So, lets discuss that Harry Potter fellow, shall we? (If you haven't seen Prisoner of Azkaban yet, you probably want to skip this.)
Since I tend to be so critical of the HP movies, lets start off with what I *did* like:
The new director. In general, although I have a LOT of problems with how they handled the adaptation of the storyline, this is my favorite of the movies so far. The film felt a lot more artsy, even though it was handled in a kid-friendly way, ie the slow shot of the single leaf falling to the ground to represent the change in seasons, followed by the comedic twist of all of the other leaves falling off the tree in one great rush.
The scenery. The sets are absolutely beautiful, and the director & DP did an amazing job of capturing them. My only problem with that, however, is that at times it was a little too "Hey! Look at my cool castle! We built this! See the castle? Oh, here are some kids doing stuff, but really, look at the castle!"
The Double Trouble song. Damn, I love that. Something wicked this way comes!
The music in general. John Williams = cool.
The werewolf. He was damn cool.
The Dementors. Also, well done.
Hedwig. I think it should be called "Hedwig and the Prisoner of Azkaban", since we all know that the stories are secretly all about her.
Alan Rickman in a dress. Damn, life is good.
The Leaky Culdron. I don't know what it was about how this scene was set up, but it made me want to live in this fantasy world. Something about the old-world feel of the place, and the interesting background characters, I just wanted to step into the scene and make myself at home.
Stuff that drives me nuts:
I felt like a LOT was left out of the movie that shouldn't have been. Yeah, I know, you can't have a five hour long kid's movie, but my problem is that the things that were left out were a lot of what made the story so intricate and beautiful. There's no mention at ALL in the movie that Sirius, James, and Peter became Animagus to help take care of Lupin. In fact, there's not any mention at all of the fact that James *was* an Animagus, which takes away the awww factor of the form that Harry's patronus assumes. There's no mention that those four *are* the Marauders, and made the map. Basically, a whole lot of important Maruader stuff left out.
The beginning of the movie, on Privet Drive, needs to be a couple of minutes longer. In the book, Harry's rage towards Vernon's sister builds to a climax more slowly, vs him getting really angry all at once in the movie. I know, time, blah blah, but that's one scene that felt incredibly short to me. Having Harry only be living in the Leaky Cauldron for a day instead of two weeks was a disappointment, but I can understand that being cut for time.
There was no Oliver Wood in this movie. My disappointment is palpatable.
Speaking of Quiddich players, Cedric Diggory first appears in this book, so I was hoping to get a sneak peak at who he would be, but you never really get to see him. Sad.
Yeah, they cut out most of the Quiddich, and stuck the firebolt at the end instead of using it as a fight-starter between the boys and Hermione. I know this helped shorten things a lot, but the missing piece was noticeable. I particularly missed Malfoy dressing up as a dementor to try to scare Harry, because I thought that scene would play really well on film.
Another huge lack was the scene in which Black breaks into the bedroom and comes at Ron with a knive. Come on, people! You could have cut five minutes worth of scenery shots, and included this.
Although they included the newspaper showing Ron's trip to Egypt, they never explained that that's how Sirius knew about Peter, nor did they ever explain how he didn't go mad in Azkaban, nor about how he escaped.
Poor Harry, even the film forgot your birthday.
No Pigwidgeon. Now, come on people! Pigwidgeon is the star of the show, and you leave him out?
Casting Stuff:
I wanted Ewan McGregor as Lupin more than you know. David Thewils carries the role, but is just missing a certain Lupinness. Plus, his moustache was annoying.
Gary Oldman, although he did a great job, just isn't Sirius to me. In his case, I don't know who I would have cast, but Oldman just isn't quite right.
The new Dumbledore worked for me. He doesn't quite have the mischievous, loving spark in his eyes that the original did, but he works.
I didn't really like the Peter Pettigrew. Just not what I had in mind.
Overall? I enjoyed this movie a lot more than the last two. However, it's the one that I most wish I could rewrite so far, probably because it's my favorite of the books, and close to my heart.
Tell me what you thought about it! Come on, you know you wanted Ewan as Lupin, too.
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