my GOF impressions

[Kathy]

Sherry:

Agree that Dan was wonderful! 
Agree that Rupert is just excellent.  My opinion is that Harry has 
to be so unemotional most of the time that Ron makes up for all of 
that.  Does anyone realize how difficult it had to be for Ron to go 
into the forbidden forest and face his worse fear – spiders
and not 
just any spiders, but huge beasts capable of lifting him off the 
ground?  That's courage. Harry had lived with spiders most of his 
life in the cupboard under the stairs...not to mention all the rest 
of the abuse.
 
I didn't think that Emma seemed over the top in everything. Some of 
the silent moments were wonderful.  Peeking out to see who was at 
the bottom of the staircase, then making her appearance and walking 
down so regally.  Her little wave at Harry, then looking down and 
slowly up as Krum offered his arm.  Hermione's face glowed as she 
accepted his arm and walked her to the ball. She was just precious.

Totally agree with Gamon's portrayal of Dumbledore. He's just not my 
Dumbledore, then again, Gary Oldman is just not my Sirius.  Have to 
say that David Thewlis wasn't what I imagined for Lupin, nor Gleason 
for Moody...but those actors won me over.  Not so with Oldman.  Want 
to talk whiney?  Ew!

I think the idea about Ron keeping up the pretense of hating Harry 
was okay.  The movie Ron couldn't just run up and tell Harry – first 
because his brother would kill him,and second because his pride was 
still bruised. Harry had called him some kind of a git as well.  

Agree about the first task.  Yes, it was great visually, only they 
never really showed what happened to the dragon.  It fell?  Where 
did it go?  Why couldn't it fly away?  What happened? Big lead in to 
a non-climactic ending of the dragon fight.

No howler, but I understand why you wanted to keep the scene in the 
hospital with Mrs. Weasley.  So did I.  It was the most touching 
moment in the book, and the only thing I can think of is that Dan is 
getting older and – what works well in the book - such as Moody 
carrying Harry to his office – just doesn't cut it in the movie.  As 
for the Yule ball
I loved it.  It looked like a crystal palace.  The 
dancing
well, there wasn't much of that, unfortunately.  I really 
wanted to see Harry a bit more
but it was not to be.  The flowing 
red capes against all the icy colors was spectacular
then 2 seconds 
later you have rock and roll
okay, okay
they are kids and that was 
probably more fun for them, but I really had hoped the waltz would 
have gone on longer.  

Wow, no SPEW – yes, that was a great cut.

The first time I saw the graveyard scene – this is going to sound so 
stupid – but it felt as though Harry didn't go through near enough.  
Reading the passages in the book was painful - I had to put it down 
a few times just to catch my breath. The book had him go through so 
much.  The I saw the movie a second time, and I felt stupid for 
thinking that. The movie is so quick paced that you don't have a lot 
of time to think...you just react.

Dan did do a great job.  I also loved the fact that Mom & Dad came 
at almost the same exact moment.  The second time I realized that 
Dad actually came a bit behind Mom
so that threw me a bit.

I think Dumbledore knew about Moody only because it was Moody who 
had been told to put the cup somewhere in the maze.  When Harry 
arrived back with Cedric, and then was quickly whisked away by the 
very same man who had put the cup in the maze
Dumbledore must have 
realized only Moody could have turned it into a portkey.  A big 
leap, I guess, but it's how my mind filled in the blanks. Either 
that, or Dumbledore didn't know anything except that he wanted to 
find Harry and when he wasn't in the hospital, and they found 
Moody's door locked tight...time to put wands at the ready!

I know you loved the Veritaserum scene – but the way Snape kept 
hitting Ron and Harry in the study hall was great.  I think Alan 
Rickman might have enjoyed that scene a bit too much.  And no
there 
is no one as good as he for Snape.  

The joy of having the books before the movie is that the film makers 
can forecast things
because they know what's going to happen.  
Giving Neville a bit more of a part, and keeping the twins is a 
blessing.  Draco's importance – until this last book – has been 
minimal, and with each book seemed to be less important.  

As for the Polyjuice, etc., I think that after POA, they wanted to 
make sure that everyone was on the same page.  They got so much crap 
from not explaining the Marauder's Map and Lupin/Sirius/Pettigrew's 
relationship with Harry's Dad, that they probably wanted to make 
sure they covered all the bases in this movie.

The ending doesn't change with a second viewing.  It still sounds 
very upbeat when Hermione says that everything is changing. 

I'm glad you got someone to go with – I'd hate to think of someone 
who loves this series as much as you do, missing out.

KathyO 

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Sherry Gomes" <sherriola at e...> 
wrote:
>
> 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
>