June 04, 2004 - 8:06 p.m.
Potter Review
OK, so I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter last night. Let's just say I'll have to see it again and give it a second chance, because I was not pleased. The new director and his vision did not work for me. I know everyone is saying this one is better than the others, but I disagree and a half. For one thing, there was some artistic license on the story (I'll admit, not much, but I just finished rereading the book, so it was obvious to me). Secondly, and this is a huge one, they assumed that everyone had, in fact, just finished reading the book because if you didn't, you wouldn't know what the hell was going on for the first hour. They totally jumped into the story without explaining anything (and what's with the random shrunken heads on the bus, eh?). Significant details were omitted on the assumption that people already knew about them. The one that irritated me most was how they conventiently forgot to explain about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Dudes! That's just a tiny bit important. Some of the stuff would not make any sense to someone just viewing the movie without reading the book.
Neville looked so insanely different I had to look up after the movie if it was the same kid. Surprisingly (at least to me) it was. The new Dumbledore...he was ok. He didn't seem as mischeivous as the other one (and like I pictured him when I first read the books). However, he is acceptable, even his hat was not pointy. Emma Thompson as Trelawney was fabulous. I enjoyed her a lot.
But anyway, my other issue with the movie as a whole is that it doesn't even look like it belongs to the rest of the series. New director or not, there should be a better sense of continuity. For instance, the Hogwarts grounds and Hagrid's hut should not have mysteriously changed from one film to the next. I realize they have magic and all, but come now. They don't go about rearranging their geography for the hell of it. And when did the dress code at Hogwart's change to regular street clothes. This is just a minor thing, but added to the lack of continuity. By the way, the whole king-of-the-world-esque hippogriff flight was unnecessary.
I'll definitely go see it again and try to have a more open mind about my expectations. But my first impression of the film is not spectacular.
On the other hand, Spiderman 2 looks like it's gonna kick some serious ass. As does the Series of Unfortunate Events movie. I'll have to finish reading the rest of the books before that comes out, but that'll take no time at all, seeing as they're all short and highly entertaining. And woo! Princess Diaries 2 is coming out. It's interesting how those movies don't even resemble the books that much (especially this new one), but they can get away with it. Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews are just so cute.
So anyway, I'm sad that I'm not bouncing off the walls from the sheer excitement of Harry, but maybe it'll be better upon a second viewing (though I'm not sure when that'll take place).