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flowrs4opheliaJust like the last movie, there were things I was very pleased with as well as things I was dissapointed with. I always like to get the bad stuff out of the way first, so...
The Bad
The main problem with this one, just like Prisoner of Azkaban, was time. It just wasn’t long enough and it felt rushed and undeveloped. In order to simplify the story they sacrified very good elements of the book, not just leaving things out but changing things. There were some other little nitpicky things I will talk about with tongue a little in cheek.
Barty Crouch Sr. and Jr.- I think one of the darkest parts of the book - and therefore one of the best, of course - is when we see that trial in which Barty Crouch, Jr. is found guilty. Crouch Sr. is supposed to be equally as loathsome as any Death Eater. He’s the kind of guy who is so into his work he neglects his family and he cares more about his reputation than his son. We’re supposed to have sympathy for Crouch Jr. in that scene because he’s screaming and pleading for his father to help him and not send him to Azkaban. We’re supposed to have a feeling he was innocent, though we don’t really know. The way the scene was done in the movie didn’t make Sirius’s line about Crouch (“be careful of him, he sent his own son to Azkaban”) have any meaning.
Cedric- It’s too bad Cedric couldn’t have been a little more developed before he was killed off. I wish they could have just kept the part where Harry asks Cho who she’s going to the ball with and we could have seen his pissed off expression after she tells him who it is. The fact that he’s jealous of him makes it that much more satisfying when they help each other out at the end in the maze, and you get a feeling then that they would have been friends after that if everything had been okay. We don’t really get any of that in the movie.
Krum and Fleur- Would have liked to hear them both open their mouths and speak every once in a while.
Rated PG-13 Whyyy? It’s kind of obvious that they didn’t plan on this movie being rated PG-13, because they would have taken advantage of it some more. I thought the graveyard scene was going to be really gruesome, but then they didn’t even show Wormtail cutting his hand off. That was totaly lame - “Blood of the servant willfully given.” Cut. Plop. Okay, done. What does the recipe call for next? Harry blood. Okay, I’m gonna walk right on over to Harry acting like I didn’t just CUT MY FUCKING HAND OFF. Come on, Pettigrew is a pathetic wuss, he’s supposed to whine and moan about it. He doesn’t have any pride or joy in what he’s doing at all.
When I read the book a second time, knowing the movie was going to be PG13, I thought, Oh yeah, I had forgotten how dark and mature this one is, I can see how that is. But they didn’t even use the best of the “dark stuff.” Two characters having killed their own fathers. Crouch going completely mad. Harry finding Cedric being tortured by Krum in the maze. The descriptions of Crouch Jr. going insane and screaming for his mother just after a few days in Azkaban. The entire tragedy of the Crouch family, as a matter of fact.
So it was pretty creepy and somebody said “piss” once. Big deal. The other movies dropped an “arse” every once in a while. I don’t understand what it was about this one that the MPAA thought was worse than anything from the first three.
Different Left-Out Things
Not necessarily all of these things were bad or terribly missed, but if you think about it, only about 75% of the book was even used.
- It’s too bad there was no one around when the Dark Mark was conjured at the World Cup. I always thought it was really cool in the book that as soon as it appears in the sky everyone starts screaming (and you don’t understand why yet).
-No Winky or Dobby or S.P.E.W.
-Percy wasn’t working for Crouch. This is too bad, because the fact that he admired someone like this (very ambitious and more concerned with work than his family) kind of foreshadows how he’s going to turn against his family later.
-No Padfoot at the end. I think I missed that the most.
-Didn’t meet Bill and Charlie.
Random Annoyances
-Crouch Jr., stop licking your teeth. You look like a crack addict. And what’s with the goth coat, man?
-Emma Watson, you’re old enough now to do away with the over-acting. Your talents are developing a lot slower than Dan’s and Rupert’s. Your disturbedness when talking about the Unforgiveable Curses was way over-the-top. Learn to chill down and let your acting be natural.
-Those Death Eater outifts were pretty horrible, but I can live with it because I guess they look kind of like the KKK, and that makes sense because Death Eaters are pretty much the KKK of the wizarding world.
The Good
Young Loooove- Mike Newell got this Ron/Hermione tension thing nailed. In the book, we only get Harry’s point of view of what exactly happened between them after the Yule Ball and he just walks in on the ending of the argument. But this is a movie and things can be done differently, so it’s a lot more obvious this way what’s going on. It was refreshing to see that there are some really good...I don’t know...dynamics between them as actors and you can tell that when they have to do a fully-realized love story they’ll have good chemistry and everything. (It was so cute when she went over and whispered to him when she was “owling” between him and Harry.) I think this movie actually made me like R/H more than I did before. It kind of made them “make sense” in my point of view.
Plus, Ron pulling the covers over himself when he sees Hermione in his room....Do I need to say anything? LMAO.
Voldie! Oh my GOD, Ralph Fiennes was bloody perfect. I was so excited about the fact that we were finally going to see Voldemort incarnated on film. If it hadn’t worked, then the rest of the movies would all be doomed. But he was absolutely perfect, exactly as I had imagined him. His voice wasn’t all hissy and high-pitched like it’s supposed to be, but I didn’t even think about that until afterward. It seemed to fit all right. It was Voldemort. There he was, no longer just in our heads.
Gred and Forge- Did they kick ass in this movie or what? The scene when they tried to put their names in the goblet just killed me. And oh my God - George asking Angelina to the ball. That completed my life.
Snapey- I still feel like the movies aren’t really taking advantage of Snape as a character. I said to my sister a little while ago, “You know, if they don’t get Snape right in this movie, the rest of the movies are going to hurt from it.” This is the book where Snape gets interesting. We find out he really was a Death Eater and supposedly turned to the other side - nothing more. One of the book’s biggest mysteries comes out in this installment - why the hell does Dumbledoe trust him? They didn’t really get into that question in this one.
But....well, Alan Rickman is great and he kicked ass anyway. That whole part in his classroom when he keeps hitting Ron and Harry to get them to shut up. LMAO. And the way he just smells that flask and is able to tell it’s Polyjuice Potion - nice touch.
Dumbleeedore- I had no opinion of Gambon’s performace in the last movie, but I liked what he brought to the character this time around. Harris was more all-knowing and freakishly intelligent and Gambon is more goofy, human, and personal. The latter kind of Dumbledore works better for the close friendship that is starting to develop more and more every year between him and Harry. I really liked their scenes together in this one.
Speaking of which, lots of people didn’t get how he was like shaking Harry and freaking out after his name came out of the cup. I don’t think he was doing it because he was angry, he just understood that this could mean something bad. If Harry had said, “Yeah, I had Angelina put my name in,” he probably would have breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Okay.”
Tasks- I could not be happier about all three of the tournament tasks. That whole sequence in the first one of the dragon actually chasing Harry around the castle grounds and tearing up the rooftops was awesome. And the creepiness of the maze scene was really cool. It was good for setting the mood for everything that was about to happen.
Cedric :( I think the part when Harry came back with Cedric’s body was just perfect. I love the scene how it is in the book, with girls screaming and everyone slowly realizing that everything is terribly wrong. And in the movie, Fleur’s the one that starts to see what’s up first and then screams - awesome. (She’s a good actress and a good screamer. Haha.) It was so sad when Amos came up and started crying over his son. I got a little teary.
Neville Dynamite. Neville was so cute and dorky. When there was that shot through a doorway of him practicing dancing by himself, I actually said out loud, “Haha, it’s Napolen Dyamite.”
New Sounds- I was dissapointed when I found out that John Williams wasn’t doing the music for the fourth movie, but I kind of came to terms with it when I found out that the old theme would still be used, at least. It was actually very cool hearing a new composer’s interpretation of the HP world. I was very impressed with the music just in the opening sequence - very creepy and dramatic. I bought the soundtrack yesterday and the part of the score from when Harry’s parents appear in the Priori Incantatem always makes me teary-eyed. And I love the flowery waltz music in the “not another romantic teen movie” montage and everything in the fifteen minutes or so leading up to the Yule Ball.
I love Mike Newell! I really liked Alfonso Cuaron’s nifty directing style that he brought to the movies, but man, I don’t think I can decide which I like better out of him and Newell. Newell could have made the movie more dark, I think, especially at the very end (Ending was just not dramatic and heavy enough - they didn’t even include the idea that Harry feels so much guilt over Cedric’s death and that this whole incident has left him seriously messed up). But his style is just awesome. The way he cuts out of a scene right during the action - Harry’s nightmare at the beginning ending abruptly, switching right from closing in on the egg to showing off the egg in Gryffindor tower, and not actually showing Harry ask the Patils to go to the ball with him and Ron. He took advantage of the way the audience can fill in the blanks and did a lot for all of the time constraints.
And, just like Cuaron did well, he showed what school is really like for teenagers, disregarding that it may not be a normal school. Magic is second nature to these kids by the time they’re this old and now they let their hair down and talk in class and throw paper and whistle at each other and like to watch fights.
Random Cool Stuff
-Dan Radcliffe and Rupert Grint have both really grown as actors. Rupert wants to keep acting in comedy roles after he's done with HP, and I think he would be great at that. "Krum is amazing! He's not just am athlete. He's an artist!" Fucking hysterical laughter coming from me then.
-The pictures and clips I saw of Fleur didn't do her justice. She is soooo gorgeous.
-Apparently if I want to find a hot boy, all I need to do is look up into a tree. (You know what I'm talking about if you were fangirling Draco and Cedric the whole time like I was.)
-Moody was not even close to what I imagined reading the books, but he was still a really great, entertaining character. Awesome performance by Gleeson.
-The Weird Sisters and the whole Yule Ball were great. I loved how there was a slow romantic song playing when Ron and Herm had their love spat. It felt like something right out of a teen movie...or from my life in high school. When she sat down all depressed and took off her dressy shoes I was like "That was high school! That was me at school dances!" LOL.
Overall...
I was at first mostly dissapointed with Prisoner of Azkaban last year and placed the blame undeservingly on Cuaron. I now understand that it’s whoever’s pulling the strings deciding that it’s a good idea to make shorter movies as the books are getting longer needs to be hanged for the good of humankind. Newell didn’t get enough time to make a movie that could completely satisfy me, but he made the absolute best of what time he did have.
I only wish they could do the Lord of the Rings thing with these movies and release extended edition DVDs. But I can learn to be okay with it. The books are always there for you to get the whole rich, developed story. And the books are way too complex for even the best-made film to match them, anyway.
I hope that because this one got a PG13 rating, the people in control of the franchise will no longer try to aim the movies specifically at young people (because GoF isn’t even nearly as bad as OotP, which is coming next.) I hope they’ll start aiming to make epic, smart movies and realize that to do this they need more alloted time. The films are already great, but if they were given more time for the conclusions and climaxes to stop and breathe the way they should (and actually take up a quarter of the movie, which an ending is supposed to do), and the pacing could be better, they would be excellent. It would be great if one of the movies could get a Best Picture nomination one of these days. Another Return of the King? Well, I’m not going to hold my breath, but it’s nice to think about it.
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Date: 2005-11-21 05:57 am (UTC)i agree overall i loved this movie.. hopefully there will be lots od deleted scnese to watch on the dvds/
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Date: 2005-11-21 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 06:18 am (UTC)"Apparently if I want to find a hot boy, all I need to do is look up into a tree."
Yeah! I totally agree with you. :D
I agree you with your review on snape. They should have developed his character more. I thought that he was somehow out of character in this one. Erm, would the real snape hit their heads with books and squash their heads with his fingers? I think not. He would just stare at them and give a menacing sneer, then there would be silence. But yeah, that scene was hilarious. :D
I was really really sad that there was no padfoot too. And no scene where Sirius shook hands with Snape in the end of GOF. :( Their relationship is important, as a back story for ootp i think. Bleah.
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Date: 2005-11-21 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 07:21 pm (UTC)