:: Venting Insanity ::

:: Sunday, June 20, 2004 ::

movie fun
Estelle and I went and saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban last night. I'll try not to post too many spoilers... ^^;;

Anyway, I wasn't as impressed with this one as I had been with the first two. Perhaps I was expecting too much? Who knows... However, it was still very good for fans of the movies.

Marauders fans might be disappointed in the look of Sirius, Remus, and Peter... mostly because a lot of the fans are focused on them as teenagers. Plus, many were disappointed in how they casted James. However, you have to remember that the group had been through a lot because of You-Know-Who, so they're not exactly going to have their boyish charms anymore. Sirius spent years in Azkaban, Remus has been trying to deal with the reality of what he is but without the support of his friends, and Peter's been living in hiding so people will think he's dead. They've been under a lot of stress, especially after the death of James and Lily, and, with the rumors of You-Know-Who being back, it's probably not bringing back the greatest of memories.

However, I liked how the new characters were portrayed. It was an interesting twist to hear Remus speaking of Lily as if he had one had a crush on her. In a way, it could almost be expected since here was someone dealing with a horrible reality, and she was willing to help him regardless of who, or what, he was. That support probably meant more to Remus than Lily would ever know.

Another noticable part in the movie was the showcasing of more students. The Quidditch match where Harry falls from his broom was in the movie... and we got a glimpse of Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker. We also got to see the Patil twins, Dean Thomas, and several others that haven't really been seen in the other two movies. No Oliver Wood, tho'... the Quidditch Match wasn't really long enough. You got a few short spots of the different team members, but they weren't really recognizable as the weather was terrible.

I did enjoy the Boggart scene in Lupin's first DADA class with the students. They lined up, and everyone took on the boggart in the closet. Parvati saw a large snake, Ron had his spider, and poor Neville had to deal with Professor Snape. It was quite amusing to see Alan Rickman in the clothes of an old woman.

The graphics were great. The dementors are thoroughly evil looking with billowing, tattered cloaks. They would literally suck essence from the characters. You could see them breathing them in. Buckbeak looked very real... like a hippogriff could be real, but you could really believe he was there with the actors. Also, they clearly show the development of Harry's patronus. It starts as a shapeless shield on his first two summons, and shows up as fully identifiable stag on the third showing. They didn't show the stag again on the fourth shot (which was just a repeat of the third time because of Hermione's Time Turner), and I think it would have been nice to see the stag charge across the lake as it was described to do in the book.

It was quite obvious that the movie was done by a new director. Certain areas have a different look... Hagrid's hut is down the hill instead of out the front door... the Whomping Willow isn't in the courtyard outside the Great Hall, but off to the side of the property. The shots were more artistic, the changes of season were clearly defined with an art shot of a leaf falling or the snow covered hillsides or buds beginning to develop on the branches of the Whomping Willow. Of course, the mood was usually lightened and brought back to 'Wizarding Standards' by the Willow shaking the snow off its branches, or shaking the dead leaves off at the end of fall.

There were some ups and downs of the movie, and, like I said, I wasn't as impressed by it as I had been by the first two. I did still enjoy the movie, and I would recommend it to the fans.

snapple "real fact" #340
There is an underground mushroom in Oregon that measures 3.5 miles across.

That's a big mushroom...