I had the pleasure of going to see Harry Potter last night with a friend who is visiting for a week.
First off, it didn’t disappoint at all! I’m the kind of person who wants to be vaguely aware of how good a movie is without spoiling it, so I won’t spoil it for you either. It was definitely the best of the 3.
The charactesr had a huge growth spurt, but otherwise the relationships are still so nice that you can smile at them. The movie was slightly (only slightly) darker, but everything about it was spot on. Not academy award winning spot on. “Just right for Harry Potter” spot on.
Music was good. Visuals were good (some were great, some were borrowed). Acting was good (English actors have got to be loving this series). Directing was good. Even the ‘cutting’ of the plot down to a more simple version was good.
This has been one of my fears with the Harry Potter series all along. So much of the subtext has to be cut out, that you always feel like yelling at your friends “READ THE BOOKS!!!” … But then you’d sound way too much like a candle in the wind. Not that blogging isn’t like that 
Anyways, I was very happy. I’m going to continue reading the books, and pleading that someone picks up the reigns after book 7 finishes… Somehow. The series and characters are incredibly lovable, and the movies only reinforce the picture I had in my head, which is ideal.
If you aren’t a Harry Potter fan (or magic and ‘demos’ just aren’t your thing); you probably won’t enjoy this. If you haven’t seen the previous movies or read any of the books, it’ll be a little (only a little) hard to follow, mainly because the movies “build” on each other, in terms of revealing the world to you…
But, if you do appreciate the genre and the stories, the movie is spot on.
June 8th, 2004 at 3:10 pm
I have to say this was my favorite of the series so far. A lot of it had to do with the fact that it wasn’t quite as cartoony and the characters seemed to have more depth (whether it’s just that we know them now, the director pushed them better or they’re simply growing up and becoming better actors). Either way, this was my favorite movie, and story. I’ll point out I’ve never read the books, but received a nice loooong lecture after the movie about what was different from my girlfriend, who has.
June 8th, 2004 at 4:47 pm
Haven’t seen it yet but I’ll see it in a day or two, hoping that it’ll be better than the previous 2, which were just……….
They left a lot to be desired for the fans who’ve read the books. Particularly I wondered that if Chris Columbus can’t squeeze in a story spanning 200 odd pages into a 2 hour movie as it is, then how can he do that with the 4th book which spans about more than 700 pages. But thankfully, he’s left & there’s a new director, which I hope is not as lousy as his predecessor.
June 9th, 2004 at 10:08 am
We’re talking about the same Harry Potter right? I saw it on the day it came out (over here in the UK, after pre-booking tickets a month in advance) and came out of the cinema thinking it was such a let down that they shouldn’t be allowed to make any more of the books into films!
There were gaping holes in the plot begging to be filled and the film didn’t do anything to develop the story in the way the books do so well.
Anyway film aside, I’m still a big Harry Potter fan and can’t wait to read the next book. I heard a rumour that she’s going to kill off Harry at the end of the last book, can’t wait to find out!
June 9th, 2004 at 11:22 am
Anytime you expect the ‘whole book’ from a movie you’ll be let down. The question (to me) is whether the movie is a good representation of the characters and plotlines to a non-reader. To me, this is a resounding yes. You miss some of the more fun subplots (like the importance of the Houses), but it’s still good.
The second question is whether the movie changes anything from the books. In my opinion, this is a no.
So, yeah, stuff is missing (obviously), but you don’t feel like it’s missing unless you’re looking for specific plot points. If you just watch the movie (for me), you really feel like you watched the book coming to life (in some cases, in amazing detail).
June 9th, 2004 at 1:14 pm
Hate to make a “worthless” comment, but my opinion on the matter echos Jeremy’s completely. I didn’t read the book and the plot in the movie had no gaping holes. I’m sure there’s tons left out – but if there wasn’t it’d be a 10-hour movie. Fun for some I’m sure, but it’s not easy for the screenwriters to condense lengthy books like that, and I think they did a very good job. The movie – as a movie, not a book, was very good.
June 9th, 2004 at 2:35 pm
@Rick:-
The rumour that she’s gonna kill Harry in the last book has been spread by Daniel Radcliffe, the outgoing Harry in the movies. That’s what he thinks is going to happen.
And if you’ve read the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore told Harry about the prediction made by Sybill Trelawny that
either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives
So, there’s got to be an exciting end to this story & she’s certainly not going to kill Voldemort in next book, it’d be too soon. Besides she’s said many times that she don’t plan to write after 7th book, but I think that fans might force her to write after 7th, just as happened in the case of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyale had killed Sherlock Holmes in a novel that was supposed to be the last of the detective but due to popular demand & people pressing in on him, he was forced to revive the master detective.
@Jeremy:-
Well, I wasn’t expecting nor have expected the whole book in a movie but atleast you can squeeze the story gracefully so that it seems smooth instead of like it had been cut here & there randomly with a pair of scissors. Look at the LOTR movies. They had grace, never did the viewer who’s read the books, feel the story being snapped here & there, but it was felt in the 1st & 2nd Harry Potter movies, the story jumping from one scene to another without any grace, without any smooth blends. That’s why, a lot was left to be desired & after watching the 1st movie itself, I vowed not to watch another movie if the same director made it, but I watched the 2nd one just hoping that it would be better than 1st one, but it wasn’t. Now I’ll watch the 3rd one with the same hope, though my hopes are not high on it now.
June 9th, 2004 at 4:06 pm
We’re reading the same books, right? Because the books jump around a lot as well. It’s autumn, then something happens in winter during Christmas cause Harry’s bored… Then it’s spring and the climax happens.
That’s the pacing of the books. Of course there were bits that I noticed missing as well, but not really from a plot point perspective. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the changing seasons, the entire movie could have appeared to happen in a week…
June 9th, 2004 at 4:06 pm
We’re reading the same books, right? Because the books jump around a lot as well. It’s autumn, then something happens in winter during Christmas cause Harry’s bored… Then it’s spring and the climax happens.
That’s the pacing of the books. Of course there were bits that I noticed missing as well, but not really from a plot point perspective. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the changing seasons, the entire movie could have appeared to happen in a week…
August 23rd, 2004 at 6:58 pm
[...] mitted it was a guilty pleasure and was hoping it’d hold me off until the next book. It did. I really enjoyed how the characters were fleshed out and important bits w [...]