Harry Potter reactions

Cafe Society
21

I bought a ticket to see the first showing here. In fact I bought the first ticket for this particular showing last thursday. I specifically wanted to see the Star Wars trailer. There was supposed to be 6 trailers here, but they cut them all because of the length of the movie. I complained and I’m going back tomorrow when it’s all straigtened out.

As per the movie I thought it was a good movie, a solid 7. But it was way too fast. This is the problem for MANY movies that are made from the books. The books just contain so much information that it’s almost impossible to throw enough out to make the movie a decent length. And they seemed so intent on craming as much of the action into the movie as they could, playing with the pretty moving walls and stairs and stuff, that they never settled down and really introduced to the characters, kinda suffering from the same failing as Star Trek does, magi-bable that takes time away from character developement. It was rush them here, rush them there. The only slow moment in the entire movie is when Harry is sitting by the window, by himself looking out. That doesn’t tell us much about him or let us really gain a chance to empathize with him. Now for people who’ve read the books and know all about the characters there was little need for this, but for me who hasn’t, I really missed it. It kept me from really rooting for Harry.

The acting was really good. If only the kid who played Anakin could act as well as the girl SW:TPM would have improved dramatically. I also really liked Hagrid, he played his character perfectly.

The Quidditch match did seemed a bit … odd. Once the match starts they ignore Harry for several minutes. It almsot seems as if he just sat up there watching his team play. Plus the game didn’t seem like all that much fun to watch in real life. I mean if Harry, a novice, albeit a talented one, could catch the gold ball after only 4 scores then … you know. But that’s really minor.

As for the plot however all the adults seemed quite, well … quite stupid. In fact I was almost led to believe that they knew the entire time what was happening and they were setting Harry up. They knew he could kill him so they arranged it so he could. I doubt that’s the way it happened but it seems like the only possible solution to their odd actions.

I also liked all the Latin. It was neat being able to understand what they were saying. Like the password was caput draconis, or head of the dragon, or better still dragon’s head

22

Never read the book, my wife did, saw the flick tonight. It was very good, but seems like a movie that can’t win.

Since there are 100,000,000 of the series books sold, the movie has no choice but to try and duplicate the book as closely as possible, lest the makers face the anger of millions of Potterites.

The problem is, you can only fit so much shit into a 2 hour 25 minute bag. I heard some kids complaining that some key scenes were left out. I found myself asking my wife some questions about the plot that confused me, and she admitted, yes, the makers kind of glossed over some important points and seemed to assume that everyone seeing the movie read the book.

Overall though, it was a fine effort, and as far as the genre goes, some very good moments and special effects. The kid who was tapped to play Harry was spot on, and the movie was well cast.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

23

alohomora
That word puzzled me till I found that site. But aloha? Hawaiian? She seemed pretty fond of Latin for most of the other words. Mora is Latin.

Anywa that explains the stresses. In aloha it’s on the LO, in mora it’s on the mo. I wonder if alohamora would work?

24

Just came back from the 9:45 pm showing a little while ago. Good flick, they compressed the book into a film about as well as one could hope. My observations:

The kid playing Harry wasn’t much of an actor, but he did well enough. His bad moments weren’t as bad as Mannequin Skywalker’s, but his good moments weren’t as good either.

There should have been more emphasis on the house points system than there was. In the book those 150 points from the detention incident made the kids the pariahs of Gryffindor, effectively and obviously losing them the house cup; in the film it was just glossed over, as though Gryffindor just happened to have the fewest points at the end of term.

The loss of the Norbert plot thread was regrettable, and I’d like to have seen just a bit more of Robbie Coltrane emoting about as Hagrid. Not too much though; it’s not his movie.

Reducing Professor Snape’s role in the movie is almost unforgiveable. Not only does it weaken the revelation of the real villain at the end; not only does it leave out Snape’s relation to Harry and his reason for not liking the boy; but we don’t get to see nearly enough of Alan Rickman snarling.

I wasn’t greatly impressed with the effects, but hey – I used to love watching Doctor Who reruns, warts and all. The story is more than enough to carry the weak technical elements.

In all, I’d see it again if somebody else bought the ticket. Since I have no income, I’ll be saving my soda bottles for Fellowship of the Ring next month; I hope to be employed before May 16, 2002 – that’s the current official release date for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

25

I saw the movie last night, a 7:30 showing although we had almost 30 mins of trailers including the ‘Forbidden love’ SW E2 trailer (Which didn’t convince me to see E2), TLOTR trailer which was excellent I will be there on the opening night :slight_smile: And the Monsters INC ‘charades’ trailer, which I thought was good.

I agree with a lot of the comments above. The movie was fast paced all the way through, which was too much. There didn’t seem to be enough character development to Harry, having read the books this wasn’t too much of a problem but I think those who haven’t read the books will be disappointed.

Some of the action sequences were excellent the Quiditch game worked really well, much better than I expected (Even though the blue screening was too apparent in some places).

I think if I had been directing this movie I would have tried to leave more out, possibly disappointing fans of the book, but leaving more time to look at the characters.

About half way through (just after Harry fly around in broomstick class, I think) I thought what a great place to end the movie. Of course if they did that it would mean having 2 films for the first book, which I think would have been better, it would give the audience more time to get to know the characters and experience some of the wonder of Harry becoming a wizard. Unfortunately JK is planning seven books in total so if each book were done as two films there would be fourteen films. I think though you could get away with one film per book for the others.

Wither way I think more time should have been spent getting to know the characters.

I thought Prof. Quirrel was a little weak at the end, and the ending did feel a little like an anti-climax, I’m not sure why though if someone said to me this is the end I would have been impressed, it just didn’t feel as powerful as other part of the film.

I think the dark places in the film, were dark enough, the book is also very dark in places. And I am looking forward to the next films (and hoping they will be even better)

Overall I really enjoyed the film, but I think people who haven’t read the book may leave feeling a little disappointed.

26

(SPOILERS for the book and movie)
I forgot to mention Norbert. In the book he’s the reason why Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Neville are given the detention in the Forbidden Forest. In the movie he serves no purpose. One scene he’s there and the next it’s, “He’s sent to live in a colony in Romania” and that’s it. Let’s just put him in there because he’s a dragon and he’ll make a really good toy.

27

In the movie he’s still (indirectly) the reason for the detention – the kids were not supposed to go to see Hagrid at night.

28

If I remember correctly (and I may not, it was a long time ago I read them), the books made references to Quidditch matchs that went on for days. An average one probably lasts minimum an hour. After an hour of scoring, there is a fairly good chance that a team would be up by 150 or more, thus making it pointless for the losing team to capture the snitch.

I am really overanalyzing this…

29

You’re remembering correctly (I just re-read the series for the 5th time. I’m not much of an addict, no! :wink: ) However, it’s not necessarily true that a team will be up by 150 or more. If both teams have either good defense or good offense (or both) the score can stay close for hours or days. The Snitch would then be as important in the final score as it would have been in the first 15 minutes. And, the catcher of the snitch doesn’t always automatically win the game. Sometimes, as in Goblet of Fire, the losing team may be getting beat so badly that they know they have no chance of catching up and the seeker wants to end things on his terms.

Now, for the movie. I saw the 6pm showing yesterday (and it was also devoid of the Star Wars trailer - but I’m planning on going to see it again, so I’m not overly worried) I’ve had my tickets since Tuesday, and went with some friends from work.

All in all, I thought it was a fairly faithful adaptation. I realize that they had to leave some parts out, change other parts, etc… but there were parts I wished they had left in.

  1. Hermione’s solving of the potion puzzle. (As well as Hermione’s losing her cool under fire at the Devil’s Snare. Ron’s line about “Have you gone made? Are you a witch or not?” is one of my favorites in the book.) The point I saw in the book was that none of the three of them could have done it alone. They each needed to bring something special to get through all of the hurdles. Hermione’s use of logic through the potions showed she wasn’t all book learning.

  2. Harry, Ron & Hermione telling Neville he should stand up for himself, and then having it come back and bite them in the butt when he stood up to them. The scene when the trio was leaving to get past Fluffy would have made more sense (IMO) if they’d had the preceeding.

  3. (Hi Opal!) Norbert being smuggled out of the castle by the trio, rather than the “Dumbledore” excuse. It also would have brought Neville into play a little more.

4)Harry getting his Weasley sweater. To me, it would have been just a short addition, and would have shown, for the future films, how the Weasleys are becoming like a family to Harry.

Now, for the things I did like…

  1. The acting. I thought all of the acting was fantastic. Two stand out for me, though. I thought Emma Watson was superb in her portrail of Hermione. I don’t think she was particularly pretty, but she wasn’t quite as plain as I’d imagined Hermione being, either. But she certainly had the hair. And I loved Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid. Every action, every word was exactly as I imagined Hagrid to be.

  2. The Quidditch Match. It was a little more frenetic than I expected it to be. But I couldn’t turn away from it. When Griffindor won the match, everyone in the theater was clapping, myself included.

  3. (Hi, again, Opal!) Voldemort. I, too, was afraid that it would be kinda cheesy, but I thought they did a great job with it. Scary enough, as he should have been. And the visual of the two faces was seemless.

  4. How the movie stuck very close to the book. I was honestly afraid, regardless of everything I’d heard, that it was going to change too much, that I wouldn’t recognize 25-50% of the movie. But it was a good mix, for the most part, of staying close to the book, but cutting out parts to make it a manageable movie.
    So, that’s my review. I’m planning on going to see it again (if I can find a few people to go with me - I always find that a better viewing experience). I would like to see the outtakes for it, though.

30

I loved the movie (I have read the book). I find very little fault with any of it. If I wetre the director I am sure I awould have made some different decisions, but you simply could not include everything and no matter what, some of the missing bits would have been considered critical by some folks.

One of my friends was bored and she loved the book, and I think it is unfair. You simply cannot go into the movie and expect to get the same jolt of of joy and excitement you got from first read the book. You know what is going to happen. I mean if you are bored you are bored, so I cannot say “you shouldn’t be bored”, but I think that depends a lot on your expectations going in.

As for Norbert, he served the same true purpose he did in the book, Hagrid got the dragon’s egg from (oh crap I forgot his name) Voldemorts guy, gained Hagrid’s trust and learned how to get past Fluffy.

I really loved this movie, I have read some comparisons to “The WIxard of Oz”, but I was actually thinking it was more like “Willy Wonka”

31

There were some explanations that made sense, but went by pretty fast. The reason for the detention in the Forbidden Forest was one example. Harry’s Weasley sweater was mentioned, if not shown…that’s another one.

Agree that the part where they tell Neville to stand up for himself ought to have been left in, to make his “stand” later even funnier. Wouldn’t have taken too much time either…oh well. They didn’t have much time to develop Neville as a nebbish, so the joke was weakened. Can’t have everything.

Some things y’all missed were in later books! F’rinstance, the reference to days-long Quidditch matches.

And, slightly OT: If I didn’t know anything about Star Wars, I sure wouldn’t want to see it based on the kissy-face preview I saw at HP. EEEWWWWWW! So, is it an adventure movie with a romance in it (hope so) or a cheesy romance with some special effects? (Repeat: EEEWWWWW!)

32

And I was completly unimpressed.

I thought the cinemtography was flat out bad. Poor lighting in some scenes and some of the effects were bad. One example is a shot of the three kids outside Hagrids house with the school in the background. Execpt for the hard static lines around the kids to let you know it was a bad green (or blue) screen shot. Another is a scene of Harrys owl flying that does not obey any sort of flight rules for owls.

Alan Rickman as Snape was great. Execpt that his part is cut way down which is strange because he is the ‘villian’. He does not hand one point to Draco (whose part is also cut) or deduct points from Harry.

I was very disapointed with the acting of the boy playing Harry. The mirror scene should be very emotional but it really lacks in the film. It has some emotional impact because of the situation but not from his acting.

But I agree with the NY Times assement that the film is like watching a good cover band play some of your favorite songs.
I lay the blame at the top. The direction and the screenplay was bad, which in my book means bad producers.

33

I just saw a 1:45pm showing with my son. I guess I’d give it a 7, but my son would give it a 9 or better.

Neither my son nor I had read the books, so we didn’t know what to expect. It was fun, and it kept my interest. I have to say I didn’t like the way they glossed over Snopes’ role in the endgame, though.

Overall, I’d recommend it.

34

They should have made more of Harry’s pre-wizard miserable life with the Dursleys. This would then have made his escape and transition to the “magic world” all the more powerful.

Hermione was fantastic, the right mix of snooty, know-it-all but still a good egg.

As regards Quidditch, I originally assumed that the snitch didn’t always get caught in a game. I thought games could be won or lost by accumulating enough points from scoring with the Quaffle.

But then if some games go on for days, it must be the case that the game continues until someone catches the snitch. Since catching the snitch wins you the game whatever the state of play then I don’t see the point in bothering to score points with the Quaffle.

Leave your opponent to chase the Quaffle, it doesn’t matter if they are 1000-0 up, all you have to do is get the snitch and you win.

You might as well just go after the snitch from the first minute.

In a way, I wish I hadn’t read the book - just seen the film. Then I would have approached it as a “virgin” without thinking about comparisons to the book.

The Star Wars trailer did look a bit over-soppy. Is this an attempt to gain a more female audience?

The LOTR trailer actually looked quite awesome. I really hope the film can deliver. Gartog was musing over whether there should have been two films for the first Harry Potter book.

If Harry Potter could have warranted two films how much more would the first LOTR book require two films?

If you thought HP rushed through things a bit too quickly, whats LOTR going to be like given the huge amount of detail in the plot?

Unless the film is going to be 6 hours long I can’t see how they are going to be able to do it without skipping loads of stuff and rushing through the bits they do include.

I think they should have made the first LOTR into 3 different movies. Kinda like what they are doing with Star Wars. LOTR shoulda been 9 movies in total. It may be hard to keep peoples attention going for that long but then it seems to have worked with Star Wars and LOTR has a much better basic storyline than SW.

Osiris said:

I think that was the point. Harry isn’t just any old novice. He’s a great wizard, he just doesn’t realise this yet. He is the only one (apart from Dumbledore) who can defeat Voldemort. In the book Harry and Dumbledore are the only ones who will even speak Voldemort’s name

And the role of the Seeker is to just sit around and watch the game until you see a chance of catching the snitch.

Actually yes, if I remember the book correctly, your summary is correct. The adults did know what was happening all the time but for some reason they had to let Harry do it all himself. But they do help him.

I think it is implied in the book that it was Dumbledore who gave Harry the Invisibility cloak.

35

A couple more things in reaction to some of the posts:

In the book, it is said outright that Dumbledore gave Harry the Invisibility Cloak. I was waiting for that part in the movie, but I guess you can’t have everything. There’s also a part at the end where Harry asks Dumbledore why he (Harry) couldn’t be killed by Voldemort. I think the answer was just something about finding out “someday” but I would have liked to see that part.

Speaking of the Cloak, I thought that part looked way cool. I know it’s probably a simple special effect to accomplish, but still, it was cool.

I was a bit disappointed that Mrs. Weasley wasn’t in it very long. I know she’s not in the book much either, but the movie Mrs. W. at least could have introduced Ginny.

I noticed also that the other kids weren’t too freaked about the name “Voldemort.” I think they all actually said it in the movie, which to me was a big error. Ron is especially terrified by the name in the book, and even asks Harry to stop saying it.

We didn’t see the AOTC trailer either, and I was pretty pissed off about it. When we see it again tomorrow, if the trailer isn’t there, I’m going to ask about it.

The comparisons to “Wizard of Oz” are warranted, IMO. I was thinking a lot about “WoO” after I saw “Harry.” I of course started watching "WoO’ every year when I was about three years old. When I read the book later, I realized how much had been left out of the film. I feel the same about “Harry.” The movie couldn’t go on forever (if only…), so the director had to make decisions. I think he made good ones, overall. Chris Columbus made up for “Bicentennial Man” with this one.
IIRC, I read somewhere that the original cut was about four hours long. I pray that they release all the extra footage with the inevitable DVD.

36

I think you guys are missing a MAJOR point about the issue of capturing the snitch and winning in Quiddich. The season championship does not go to the team that wins the most games…the season championship goes to the team that has the most points. In fact, this was a major point in one of the books (Prisoner of Azkaban, possibly?)…Gryffindor house needed to gain 200 points in order to win the season championship, so for a while, Harry’s job was to not catch the snitch, and to distract his opponent (was it Malfoy in that game? I’ve got to hit the books again…) until his teammates managed to rack up at least 50 points with the Quaffle, and then to catch the snitch.

So the rest of the game is hardly meaningless. In theory, a team could win the season championship without winning a single one of its games, as long as they manage their points right.

37

There were alot of little things I found upsetting - Harry didnt catch the snitch in his mouth in that match, I am almost certain of it…

They took off the cloak to go under Fluffy - they never showed him getting it back…

They werent shunned by classmates, Harry wasnt abused by Snape, tormented by Draco - Snape and Draco became mere annoyances.

Percy and Neville were not develloped.

ANd Hagrid gave Harry the scrapbook in the infirmary, not at the train! They looked at it, and Hagrid told Harry he had sent to Lily and James’ old friends for the pictures - it made me cry when I read it out loud to the kids! the scene in the movie lacked punch.

Ron in the mirror wanted Head Boy - WTF was Head Boy??? They never explained how he had overacheiving brothers!

The ever-important Ministry of Magic in only mentioned once.

The Quiddich scenes gave me goosebumps, but they could have ben cut altogether IMHO, and then made room for more actual story. ( I didnt like the computer animated shots of players not in the foreground - it was jerky and fake looking)

Also, a narrative voice over the film would have filled in alot of missing info, as if Dumbledore was telling the story of Potter! Thats how I would have done it, with Dumbledore’s voice telling us harry’s story.

It kinda sucks, if you didnt read the book, you dont ‘get’ the movie, if you DID read the book, you see all the missing parts.

Overall, it was incredible, the scenes of the castle, the paintings moving, the great hall, the casting was fan-friggin-tastic, the music was terrific…
armchair quarterbacking aside, i give it an 8.5 - it would be impossible to please everyone and get everything into a movie. A miniseries maybe…

38

Posted by loolia

It’s Nicolas Flamel.

Well, it would depend on the month. If my birthday were in December, adn I turned 665 last year, I’d still be 665.

–Minor point from the Associated Press.
Nicolas Flamel was an alchemist who, in 1383, believed he discovered a substance that would turn ordinary metal into gold and also thought that he had discovered the Elixir of Life which offered immortality.
In “Sorcerer’s Stone,” Flamel and his wife, Pernelle, were still alive at age 660. The real Flamel was born in 1330. In 1990, when Rowling began writing the first book, he would have been 660.

39

Cool. Then that makes it make more logical.

On a side note, you will have read that they cut the trailers for the first time I saw it. Just 3 stupid commercials and then the movie. I complained cause I wanted to see the Star Wars trailer and got to go back today when they put the trailers back in. But they only put 3 in!!! And not Star Wars!!!(put on a couple hundred more exclamation points) All 3 WB ones, Scooby Doo, Jim Carey and a cheesy teenage love story!!! Bloody Farging Hell!!! That was why I saw this movie in the first place!!! Where’s my steel toed boots? Somebody needs to be kicked where the sun don’t shine?

40

Oh, and Holy Krakatoa was that movie loud! So loud in fact in several scenes I wanted to stick my fingers in my ears. Like during the chess game. My ears hurt in scenes like that.