Harry Potter and Cinematic Test Case.
Jun. 22nd, 2004 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteShort form: Harry Potter 3 is a good film, even in the eyes of the last Muggle in fandom.
Let's call this "Harry Potter and the Cinematic Test Case." For as most of you know, i still don't have much desire to read the Harry Potter books. (What can I say? They just don't sound that interesting to me?) Thus I go to the movies with a limited knowledge of the story and events of the books, and look simply to be entertained and to get a complete and comprehensible story. If a movie assumes the audience knows the source material well enough to take short cuts, it might be a good adpatation, but I wouldn't call it a good film.
The first film in the series was not incomprehensible, but it was also unwelcoming to me. I skipped the second, and then I heard that Alfonso Curaon, a filmmaker from a very different background than Chris Columbus, would be taking over. And all I can say to the producers is "thank you."
HP3 is a fun little movie, not a groundbreaking epic but instead an inviting and entertaining trip to a world that is both unique and familiar. Cuaron cuts back on the CGI, uses the British countryside to great advantage, and gets fine performances out of both teen and adults actors. Daniel Radcliffe, whether more mature or simply best served by Curaon's direction, is a very good Harry this time, though overshadowed once more by Emma Watson's Hermione. David Thewlis, as the sympathetic Prof. Lupin, does a great job. Michael Gambon is a good replacement for Richard Harris. My only quibble about the acting is that we don't see enough of Alan Rickman.
There were a few problems with pacing - revelations of facts or character relations often come out of the blue or are just abrupt. It was at thes moments that I was reminded there was a much longer book being fed into the film. There was also a failure to establish much in the way of suspense. At no point did Sirius Black seem like a serious threat to Harry, and the dangers at the end don't seem too dangerous. (OK, we all know that Harry is not likely to get hurt too badly, but the same could be said for Indiana Jones or James Bond, and their adventures still sometimes conjure up suspense.)
But overall, this is a fun movie, one that at once is grounded in a kind of reality through Cuaron's restraint on using too much magic, and that is quite magical when the time for such magic is right. It's too bad that he is not slated to direct another film in this series, but I suspect that whatever he does next will be good. And the future of the HP films is at least tied to young actors of some talent who will likely only get better. At least as long as they are young enough to finish out the series.
Let's call this "Harry Potter and the Cinematic Test Case." For as most of you know, i still don't have much desire to read the Harry Potter books. (What can I say? They just don't sound that interesting to me?) Thus I go to the movies with a limited knowledge of the story and events of the books, and look simply to be entertained and to get a complete and comprehensible story. If a movie assumes the audience knows the source material well enough to take short cuts, it might be a good adpatation, but I wouldn't call it a good film.
The first film in the series was not incomprehensible, but it was also unwelcoming to me. I skipped the second, and then I heard that Alfonso Curaon, a filmmaker from a very different background than Chris Columbus, would be taking over. And all I can say to the producers is "thank you."
HP3 is a fun little movie, not a groundbreaking epic but instead an inviting and entertaining trip to a world that is both unique and familiar. Cuaron cuts back on the CGI, uses the British countryside to great advantage, and gets fine performances out of both teen and adults actors. Daniel Radcliffe, whether more mature or simply best served by Curaon's direction, is a very good Harry this time, though overshadowed once more by Emma Watson's Hermione. David Thewlis, as the sympathetic Prof. Lupin, does a great job. Michael Gambon is a good replacement for Richard Harris. My only quibble about the acting is that we don't see enough of Alan Rickman.
There were a few problems with pacing - revelations of facts or character relations often come out of the blue or are just abrupt. It was at thes moments that I was reminded there was a much longer book being fed into the film. There was also a failure to establish much in the way of suspense. At no point did Sirius Black seem like a serious threat to Harry, and the dangers at the end don't seem too dangerous. (OK, we all know that Harry is not likely to get hurt too badly, but the same could be said for Indiana Jones or James Bond, and their adventures still sometimes conjure up suspense.)
But overall, this is a fun movie, one that at once is grounded in a kind of reality through Cuaron's restraint on using too much magic, and that is quite magical when the time for such magic is right. It's too bad that he is not slated to direct another film in this series, but I suspect that whatever he does next will be good. And the future of the HP films is at least tied to young actors of some talent who will likely only get better. At least as long as they are young enough to finish out the series.
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Date: Jun. 22nd, 2004 01:50 pm (UTC)Which I can see as a problem, since the characters are meant to be exactly one year older in each film. In HP1 they were 11, and when HP7 is made, they will have to be 17, not 25. If the films are not made a year apart, and thus the actors are aging faster than the characters, this may be a problem.