the (apparently) dissenting view

[lagilman]

And so I have seen HP & tPoA.

I wish I could say I loved it. I didn't.

Mind you, I liked it. A lot. Hogwarts became three-dimensional to me for the first time (before it was just a setting), and the kids are growing up well, and believably, and made me remember what it was like to be 13-going-on-30 (in a word, horrible). And S. and L. were pretty much exactly as I pictured them.

So what was the problem?

Damned if I know. Dumbledore the second filled those large shoes admirably. Emma Thompson was a delight. Robbie C can't not be wonderful in that role. And yet...

I think, maybe, that while adapting the book more freely than the first two movies made a better cinematic experience, it wasn't as emotionally satisfying. I missed the material that was cut. I missed the depth of emotion the book wrapped me in.

And I seem to be the only person in Creation who doesn't want a hippogriff. Buckbeak was beautifully done, as real as I could imagine, but I don't want one. I'd still settle for an owl.

Just call me the Cranky Critic.


On the other hand, coming out and seeing the kids all geared up for the midnight showing of RHPS did make me smile. I never want to be that young again, but gods, to have that kind of energy and exuberance...

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There's a guy at work who LOATHES this movie. Azkaban is his favorite book, so he's simply never going to forgive them for changing a word. And they did cut out one vital bit of backstory - the identities of Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. There's still no inimation in the movieverse that Daddy isn't the hero that Harry imagines him to be.

[marinarusalka.livejournal.com]

I don't want a hippogriff either. It's gorgeous and all, but you have to feed it small dead animals, which is gross. And it probably smells.

[greeneyedkzin.livejournal.com]

Probably couldn't keep one in an apartment.

It messed up HAgrid's house something fierce.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I didn't like it nearly as much as the first two movies, either. I didn't like the new Dumbledore, and I didn't like the way the movie was lit. That's as close as I can come to articulating my reasons.

I wonder how the movie would have looked if it hadn't been so DARK.

[equesgal.livejournal.com]

I thought the movie looked as if all the color had been drained out of it. When it opened in Harry's adopted family's house I thought the dull colors were meant to reflect the dull life there, but the colors never did brighten up.

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the movie, but I can understand where you're coming from on this. I thought PoA was far superior to the other two as a *film,* but as a fan I did feel there was too much missing. And I have no desire for a hippogriff. My very own Hedwig would be nice, though.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I liked the third movie quite a bit, but I didn't like the first two much at all, and all the books leave me a little flat, so it's not having the resonances of the book was a good thing, for me.