my GOF impressions

[Sherry Gomes]

Well, i've finally seen the movie!  Thanks so much to Diana, who responded
to my "Aren't there in HP fans in the Seattle area?" and volunteered to go
with me and be my movie describer.  Great job, Diana!  I didn't miss a
thing.  

Now for my movie impressions.

Well, first of all WOW!  I agree with all who said that it is the best of
the four.  It seemed like the perfect blend of making things more
interesting for a movie, visually, and keeping true to the spirit of the
story.  I was quite blown away and hope to be able to go again.  I won't
need description a second time.

Here are some likes and dislikes in no particular order.

Dan was wonderful!  Especially in the graveyard and returning with Cedric's
body.  His emotion when he proclaimed that Voldemort is back and his sobbing
was realistic and very moving.  What a difference from that horrible crying
episode in the last movie.  I just loved him all the way through.  I agree,
love the, I love magic, line.

Rupert again, he is just excellent.  I've always thought he was the best
natural actor of the trio, and he still was, though Dan's performance due to
the emotional things he was dealing with was the best overall.  But Rupert
is just natural on the screen.  His lines never sound forced.

Emma seemed over the top in everything.  It seemed that every single line of
dialog she had was a pronouncement and melodramatic.  But she wasn't super
girl this time and I'm very grateful for that.  I wish I could have seen her
all dressed up for the ball.

I have a lot of mixed feeling about Gambon's portrayal of Dumbledore in this
film.  Most of the time, I really dislike him.  Perhaps it is that his voice
is very nasally.  There were times in the first half or so of the movie in
which he seemed to be almost slurring his words as well, running them all
together with not much emotion.  But from the time, Harry returns with
Cedric, he was great!  Loved his anger and grief and the dorm scene with
Harry.

I didn't like the changes in how Harry learned about the dragons.  If Ron
knew about the dragons in advance, then it kind of diminished the impact
when he sees that Harry has to face dragons in the first task.  That's when
he realizes someone is out to get Harry killed and gets over his anger.  The
movie way made it seem like Ron knew there were dragons but was still mad
enough not to end the fight.  I don't know; it just didn't work as well for
me as the way it happens in the book.  But I did love Hermione's uttering
Boys! When they stop fighting.  Beautiful.

The first task.  I can imagine it was great visually.  But it seemed that
through the whole thing Harry was just trying to stay out of reach of the
dragon.  Well, of course, but I didn't get the sense that getting his
broomstick gave him that sense of confidence that he has in the book, when
he gets on his Firebolt.  He didn't become the one on the offensive in the
movie; he was just still trying to stay away.  It took an accident to the
dragon--if I understood the scene correctly--for Harry to be able to
succeed, instead of his own skill and cunning.

Will I get a howler if I say I still wish they'd eliminated the Yule ball
and kept the hospital scene?  I suppose that for a film, the ball was fun,
but even though I'm somewhat of a hopeless romantic, it doesn't really add
to the story.  If they had to cut things for the movie, getting rid of SPEW
was a blessed cut.  But I'd have rather had the hospital with Molly and
Sirius, Snape and fudge and the whole mood it sets up for the next
book/movie.  However, having said that, Hermione was wonderful in that
scene.  Well, both she and Ron.  They really got that right.

Ah the graveyard scene!  Fabulous.  Voldemort's return was great.  Ralph
Fiennes--spelling?--really nailed that.  I really felt the fear as he
returned.  He did a great evil Voldemort in the really only terrifying
Voldemort scenes we seem to have in the series.  Harry's fear and pain were
great.  I mean, how Dan played it!  Loved the wands linking and the echoes
of the dead.  I began to cry when James spoke to Harry.  Harry hasn't had
his dad knocked off the pedestal yet, and it was very touching to hear James
telling him what to do.  I'm partial to fathers anyway, having been raised
by mine.  I really, really liked that moment, in spite of the fear.

Ok, here's what I missed.  How did Dumbledore know moody wasn't Moody?  In
the book, he tells Harry to stay there, and doesn't let Fudge send him up to
the school.  This is after the return from the graveyard with Cedric's body.
He tells Harry later that the real moody would never have disobeyed that
order and taken him away, and that's how he knew the truth.  But how did he
know in the movie? 

Loved Snape and Harry in the scene with the Veritaserum!  I thought that was
one of the best Snape scenes in any of the films.  The whole sneering way he
spoke to Harry, the way he talks about his hand just slipping with Harry's
pumpkin juice.  It was just Snape.  Was there ever a better job of casting
than Alan Rickman as Snape?

Loved Neville in this movie.  The twins were great as ever.  not much
Draco--no loss really.

Moody was fantastic!  Oh wow, what a great job he did in that role.  What
can I say?  It was just great.

I didn't like Crouch senior.  He seemed too fumbling and wimpy.  I could see
it if they'd followed the book story line more on that and he'd gradually
gone from tough to fumbling, but it just felt off this way.  The Crouches
story line didn't make a lot of sense to me even yet.  Also, it sure seemed
like the outcome was being telegraphed all along.  If anyone who didn't know
the story hadn't figured out about poly juice potion by the end, I don't
know what they were doing.  The clues were so big they could knock you out
if they hit you over the head.  All the talk of poly juice; the constant
showing of Moody drinking from his flask.  Maybe it's just because I knew
what was going on, but I still felt that anyone paying attention to the
clues would have guessed it way before the end.  Well, I guessed the ending
of the movie the Sixth Sense long before the end too.  Do you think the fact
that I'm not distracted by the visual stuff makes me pick up on clues like
that?  Did anyone go with someone who hadn't read the book, and did they
figure it out in advance?

I did not like the ending.  Of course, I've read all the comments here.  But
Emma actually sounded like she was trying not to laugh as she gave her line
about everything changing.  It really felt off, too positive and happy
almost.  None of the sense of impending trouble.  Maybe that needs a second
viewing, but it didn't work for me at all.

So, those are my instant impressions, anyway.  Again, thank you Diana, for
going with me and being such a great describing person!  In spite of knowing
the story so well, this movie is all about visuals, and it would have been
hard to follow the first time without someone to watch it with me.  I can't
wait to get this one on DVD and expect it to become one of those movies I
watch repeatedly!

Love, love, love it!

Sherry