conform more or less to the "look" of the Potterverse that I thought 
had already been "established".  It was both disappointing and 
liberating/edifying to see that in fact, nothing need 
be "established" at all and that the other directors can and will 
have their own take on it.  I may have not agreed with the way 
everything was done, but this is movie itself is strong support for 
one of the most important principles of literature, illustrated so 
well by Orson Scott Card in his introduction to his 1991 revised 
edition of the great novel Ender's Game: "If the story means anything 
to you at all, then when you remember it afterward, think of it, not 
as something I created, but rather as something that we made 
together."

Some comments have been made here which mercifully put words to what 
I wanted to say about the tone of the first two movies, in their 
presentation of Hogwarts, Hogwarts express, the school grounds, etc., 
namely that Columbus' Hogwarts was like "Disney Hogwarts", a 
precious, tidy, blue-skied representation of Potter's world.  I 
couldn't agree more.  At the same time, to some degree I LIKED that 
about the first two films.  It was simplistic but it was easy to 
swallow.  The score followed a similar pattern... cute little tunes 
as well as some adequately swelling numbers to go with Quidditch, or 
to introduce the Hogwarts castle.  I suppose the 12 year old in me 
thrilled to that.  It was clean, understandable and comfortable.  The 
characters' emotions were not very subtly expressed in my opinion, 
and I usually like a little subtlety in films, but again... it was 
fine for the purposes as I saw them.

The departure from that tidiness is what startled me immediately 
about PoA. Actually the VERY first thing that startled me was 
something I thought only I was seeing.  I thought I must be a bit 
sick to be seeing a play on sexual imagery in the very first scene 
but apparently I'm not the only one!  Perhaps you can understand why, 
having just eaten my dinner while watching the comparatively squeaky-
clean CoS, I felt just a tad scandalized by what Cuaron was doing 
with that scene.  Because it leapt out at me so vividly I didn't 
think it was a subtle play *at all*, even though I know it's going to 
fly right over the heads of many audience members.

DR's expression of Harry's rage, kicking things in his room, 
immediately threw me and moved me at the same time.  I remember the 
uncontrollable rages of early adolescence (oh wait, I still have 
those) and immediately felt compassion and sympathy.  So between 
these two scenes it was clear right away that the emotional tone had 
been kicked up a significant notch from the first two films.  

I think that the rather pneumatic Aunt Marge scene was overkill, 
badly paced, unsatisfying; but then, I have no special feeling for 
the first few chapters of PoA anyway.  Still, the direction of DR 
near the still, wet playground took my breath away.  I wish I were a 
film major so I would understand better why that was so captivating.  
The Knight Bus... eh.  I never found that part of PoA interesting at 
all, so I wasn't expecting anything, but both my filmgoing friend and 
I hated the little talking Jamaican (?!) head.  Zooming through the 
traffic was a little fun though, and it gave opportunity for some 
crazy direction that confirmed this movie was going to be its own 
animal.

So much for squeaky clean: Check out the new Leaky Cauldron.  It 
really does look leaky.  And gross.  And grimy.  And it didn't sit 
well with me.  I found the new Tom silly and contemptible.  Watching 
his antics in offering Harry crumpets and tea distracted from what 
Fudge was supposed to be telling Harry.  Fudge as a character was 
well-acted but I object strongly to his subdued wardrobe.  But hey, 
that's me.  I also really disliked the direction of the Mr. 
Weasley/HP interaction, which I found boring and drawn-out, 
especially since I personally liked Mr. Weasley so much in CoS. ("And 
who are you?")

I hear EW loves cats.  I couldn't help thinking of that as she 
cuddled Crookshanks.  
 
The Dementors: Because they flew, they did not move as I imagined 
them to.  I heard mutters of "Ringwraiths" all around me.  But they 
did the job... they were scary.  

Cuaron directs character interaction in a highly intimate way that is 
very appealing to me.  For example, Harry coming to his senses on the 
train seat with Hermione kneeling quietly beside him is visually and 
emotionally touching.  I believe Cuaron said how much he enjoyed 
directing EW and he did, indeed, do a good job with her.  

Lupin: Hated the `stache, but he grew on me very very quickly,
which 
I think is the sign of a talented director: to make you appreciate 
his way of seeing things even when it doesn't agree with your own.  
IMO Thewlis managed to convey the kindliness and meekness that I 
associate with the character.

I don't know whether it's just me being too drawn in to the 
Potterverse on an emotional level, or Cuaron's direction, but there 
were so many scenes that were, as I said, so intimately and 
touchingly directed that I wished I were there.  The addition of the 
boys' dorm scene with their animal-sound candies was amusing but left 
me with a strange feeling I've only just been able to identify: 
jealousy.  There are all the boys having a grand old time and 
somehow, being a girl, I felt shut out of it.  So again, I'm either 
crazy or that's some darned fine direction.

New Dumbledore: I never thought Harris' Dumbledore was anywhere near 
twinkly and mischievous enough, so I'm very happy with Gambon's DD.  
Someone here described him as the "ageing hippy" and I thought that 
was perfect.  Again, though, at least for me, it took a little bit of 
mental adjustment to accept that THIS Dumbledore was going to wear 
rings and tie his beard in a ponytail even though the last one 
didn't.  That's my problem, not Cuaron's.  

So the grounds didn't look like they were professionally maintained 
by Greensleeves' Lawn and Garden Care?  Again, that took some getting 
used to.  Where was my comfortable, nicely kept Hogwarts?  All grown 
up, I guess, away from the more simplistic Crayola-coloured world of 
SS and CoS.  

Things I adored:

-Harry riding the Hippogriff: thrilling and breathtaking.  I, too, 
loved the effect of Buckbeak trailing a claw in the lake.

-Quidditch in the driving rain.  The kids actually painting their 
faces instead of just waving tidy flags as in the previous two 
films.  I don't necessarily think Cuaron doesn't care for Quidditch, 
but I thought he did well with the bit he had, especially since it 
was visaully such a departure from the previous presentations of 
Quidditch.

-Professor Trelawney. It is so thrilling to have a scene directed 
almost exactly as I pictured it from the book, and Emma Thompson is 
perfect casting IMO.  Again with Cuaron's intimate direction: did 
anyone else find the Emma/Emma scene thoroughly enjoyable?

-Magic blended in incidentally in scenes rather than becoming the 
focus of it.  Someone else pointed out, for instance, the giraffe 
running throught the pictures on the staircases and ghosts galloping 
randomly through the Great Hall.  That seems more in keeping with a 
world in which magic is part of everyday life.  I never could accept 
the gasps of wonder from Harry's first year class as they moved into 
the castle for the first time in Columbus' SS: "The paintings are 
talking!"  Duh.  Don't your paintings talk at home? (granted, some of 
those kids were likely to be from Muggle families, but not all of 
them)

-Throwaway lines, casual instead of in-your-face.  "She's still doing 
that.  Every year.  And she-" "She can't sing-" "Exactly."  

-The SFX in the use of Hermione's TT in the Hospital Wing.  I am 
speechless.  Beyond cool.

-The Marauder's Map.  Seamlessly incorporated into the film and 
beautifully produced.

I can't write much more than this because it seems awfully rude of me 
to write such a long first post. But I'll just say one more thing 
about the characterization of Hermione, which seemed at first 
haphazard to me: One minute she's burying her face in Ron's neck, the 
next she's punching Malfoy in the face.  Then she's athletically 
dodging the Whomping Willow, then she's screaming her head off as it 
flails her around, then she's grabbing Harry with supergirl strength 
and tossing him deftly into the hollow under the Willow.  Then she's 
burying her face in Harry's shoulder murmuring, "That was so scary."  
What the heck?!  After giving it some thought, though, I realize the 
feelings evoked from me besides initial confusion and objection were, 
once again, compassion and sympathy.  She IS the brightest witch of 
her time and a strong personality, but not superhuman.  I play co-ed 
recreational ice hockey and am pursuing a PhD, but I like to be held 
and comforted by a male friend as much as the next girl when I'm 
upset.  At least in my view, it's not a contradiction, it's just 
life.  Rejecting a source of comfort is not necessarily an act of 
strength, nor is accepting or seeking one out an act of weakness.  
(That said, I still think the way the "That was so scary" scene was 
directed was awfully pat.  It fit in with Cuaron's intimate 
direction -- sorry for overusing the term intimate but it's the best 
one -- but I'd expect more creativity in his presentation of that).  
Overall, Hermione is one of the reasons I wish this series had been 
around when I was a preteen and young adolescent, and Cuaron in no 
way diminished her character in my view.  

I am going to see it again.  Soon.  I do express my sympathy to those 
who were so bitterly disappointed with the film. I know how that 
feels.  Just stay true to your personal interpretation – nobody
can 
ever take that away from you.

-- Xenologue