POA, gripe towards the so-called fans!

[Jen Reese]

waynegregory:
> As for ignoring me I hope they don't! I hope they argue why the 
film 
> was bad because most of the reasons I have heard at the moment are 
> absured, eg Dumbledore having a manicure!

Jen: I definitely won't argue the movie was bad, because I 
thoroughly enjoyed many of the scenes, the humor, & the raw energy 
of the cast. Cuaron has a gift--that part is clear.

There was an important piece missing for me though, something I 
classify as the 'spirit' of the book and not a literal point. For 
me, POA was about a 'boy becoming a man', like Cuaron said in 
interviews. But it's also about this *particular* boy, with no past, 
or at least not one he knew of for 11 years, and a very cloudy 
future. Harry finds the power within himself, but the struggle to 
get there was minimized in the movie. He is very conflicted about 
leaving his past behind, the one he learned of so recently, and 
moving forward. The Dementors are like the rock Sisyphus pushes up 
the hill, over & over into eternity--when will it end? Will I always 
be stuck between my yearning for a real home & family and this 
desire to discover my destiny?

That's my particular gripe, a very personal one really. Something I 
wouldn't expect everyone to agree with. But that's what POA meant to 
me.

waynegregory:
But in the end J.K.Rowling has said herself "it's my 
> favourite Harry Potter film so far". Surely if she has given it 
the 
> thumbs up, then she doesnt mind that parts are missing!

Jen: She also takes great pains to separate herself and her story 
from the film--"that is Cuaron's baby; it's not mine". She is able 
to accept and like his interpretation, even if it's not exactly her 
own. That's how I felt about it--it was a *good* movie in my book, 
period. It's wasn't *my* interpretation of POA, though, and since I 
will never make a film in this lifetime, there's not much I can do 
about that part!