I will not tell lies. Especially when it comes to the movies.

Written on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 @ 7:27pm

Cristina saw Harry Potter a week ago and the results are finally in! You know the drill. If you want to be spoiler-free, run along!

I kinda want to do the I-told-you-so dance because it seems people are starting to dislike the movies for the same reason I have. Too many cuts and too many changes. I think I enjoyed this movie more than a lot of other people because my expectations were extremely low. I only saw one trailer and did not do anything to get myself hyped up except wear my Hogwarts jacket to the show.

I honestly think at this point there is no director out there that will ever be as faithful to any of the books as Chris Columbus was to the first two. However, this movie was definitely a step up from both PoA and GoF. But as all of us fans know there is much need for improvement.

Beginning was alright. I had a hard time trying to tell if that was Dudley’s real voice or if he was just doing mocking baby talk the whole time to piss Harry off. The dementors scene was great, and I’m happy they kept the Hollywood drama to a minimum. I got scared for a second when Harry’s wand got kicked away. I was afraid they were going to drag it out and make it seem like the most dramatic thing ever since getting the dragon’s egg but they didn’t. Yay. I didn’t like how calm Figg was. In the book all she kept doing was freaking out whereas in the movie she’s like, “Hiya! Weird dementors being here. Now don’t go outdoors.” Kinda had a deja vu moment from CoS, which I think has to do with the fact I am currently reading that book. I think I need to go straight to the 5th book because throughout the whole movie I was getting book 5 and 6 mixed up.

When the Order picked Harry up, I was like okay why is everyone here except Lupin? Did they cut Lupin? WTF I HATE THIS MOVIE. Then they get back to Grimmauld Place and there’s Lupin. Why is it so hard to squeeze in a tad bit of faithfulness? Why couldn’t Lupin be there like he’s suppose to? Why did you have to add two or three other people that we didn’t even know? Jesus. But I have to say I love Tonks. I love that Natalia Tena is playing her. And it gave me goosebumps when I saw her and Lupin.

Okay, we’re into what the 5th movie now? CAN WE PLEASE STOP THE DRAMATIC HERMIONE-HUGGING-HARRY?! We all know they don’t get together so just let it go! It was cute in CoS, fans know the hug was technically supposed to happen in SS/PS, so quit makin it such a big thing in each damn movie. If anything, have him hug Ginny already. Speaking of which, I watched Ginny’s facial expressions the whole time and I loved it! Especially when Harry was going ga-ga over Cho. And as much as I was looking forward to seeing Cho’s breakdown in the V-Day cafe scene, I got an evil kick out of it that they made her betray Dumbledore’s Army. I’ve never liked Cho so good riddins.

I was pretty much okay with everything up until the Threstrals scene. I think they need to get it straight that if you’re actually stick shit in from the book you need to explain why. You can’t just stick something because only the book readers will know and most of the movie franchise is people who’d rather see the movies than read the book. Like, let’s make Neville stand there with his Mimbulus Mimbletonia and not explain. Haw haw haw. I think Luna is awesome, though I wish they would have added more of her awesomeness into the movie other than her pudding and nargles obsession.

I have to say I love the way they made up Umbridge’s character. Her being the cat lady was just fantastic. Her little “ahem”… exactly how I imagined it in the book. I think they took it a bit too far with making the whole DA doing the “I will not tell lies” bit. The montage of her inspecting the teachers was well done. And poor poor Trelawney!!

Aside from the ending, my biggest complaint towards this film was … no Quidditch. HELLO WEASLEY IS OUR KING?! That’s like us fans big thing. You say “Weasley is our king” and we just know. But none of that and that just saddened me. I also wished they did a bit more with the Weasley twins exit. And how come no explanation about Percy?

I was bit bummed about the whole Department of Mysteries scene because the whole flying brains in the tank bit was confusing so I was hoping to see it on screen. Perhaps the screenwriter was confused too and left it out, haha. I loved Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix.

So I got teary eyed when Sirius died but man did that whole scene lack emotion. And once again, the director’s have a wonderful opportunity to tie up loose ends but refuse to do the Dumbledore-explaining-things-to-Potter scenes. WHY?! Do they realize how confusing they make it by not explaining? It’s the most pivotal part of the books! They didn’t do it in the last movie, which pissed me off, but this one was the BIG ONE. COME ON!

I love how the film was shot (like those flying shots in London were awesome) and the music. Other than that, it’s the same feelings I had toward Pirates. I think one of the father’s in our movie audience said it all when his snores could be heard echoing throughout the theatre.

I’m looking forward to the 7th book release more than anything.

1 Comment

1 Comment

Louie commented on Thursday, July 19th, 2007, 6:59 pm

I agree. The little inserts that were unexplained were ok for us, but everyone else had no clue. I was annoyed at how the director chose what to put in, but hey, at least the books are still kick a**