Harry Potter hmmmmm….

I decided to go up and see “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (the movie) tonight. My poison ivy is finally recovered enough that I felt able to both go out in public and sit in a theatre seat for that long, I intended to see the movie as soon as Mortal Touch went to the printers and then felt too crappy to go, and the next few days I expect to be busy. I went up for the 10:15pm screening but was there in time for an earlier show, and the theatre staff insisted that I go to that one. Maybe they hoped they could go home earlier if no one bought tickets for the last shows! I only paid $3.50 for my ticket. I had a really old $5 gift certificate for the Loew’s Cinemas chain, and this was an AMC cinema that bought out Loew’s. I was curious to see if they’d take the certificate. To my amazement, they did! So nice of them! 🙂

My reaction to the movie…hmm. I’m just not sure what I think. I certainly have a more lukewarm response to this film than any of the previous four movies. I’m not even that eager to get it on DVD. I’m not sure why I’m disappointed in it. Certainly, the story has been drastically abridged, and at the same time, the pacing often seemed to drag. It wasn’t simply that subplots were excised–core narrative lines seemed to be missing. Nevertheless, there would be over-long time spent on scenes like Kreacher at Grimmauld Place or a scene with Harry and Luna and the thestrals. I know the book had to be condensed, but the way it was done here just didn’t seem to work.

Some of the sets are quite impressive–Grimmauld Place, the Hog’s Head, and the Ministry of Magic all have you groping fruitlessly for a remote with a pause button, you’re so eager for a longer, closer look. The great room filled with prophecies is also very well done. But the Forbidden Forest looks rather artificial, and Hogwarts doesn’t have the same depth as it does in films 3 and 4.

I’d be curious to hear anyone else’s opinions of the movie!

I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night–NO SPOILERS, this is merely a news flash–and my reaction to that is also, more or less, “Hmmm…” I guess I’m in a state of Harry Potter Reserved Judgment right now while I mull things over. I may have to read the book again, because I felt a bit muddled by some of it. I was 100% successful in avoiding ALL spoilers, and I’ve never discussed the HP books much with anyone–a bit with my nephew, a bit with annef, I’ve never been on a forum or e-list about the books and have only looked at a couple of the forums a very few times. (Remember that I only read Books 1 through 6 for the first time in spring, 2006). Partly because of this, I was rather pleased with myself for accurately predicting several of the major revelations in Book 7–in fact, I predicted them quite a while ago. But then, I’m not sure how pleased I deserve to feel, because even without spoilers, I saw a lot of the plot twists in Book 7 coming from sixty miles away. But, anyway. I should read it again.

If anyone would like to talk about Book 7 with someone else who’s finished it (if anyone could possibly be lacking a discussion partner for the book!) and wants to e-mail me offlist, be my guest, my e-mail is vyrdolak (at) net1plus.com.

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