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Edited on Sat Jun-05-04 08:52 PM by impeachbushnow
If you had, you would have understood the ending. Now, for my opinion of the movie....
First of all, as with all the movies, it was too short. I realize they had to cut some stuff – ok, a LOT of stuff – to make it fit a decent run time; but this one really felt rushed, to the point where in certain scenes I felt like the actors were talking as fast as they could just to cram in all the dialogue in the allotted time. I wish they had chopped the Night Bus scene (which, while well done and very funny, was proportionately way too long) and devoted more time to the Shrieking Shack climactic scene (one of those where Gary Oldman really had to motormouth his way through his paragraphs of exposition.) Some of the Malfoy scenes could have been abbreviated as well. As has been pointed out by other sources, yes some of the scenes were scrambled around in regards to the way they occurred in the book. That did not bother me as much as some omissions that I personally thought were crucial to this and future plots, in particular: (1) they do not explain where the Marauder’s Map came from, or its significance; (2) they do not fully explain the relationship the four had at Hogwarts, or why the others became Animagi; (3) the original purpose and significance of the Shrieking Shack, and how they all knew it was there and how to get to it; and, most importantly, (4) they not only do not explain the significance of Harry’s stag Patronus, but they only actually show it taking the shape of a stag once, and in a way that you don’t associate the stag with the Patronus at all, it’s as if it were a separate entity entirely. As a minor quibble, I wish they had showed more of Honeydukes, considering the extent of work that went into the set for all of a two-and-a half-second shot; and Julie Christie was wasted as Rosmerta (in fact, the whole character of Rosmerta was a waste.)
That being said, the atmosphere and art direction in this movie was very well done; it made Hogwarts look much vaster and more mysterious. I loved the Leaky Cauldron; especially Tom the Innkeeper. (Now we know where Riff Raff moved to after Frank N Furter’s castle sailed off.) Watch the first scene in the Leaky, where they are closing up for the night, very carefully; some of the actors in the scene are real magicians and do some very cool tricks. In fact, pay very close attention to background details and performers in most of the scenes; there are a lot of great bits of business stuck in in odd places where you will miss them if you are only paying attention to the main characters. Everybody seems to have had a lot more fun with this movie than previous, it is crammed full of little oddments. John Williams also seems to have had a great time with the score, departing a lot from the HP canon to add some very funky music for the Night Bus, and Lupin’s predilection for Big Band jazz. The Dementors didn’t impress me much but I did like the way everything froze over at their approach. The one Quidditch scene is very short (you don’t even see the whole game) but a killer – literally. (I feel really sorry for the Hufflepuff Seeker.) I didn’t like the design of the werewolf but it was appropriately menacing, so I can live with it – it really looked like it could do some serious damage (and I also liked the last bit of Lupin’s departing humanity showing briefly at the end of the transformation.) Buckbeak, on the other hand, was gorgeous, a real miracle of CG/live effects. I’m looking forward to seeing him again in 5.
Michael Gambon actually makes a much better Dumbledore than Richard Harris did, and I think if they hadn’t gone for the big name and cast him in the first place, things would have gone much better for everyone concerned. He’s closer to the spry, wry, astute, crafty Dumbledore we see in the books. Oldman makes a really good Sirius, regardless of going from raving lunatic to diffident godfather in the blink of an eye. Timothy Spall is suitably creepy as Peter, and I wish Ron had shown a bit more revulsion and betrayal at his transformation, as he does in the books. Thewlis does not look at all as I pictured Lupin (I’m still fixated on Jason Carter in that role, sorry) but he does capture Lupin’s gentle, avuncular personality to a T, and he grew on me as the movie went on.
One last thing: make sure you stay all the way through the end credits. It is, without a doubt, the most creative and entertaining use of end credits I have ever seen in my life, and I had more fun watching the end credits than I did watching the movie itself. Pay very close attention to all the little footprints, where they go, and how they get there; especially those rooms that are labeled. (My favorite was the one labeled Stink Bomb Store – watch the footprints!!) My son and I are still arguing over whether the one toward the end was Sirius or Lupin.
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