Saturday, July 25, 2009

Movie Reflections

I'm enjoying The Prisoner of Azkaban on ABC Family this evening, vaguely wondering why I wait to watch when I have the DVD collection, and reflecting a bit on the differences between previous HP movies and the most recent. I saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last weekend and like everyone else, have an opinion.



The movie was visually stunning and a bit dark in parts, as was the book. It focused a great deal on a few basic elements of the overall story such as Dumbledore's hunt for memories, Harry befriending the troubled and smug Professor Slughorn, provided glimpses of Tom Riddle as child (great casting, he was perfectly eerie and befitting the character), had some wonderful comedic moments with Ron, and allowed for the characters to grow into their destiny. There was a lot to like about the movie.

Much was missing in this movie, a natural occurrence for a 600+ page book edited to a two and one-half hour movie. It felt a bit hodge-podge, a rough stitching of several book vignettes put together as a bridge readying us for the next movie. Very little discussion of the half-blood-prince, we didn't learn Lupin was engaged, Hagrid was missing throughout most of the film, and the end felt contrived as opposed to meaningful. I disliked the added scenes that were really not necessary to the movie; specifically the Weasly's house and race through the swamp. I suppose that is why the movie is based on the book.

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