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In which I discuss illogic; James's absence; Sirius and Remus, both individually and together; three-ninths of the Weasleys; and stoats.
Apparently, how well I like a Harry Potter film is the inverse of how well I like the book upon which it's based. I thought the first movie good but not extraordinary, I really liked the second one, and I hated the third. It's not even that so much was left out--which is just one of those painful yet necessary evils when the intended result is a movie and not an A&E mini-series--as that they made some, in my opinion, very ill-advised changes. A lot of the changes were obviously meant to simplify the story line and to make it more accessible for the average viewer, but at best they dumbed it down to a ridiculous extent--and that's when they didn't get things completely wrong.
The worst of the changes made to the plot is when Harry sees Peter on the Marauder's Map and tells Remus of it. This occurs long before the confrontation at the Shack, long before moonrise, long before the cataclysmic series of events that in the book leads Remus to forget his potion...and Remus even tells Harry that the Map never lies, so it's not as if he could mistake the import of Harry's observation. Instead, we're supposed to assume that Remus is so stupid that he can't figure out the true sequence of events on the night that James and Lily were killed and then do something to prevent the series of disasters that occurs after the confrontation in the Shack later that night.
The near absence of James is another sticking point. Harry's reaction when he sees the Patronus cast from the other side of the lake seems excessive, as a result; there'd been nothing in the story previously to create that sort of devotion to his father beyond the accident of paternity.
I almost like Sirius's exhortation to Remus to remain human, because it's so very beautiful (and the way they clutch each other certainly doesn't hurt), but it doesn't make sense. He should know, if anyone does, what it means to be a werewolf. It's the reason he and James and Peter became animagi in the first place and the reason that Remus is ostracized by virtually everyone who hears of his condition. It's ridiculous for Sirius to beg Remus not to change as though he thought it might do any good. Slightly less absurd is his questioning Remus as to whether he'd remembered his potion; if Sirius has been sneaking around Hogwarts as Padfoot it's at least possible that he might overhear something concerning the Wolfsbane Potion. Though I still think that that single, throwaway line must be near incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't read the books.
By contrast, the constant repetition of Hermione appears suddenly; Harry and Ron are puzzled was grating. There simply wasn't enough filler to keep it from appearing that Hermione's odd behavior was the main topic of conversation during their third year. Also, the three of them were unbelievably touchy-feely. I don't even touch my friends that much, and I'm: 1) an incredibly haptic person; 2) not a self-conscious teenager; and 3) not British.
I may be the only one who cares about this, but another thing that rubbed me wrong was the twins' completing each other's sentences. They don't do it in the books (one of them will often expound upon the other's statement, but they don't switch mid-thought, and they don't go back and forth like a ping-pong ball), and, while there's no denying that they're very close, neither are they Sam'n'eric.
Ron's role in the story is whittled away to nothing. The poor boy's already left out of the dramatic rescue due to the exigencies of the plot; is it really necessary to write him out of the story completely? The only upshot of this--if it can even be called that--is that Rupert Grint comes out of the movie looking like Laurence Olivier in comparison to the other two. They can't pull off the demands of acting furious or despairing or any of the other emotions felt by the maturing characters, but Rupert does just fine acting alternately confused, puzzled, bewildered, and perplexed.
Despite all of the movie's failures, there were bits that I liked a great deal. Sirius and Remus were, individually and together, awesome. Their interaction felt very different than it does in the books--see above comments on the transformation scene, as well as Snape's line about them bickering like an old married couple (which I adored, but which didn't quite fit my view of them)--but I still enjoyed it immensely. (It actually reminded me of the Cyclops/Logan interaction in XMM; it bears little resemblance to the source material, but it's wonderful nonetheless.) I loved the expanded explanation Remus gave for why he had to leave Hogwarts and how demonstrably good he was for Harry both as a mentor and a friend, and I loved every single thing about Sirius, from the moment that Ron points shakily at the pawprints on the dusty floor that lead to Sirius's human form.
The Sirius/Harry scenes in particular are just lovely. Whether you view them as familial or romantic--and I'm happy to go either way with their relationship as it appears in the movie--the scenes they have together slipped seamlessly into my previous perception of them, expanding upon my view of the nature of their interaction without contradicting it in any way.
And, despite spending most of the movie annoyed by Hermione for various reasons, I very much enjoyed the part where she lured Buckbeak away with the dead ferrets. Speaking of which, am I wrong in thinking that they were stoats in the book? It would be rather amusing if this were one of the bits of foreshadowing that J.K. Rowling mentioned: Buckbeak will avenge his mistreatment at Draco's hands and kill him before the end of the war.
Apparently, how well I like a Harry Potter film is the inverse of how well I like the book upon which it's based. I thought the first movie good but not extraordinary, I really liked the second one, and I hated the third. It's not even that so much was left out--which is just one of those painful yet necessary evils when the intended result is a movie and not an A&E mini-series--as that they made some, in my opinion, very ill-advised changes. A lot of the changes were obviously meant to simplify the story line and to make it more accessible for the average viewer, but at best they dumbed it down to a ridiculous extent--and that's when they didn't get things completely wrong.
The worst of the changes made to the plot is when Harry sees Peter on the Marauder's Map and tells Remus of it. This occurs long before the confrontation at the Shack, long before moonrise, long before the cataclysmic series of events that in the book leads Remus to forget his potion...and Remus even tells Harry that the Map never lies, so it's not as if he could mistake the import of Harry's observation. Instead, we're supposed to assume that Remus is so stupid that he can't figure out the true sequence of events on the night that James and Lily were killed and then do something to prevent the series of disasters that occurs after the confrontation in the Shack later that night.
The near absence of James is another sticking point. Harry's reaction when he sees the Patronus cast from the other side of the lake seems excessive, as a result; there'd been nothing in the story previously to create that sort of devotion to his father beyond the accident of paternity.
I almost like Sirius's exhortation to Remus to remain human, because it's so very beautiful (and the way they clutch each other certainly doesn't hurt), but it doesn't make sense. He should know, if anyone does, what it means to be a werewolf. It's the reason he and James and Peter became animagi in the first place and the reason that Remus is ostracized by virtually everyone who hears of his condition. It's ridiculous for Sirius to beg Remus not to change as though he thought it might do any good. Slightly less absurd is his questioning Remus as to whether he'd remembered his potion; if Sirius has been sneaking around Hogwarts as Padfoot it's at least possible that he might overhear something concerning the Wolfsbane Potion. Though I still think that that single, throwaway line must be near incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't read the books.
By contrast, the constant repetition of Hermione appears suddenly; Harry and Ron are puzzled was grating. There simply wasn't enough filler to keep it from appearing that Hermione's odd behavior was the main topic of conversation during their third year. Also, the three of them were unbelievably touchy-feely. I don't even touch my friends that much, and I'm: 1) an incredibly haptic person; 2) not a self-conscious teenager; and 3) not British.
I may be the only one who cares about this, but another thing that rubbed me wrong was the twins' completing each other's sentences. They don't do it in the books (one of them will often expound upon the other's statement, but they don't switch mid-thought, and they don't go back and forth like a ping-pong ball), and, while there's no denying that they're very close, neither are they Sam'n'eric.
Ron's role in the story is whittled away to nothing. The poor boy's already left out of the dramatic rescue due to the exigencies of the plot; is it really necessary to write him out of the story completely? The only upshot of this--if it can even be called that--is that Rupert Grint comes out of the movie looking like Laurence Olivier in comparison to the other two. They can't pull off the demands of acting furious or despairing or any of the other emotions felt by the maturing characters, but Rupert does just fine acting alternately confused, puzzled, bewildered, and perplexed.
Despite all of the movie's failures, there were bits that I liked a great deal. Sirius and Remus were, individually and together, awesome. Their interaction felt very different than it does in the books--see above comments on the transformation scene, as well as Snape's line about them bickering like an old married couple (which I adored, but which didn't quite fit my view of them)--but I still enjoyed it immensely. (It actually reminded me of the Cyclops/Logan interaction in XMM; it bears little resemblance to the source material, but it's wonderful nonetheless.) I loved the expanded explanation Remus gave for why he had to leave Hogwarts and how demonstrably good he was for Harry both as a mentor and a friend, and I loved every single thing about Sirius, from the moment that Ron points shakily at the pawprints on the dusty floor that lead to Sirius's human form.
The Sirius/Harry scenes in particular are just lovely. Whether you view them as familial or romantic--and I'm happy to go either way with their relationship as it appears in the movie--the scenes they have together slipped seamlessly into my previous perception of them, expanding upon my view of the nature of their interaction without contradicting it in any way.
And, despite spending most of the movie annoyed by Hermione for various reasons, I very much enjoyed the part where she lured Buckbeak away with the dead ferrets. Speaking of which, am I wrong in thinking that they were stoats in the book? It would be rather amusing if this were one of the bits of foreshadowing that J.K. Rowling mentioned: Buckbeak will avenge his mistreatment at Draco's hands and kill him before the end of the war.
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