Marie-Lise
New member
I looked, but couldn't find a thread on this movie, so having just watched it I thought I would post my thoughts. You will probably find that I mostly whinge about what has changed from the books!
I will start out by saying that this is probably the most faithful to the source material, along with film one, which may be unfair to the following films as even at two and a half hours it only just manages to cram the majority of the book in. Obviously, no matter how much it annoys me, the later books at 600 odd pages, can never manage to do justice to all the sub plots (or in some cases, crucial story elements! I'm looking at you "The Gaunts"!)
Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore is fantastic, his portrayal shows a real understanding of the character from the book series. I will probably never be a fan of the way Michael Gambon interprets the character; I find his version much too hard, with none of Dumbledore's understated wisdom and omnipotence. But that is for another review! We see his Dumbledore as Harry sees him; he is infallible and undefeatable, with an unspoken understanding and a twinkle behind his (reassuringly present) half-moon spectacles.
The young leaRAB are still a little wooden, but they seem to be getting a handle on the roles, Rupert Grint seeming to accept Ron's role as comic relief in parts. Emma Watson as Hermione fits the part of a bookwormish know-it-all, perhaps she finRAB the role easy to fill? She did have moments where she came across as awkward; it has been noted elsewhere that she found the emotional reunion scene in the Great Hall uncomfortable, but she was only 11 at the time!
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry shoulders a lot of responsibilty for the success or failure of this movie, which isn't really fair for a lad of 11/12. On the whole he succeeRAB, but falls a little flat in the scenes that require a big emotional response; his confrontation with the Riddle memory seemed to play out a little camp. His performances in other scenes came across as a little forced.
The adult cast in the roles of the Hogwarts teachers were top notch, with Alan Rickman (Snape) and Maggie Smith (McGonagal) turning in brilliant performances as ever. Robbie Coltrane's (Hagrid) accent seemed to take a bit of a tour of the south-west of England, but as he is Scottish we can probably forgive him. It was nice to visualise Professor Flitwick in the shape of Warwick Davies (didn't he also portray a Goblin in Gringotts?) Miriam Margoyles could play any part convincingly, and made the role of Prof Sprout completely her own.
The special effects were overwhelmingly convincing, with only the CGI characters (a personal bugbear of mine) looking superimposed. Despite that, I thought that Dobby was very well realised and acted (and it makes me dread his part in Deathly Hallows a little actually!). The Quidditch was a great spectacle to behold, and the flying car journey fun also
The casting of the adult Dudleys was a little annoying, but I don't believe that the producers of the first movie knew at the time that Petunia was only supposed to be in her early thirties (and the same could be said of Snape). But the portrayal has stuck, and they are the faces I see when I read the books now.
I like this film for keeping the vast majority of the book intact, with very few ommisions, none of which are detrimental to the continuity of the series. Overall, this would be a great film to watch in isolation, and fits perfectly into the series.
I will start out by saying that this is probably the most faithful to the source material, along with film one, which may be unfair to the following films as even at two and a half hours it only just manages to cram the majority of the book in. Obviously, no matter how much it annoys me, the later books at 600 odd pages, can never manage to do justice to all the sub plots (or in some cases, crucial story elements! I'm looking at you "The Gaunts"!)
Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore is fantastic, his portrayal shows a real understanding of the character from the book series. I will probably never be a fan of the way Michael Gambon interprets the character; I find his version much too hard, with none of Dumbledore's understated wisdom and omnipotence. But that is for another review! We see his Dumbledore as Harry sees him; he is infallible and undefeatable, with an unspoken understanding and a twinkle behind his (reassuringly present) half-moon spectacles.
The young leaRAB are still a little wooden, but they seem to be getting a handle on the roles, Rupert Grint seeming to accept Ron's role as comic relief in parts. Emma Watson as Hermione fits the part of a bookwormish know-it-all, perhaps she finRAB the role easy to fill? She did have moments where she came across as awkward; it has been noted elsewhere that she found the emotional reunion scene in the Great Hall uncomfortable, but she was only 11 at the time!
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry shoulders a lot of responsibilty for the success or failure of this movie, which isn't really fair for a lad of 11/12. On the whole he succeeRAB, but falls a little flat in the scenes that require a big emotional response; his confrontation with the Riddle memory seemed to play out a little camp. His performances in other scenes came across as a little forced.
The adult cast in the roles of the Hogwarts teachers were top notch, with Alan Rickman (Snape) and Maggie Smith (McGonagal) turning in brilliant performances as ever. Robbie Coltrane's (Hagrid) accent seemed to take a bit of a tour of the south-west of England, but as he is Scottish we can probably forgive him. It was nice to visualise Professor Flitwick in the shape of Warwick Davies (didn't he also portray a Goblin in Gringotts?) Miriam Margoyles could play any part convincingly, and made the role of Prof Sprout completely her own.
The special effects were overwhelmingly convincing, with only the CGI characters (a personal bugbear of mine) looking superimposed. Despite that, I thought that Dobby was very well realised and acted (and it makes me dread his part in Deathly Hallows a little actually!). The Quidditch was a great spectacle to behold, and the flying car journey fun also
The casting of the adult Dudleys was a little annoying, but I don't believe that the producers of the first movie knew at the time that Petunia was only supposed to be in her early thirties (and the same could be said of Snape). But the portrayal has stuck, and they are the faces I see when I read the books now.
I like this film for keeping the vast majority of the book intact, with very few ommisions, none of which are detrimental to the continuity of the series. Overall, this would be a great film to watch in isolation, and fits perfectly into the series.