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Jul. 22nd, 2007 12:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ragdoll13Okay, so I just saw this movie earlier tonight, and I just wanted to get my thoughts down before the memory of the movie fades away.
I loved the movie. There are a lot of things that were left out, some of which were very important to the entire Harry Potter series, but that was an inevitability.
I thought they captured very well the mood of the book, however. The Harry Potter series continues to become darker here, while retaining the child-like wonder of the wizarding world. The sets were wonderful as always (even where generated by computer), Sirius's house and the Department of Mysteries were just how I'd pictured them while reading the book. It's a shame they had to cut out most of the rooms in the Department, but they got all the most important bits in. I feel that the writing was very efficient in building relationships and establishing character feeling and motivation without needing to go in to time-consuming backstory (which obviously wasn't an option as screentime had to be devoted to the most important scenes already).
The acting, as always, was incredible. I had an odd moment of actually identifying with Voldemort (first time ever), during the duel with Dumbledore... I could see beneath the flat, serpentine face and see that the Dark Lord was really just Tom Riddle, using the power he posessed and taking joy in it. I was stunned. Here was a boy who had been abandonned and betrayed by all those who should have most loved and protected him, who had found his own safety and power in magic, and who took such joy in the use of magic.
Dumbledore was brilliant as well; his distant behavior contrasted with his complete affection for Harry Potter caused the same ache in my chest as it did in the book. The wizard battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort was marvelous if brief, but I found the couple of splendid visual effects for the spells were more pleasing and more effective than a dozen tawdry cgi fireworks.
I do think that the movie did Neville Longbottom a disservice; Neville really started to come into his own in the fifth book, but in the movie he was little more than an akward and sullen bystander.
I will also say that I would rather they had left Grawp out completely than embark on the disappointing special effects that brought Hagrid's half-brother to lackluster life.
I think that's about it. All in all, it was a wonderful movie that kept me watching (sometimes with mouth agape). Highly reccoemended.
I loved the movie. There are a lot of things that were left out, some of which were very important to the entire Harry Potter series, but that was an inevitability.
I thought they captured very well the mood of the book, however. The Harry Potter series continues to become darker here, while retaining the child-like wonder of the wizarding world. The sets were wonderful as always (even where generated by computer), Sirius's house and the Department of Mysteries were just how I'd pictured them while reading the book. It's a shame they had to cut out most of the rooms in the Department, but they got all the most important bits in. I feel that the writing was very efficient in building relationships and establishing character feeling and motivation without needing to go in to time-consuming backstory (which obviously wasn't an option as screentime had to be devoted to the most important scenes already).
The acting, as always, was incredible. I had an odd moment of actually identifying with Voldemort (first time ever), during the duel with Dumbledore... I could see beneath the flat, serpentine face and see that the Dark Lord was really just Tom Riddle, using the power he posessed and taking joy in it. I was stunned. Here was a boy who had been abandonned and betrayed by all those who should have most loved and protected him, who had found his own safety and power in magic, and who took such joy in the use of magic.
Dumbledore was brilliant as well; his distant behavior contrasted with his complete affection for Harry Potter caused the same ache in my chest as it did in the book. The wizard battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort was marvelous if brief, but I found the couple of splendid visual effects for the spells were more pleasing and more effective than a dozen tawdry cgi fireworks.
I do think that the movie did Neville Longbottom a disservice; Neville really started to come into his own in the fifth book, but in the movie he was little more than an akward and sullen bystander.
I will also say that I would rather they had left Grawp out completely than embark on the disappointing special effects that brought Hagrid's half-brother to lackluster life.
I think that's about it. All in all, it was a wonderful movie that kept me watching (sometimes with mouth agape). Highly reccoemended.
