Yet Another Review

[serenadust]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "elfundeb2" <elfundeb at c...> 
wrote:

> I thought the movie told the story quite well, keeping the 
essential 
> elements; however, I felt the Shrieking Shack scene needed just a 
> little more development before Remus and Sirius suddenly 
embraced.  
> In retrospect, I think that what happened was that Lupin 
recognized 
> Scabbers, but again I think I need a second viewing to confirm 
that.

On the whole, I agree with Debbie.  I think that this movie was a 
huge improvement over the previous efforts.  I've seen it twice so 
far, and the only thing that really bothered me, plotwise, was that 
the Shrieking Shack/Lupin/Black/Snape backstory wasn't developed 
enough for someone who hadn't read the books to understand.  
Although I suppose it's assumed that the majority of the audience 
has actually read the books, many of them haven't got them memorized 
to the extent that serious fans do.  My sister (who did say she 
loved the movie) read PoA several years ago, doesn't remember the 
details of this part of the book, and said that she found that part 
somewhat confusing.

I did love Gary Oldman as Sirius, and particularly loved David 
Thewlis as Lupin.  I'd been quite apprehensive about him in 
particular because I love book Lupin so much, and I couldn't have 
stood it if he had seemed mis-characterized in the movie.  Luckily 
for me, everything about his portrayal in the film worked for me 
including his Mr. Chips wardrobe and particularly the big band music 
during the boggart lesson.  Book Lupin and movie Lupin are now 
happily merged in my mind and I really look forward to seeing him 
again in the OOP film (crossing fingers that everyone in the cast 
stays for that one).

Other high points for me were Buckbeak (agree with everyone who's 
convinced he's real), the wonderful boy's dorm scene, and Cuaron's 
handling of the Dementors "chilling" effects with the flowers and 
water freezing as they approach.  I also thought that the music was 
greatly improved and not nearly so intrusive as in the first two.

I also enjoyed Pam Ferris as Aunt Marge, although it's hard to 
reconcile her portrayal of that horrible woman with her warm and 
lovely character in The Darling Buds of May.  I think it was Neil 
who mentioned that he had wanted to see her play Molly Weasley and I 
agree that she would have been brilliant in that part (though I'm 
very satisfied with Julie Walter's performance).


Penny wrote:

Though I'm not a Ron fan and though I do think that this portrayal 
of Hermione
is very consistent with canon (it's just not PoA canon), I do agree 
with those
thoughts. It's obvious that Kloves loves Hermione, and while that's 
wonderful
(I do too), I can't quite figure out why everyone is letting him 
make such
drastic changes in the portrayal of Ron. Granted, I do see a gradual 
arc
beginning in PoA that is reasonably pronounced by OoP wherein Ron is 
being
relegated more and more to the sidelines or the background and 
Hermione is being
increasingly fitted into the role of "heroine." But, it's so early 
for that.
Does it give any of you Ron fans pause to think that Rowling has in 
some way
sanctioned this diminishment of his character in the films? It tells 
me that
it's possible that what I saw in OoP will continue.


Well, I am very much a Ron fan (he's second only to Harry with me) 
and I confess that I am troubled that Rowling seems to be going 
along with this very OOC version of Ron in the movies.  Of course, I 
don't believe for a minute that we'd ever hear about it if she did 
have a problem with it since I really don't think she'd ever be 
publicly critical of the movie makers.  All I can surmise is that 
she knows what she plans to do with his character and that any 
necessary corrections can be made in the future films, once books 6 
and 7 are published.  I watched Charlie Rose's interview with 
Alfonso Cuaron where he said that JKR never visited the set and had 
great respect for the "creative process" meaning that she'd never 
tell them if she didn't like something; she'd only speak up if they 
were about to do something that would contradict some fundamental 
element in the books yet to be written. I've also seen her remark 
(while praising the movie) that the film was "Alfonso's baby" while 
the books are hers.  Personally, I think that Steve Kloves has done 
a mediocre job with the scripts overall, but that Cuaron's talent 
made up for it to some extent.  I'm keeping my expectations low for 
the future films as long as Kloves is the writer.

I'm afraid I do disagree about the OOP arc showing Ron being 
relegated to the "sidelines" while Hermione is becoming a heroine, 
but this post is long enough already ;-).  I'd love to explore this 
later, though if you'd like to pursue the topic.

I want to offer my most enthusiastic congratulations to you on your 
wonderful news, Penny!  After going through comparatively minor 
fertility problems myself, I can imagine how thrilled and excited 
you must be.  I'd never heard of a fertility acupuncturist before,  
but I'll be sure to recommend the procedure to any of my friends who 
may have similar issues.  I do pity you having to be pregnant 
through the heat of a Texas summer though, so try to spend as much 
time as possible in the pool :--).

Jo Serenadust, who spent as much time as possible underwater during 
her first summer pregnancy