POA REVIEW
May. 31st, 2004 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aleathielHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Spoilers under cut.
I suppose I should start with the few minor dislikes:
* Professor Lupin. Just no. Thewlis was perfectly good, he just wasn’t Lupin.
*Slightly too much in the way of cheesy dramatisation: Sirius in the crystal ball, for example. It undermines the whole way divination is presented in the book. As does the fact that we can see The Grim in the tea leaves. But it’s not really a problem in the grand scale of things.
* Lupin-as-werewolf. He should have actually become a wolf, not a wolf-man.
* Tiny characterisation problem: Hermione looking at her hair. Hermione would not comment on her hair looking bad.
Things I should have - or expected to - dislike, but didn’t:
* Those damn singing frogs. They were only there in that one little scene so I can’t complain. Still think they’re stupid in the trailer though.
* The issue of the firebolt. Instead of getting it and Christmas and going through the whole testing thing, Harry gets it at the end after Sirius escapes. Considering how downplayed Quidditch is in this film, it wasn’t that much of a problem.
* Small plot alterations and the way that Harry and Hermione made more use of the time turner than in the book - the howl and the stone through the window. It worked. After all, it’s a film, not a book, and Cuaron knows what he’s doing.
*The dementor-sucking. Should have looked stupid, but it worked.
* The Ron/Hermione overtones. Okay, so they come later in the series of books. But they’re there. So I don’t care.
* Sirius. From the pictures I didn’t think he could do the part. And I couldn’t see Sirius in the posters. But actually on screen he was fine.
Things I liked:
* The fact that it was a film not an attempt to recreate the book. It wasn’t dull and didn’t drag. Cuaron knows his medium and how to exploit it. The shots themselves held something we just didn’t see in Columbus’ films: eg Harry looking through the clock, or the use of lighting… which leads me to:
* The learning Patronus scene. Yeah, I said I didn’t like Lupin and it wasn’t the scene so much I liked as the way the thing was filmed. It’s a repetition of the above, but the use of space and light etc was beautiful and powerful. Ditto the scene with Harry flying on Buckbeak. That’s cinema.
* Buckbeak. I was terrified of a repeat of the disaster that was Aragog. But Buckbeak was fine.
* The Marauders Map. Great stuff.
* The details. The unspoken things. General background. The things that make the books come alive. Columbus seemed to leave things out or to labour the point. Cuaron just lets you see for yourself.
So, in conclusion: I’m pleased.
And I may end up writing a piece of Harry Potter slash. Because it has, after all, been almost a year.
and I don't have a Harry Potter icon any more
Spoilers under cut.
I suppose I should start with the few minor dislikes:
* Professor Lupin. Just no. Thewlis was perfectly good, he just wasn’t Lupin.
*Slightly too much in the way of cheesy dramatisation: Sirius in the crystal ball, for example. It undermines the whole way divination is presented in the book. As does the fact that we can see The Grim in the tea leaves. But it’s not really a problem in the grand scale of things.
* Lupin-as-werewolf. He should have actually become a wolf, not a wolf-man.
* Tiny characterisation problem: Hermione looking at her hair. Hermione would not comment on her hair looking bad.
Things I should have - or expected to - dislike, but didn’t:
* Those damn singing frogs. They were only there in that one little scene so I can’t complain. Still think they’re stupid in the trailer though.
* The issue of the firebolt. Instead of getting it and Christmas and going through the whole testing thing, Harry gets it at the end after Sirius escapes. Considering how downplayed Quidditch is in this film, it wasn’t that much of a problem.
* Small plot alterations and the way that Harry and Hermione made more use of the time turner than in the book - the howl and the stone through the window. It worked. After all, it’s a film, not a book, and Cuaron knows what he’s doing.
*The dementor-sucking. Should have looked stupid, but it worked.
* The Ron/Hermione overtones. Okay, so they come later in the series of books. But they’re there. So I don’t care.
* Sirius. From the pictures I didn’t think he could do the part. And I couldn’t see Sirius in the posters. But actually on screen he was fine.
Things I liked:
* The fact that it was a film not an attempt to recreate the book. It wasn’t dull and didn’t drag. Cuaron knows his medium and how to exploit it. The shots themselves held something we just didn’t see in Columbus’ films: eg Harry looking through the clock, or the use of lighting… which leads me to:
* The learning Patronus scene. Yeah, I said I didn’t like Lupin and it wasn’t the scene so much I liked as the way the thing was filmed. It’s a repetition of the above, but the use of space and light etc was beautiful and powerful. Ditto the scene with Harry flying on Buckbeak. That’s cinema.
* Buckbeak. I was terrified of a repeat of the disaster that was Aragog. But Buckbeak was fine.
* The Marauders Map. Great stuff.
* The details. The unspoken things. General background. The things that make the books come alive. Columbus seemed to leave things out or to labour the point. Cuaron just lets you see for yourself.
So, in conclusion: I’m pleased.
And I may end up writing a piece of Harry Potter slash. Because it has, after all, been almost a year.
and I don't have a Harry Potter icon any more
