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Tweak says, "Giggity Giggity!"

spidermoth (spidermoth) wrote,
@ 2008-04-23 11:45:00

HP movies

I know this may be weird but I hadn't seen all of the HP movies (only the 1st 2) so I watched OotP last night to get some peeks at the actors who hadn't shown in the 1st 2 flicks, and more screen time for the actors I like. I know some of the casting choices influence fanfic and art.

Here are my thoughts on this movie...

I found it strangely dissatisfying because of the frantic pace. I know, I know...there's a lot to cover, but even with the constraints of packing such a large and action-centric story into a 2 hour movie, I found this one to be really frustrating. I work theater so I'm somewhat familiar with the choices made to highlight certain aspects and cut what doesn't fit the vision, but really!... Some of the scenes just went on and on, and some of them were so short it felt jarring. And, of course, it seemed to be biased in favor of special effects over characterization, although the moments with Dumbledore, Sirius, and Lucius were among some of the best. Actually, now that I'm writing this, there were great moments with the twins, and Luna, and Hagrid. And the amount of time with Ron and Hermione was pleasantly balanced with the other events.   Hmmmm.....maybe I like this more than I thought. Maybe sometimes I just have to get rid of my expectations and be more objective.

Here are some random peeves though...

Rickman not only got almost no screen-time, but he looked dreadful. He's almost disturbing my mental image of the character. Plus, I especially hated how physical he was with Harry during Occlumency lessons. That just seemed OOC to me. I loved though, how he played his being interrogated by Umbridge in his classroom (even though I would have said that was OOC), and the scene where he told her he was out of Veritaserum! Hee! Excellent.

Why is Harry looking so put-together in this flick? He's supposed to have crazy hair and ill-fitting clothes.  Must the movie industry insist on making lead characters (male or female) beautiful? Frankly, one of the things I've always admired about British films and TV is the normalcy of the look of their actors, but it seems there's a higher calling to create a sex-symbol when its a blockbuster film. In canon, Harry is somewhat ill-kempt. He's supposed to elicit our allegiance and empathy through being a waif, not through sex-appeal. (Well, maybe I'm the only one being affected? Maybe no one else thought he looked too hot! I guess my libido is showing! *grin*)

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ehmaz
2008-05-13 11:49 pm UTC (link)

I really agree with you about the movie. It bothered me a lot when I first saw the Occlumency lessons, as I don't think Snape would get that physical with Harry. However, I've come to believe that that was the director's method of showing us what a "violent" experience Legilimency/Occlumency is. It's a rather violent experience in the books, but it's hard to show that on a film, so I've come to accept it.

I thought Harry looked too well put-together also. His background story with the Dursleys is such an important part of his character, and the film just kind of squelched that.

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spidermoth
2008-05-15 01:21 am UTC (link)

That's a good point about the Occlumency lessons being violent. I'll take that into consideration. But that scene did remind me of what I thought about the toilet paper attached to young Snape's foot. It was, hmmm.... a bit of a miss? I mean that's a schtick gag that's usually more slap-stick humor than cruel. I would have liked a different prank which didn't skirt the edge of potty humor so much. Although, its left pretty open how cruel the marauders were until the shrieking shack incident. Anyway...

My thoughts on the flick after several weeks have passed are that Sirius was perfect, Lucius was perfect, Luna was perfect (although, several friends have disagreed on this one.) Umbridge was great, the twins were spot on. I probably liked this film as much as PoA. I haven't seen GoF.

Love the icon, btw...

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	ehmaz 2008-05-15 03:11 am UTC (link)
	Maybe a better word than violent would be intense. Both actors do a great job of being super intense in the Occlumency scene. I don't know, it's hard to say. I'd like to know how much input JKR had in it. I agree with Luna being perfect. She was so great. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)