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sanalith*ahem*
So yes, I admit it. I never went to see the fourth Harry Potter movie in the theatre. I was a little busy at the time, and I just never really got the chance. Anyways, it just came out on DVD a few days ago, so I snatched it up and watched it. And, to be honest, my main reaction at the end was....huh.
I must admit, I was rather surprised at certain things. Most of all, I had heard many reviewers discussing how this was the first HP movie that could stand on its own without the book. Y...No. At least, not in my humble opinion. Too much was cut out for me to be satisfied that it could adequately stand alone. I mean, one could follow the plot fine without reading the book, but I thought that was equally possible in the other three movies. Nothing seemed especially different from this one.
I will say I liked it slightly better than PoA, a movie which still annoys the crap out of me. I HATE that they ruined my favorite book. *grumble grumble rant* In any event, the effects were cool, the dragons rocked, the underwater scene was lovely, etc. etc. etc. Moody's eye was cheesy, as was the silly little dance the French girls did as they first entered Hogwarts, though I must admit their uniforms were awesome! The ship from Durmstrang was probably my favorite effect, but that could just be because I love ships. The Yule Ball was quite lovely (I WANT that Christmas tree!) and I really did love seeing everyone's formal dress. Ron's robes were suitably hysterical, and Hermione was as lovely as I expected. In other words, no surprises, really.
My favorite scene was actually slightly before the ball during Potions class, when Harry, Ron and Hermione were discussing dates for the dance. I had just complained to Mike that Snape wasn't getting enough lines, and then he proceeds to spend the rest of the scene silently beating Harry and Ron around with books. It was *hysterical!* The deadpan expression was just perfect. Mike and I sat there laughing *so* hard, and then Mike's like, "Yeah...Snape doesn't *need* any lines." So true, indeed.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the movie really didn't do anything for me. It was cool and all, but I just felt like they cut so much out that it just couldn't be all that effective. Rita Skeeter, for example, was hardly in it - no word about her being an animagus or anything! Cho Chang (thankfully) wasn't in it much, either, and I felt the "love" scenes between her and Harry were just stuck in there without much thought. Winky wasn't even in the movie at all! And the whole thing with Barty Crouch never really got fleshed out, either. And I realize it would have just been meaningless space, but I kinda would have liked to see at least a few minutes of the Quidditch World Cup, if for no other reason than the stadium was really cool. Also no info on Maxine being a giant, and only that one tiny moment with Snape and Karkaroff discussing the Dark Mark. I realize that a movie with all this in it would be about 10 hours long, but I almost feel like if they don't have enough time to adequately get the important points across, then maybe they shouldn't be making the movies at all. *sigh* Ah well...
And I know Mike claims that I'm robbing the cradle, but I can I just say that I thought Draco looked rather hot in this movie?
So yes, I admit it. I never went to see the fourth Harry Potter movie in the theatre. I was a little busy at the time, and I just never really got the chance. Anyways, it just came out on DVD a few days ago, so I snatched it up and watched it. And, to be honest, my main reaction at the end was....huh.
I must admit, I was rather surprised at certain things. Most of all, I had heard many reviewers discussing how this was the first HP movie that could stand on its own without the book. Y...No. At least, not in my humble opinion. Too much was cut out for me to be satisfied that it could adequately stand alone. I mean, one could follow the plot fine without reading the book, but I thought that was equally possible in the other three movies. Nothing seemed especially different from this one.
I will say I liked it slightly better than PoA, a movie which still annoys the crap out of me. I HATE that they ruined my favorite book. *grumble grumble rant* In any event, the effects were cool, the dragons rocked, the underwater scene was lovely, etc. etc. etc. Moody's eye was cheesy, as was the silly little dance the French girls did as they first entered Hogwarts, though I must admit their uniforms were awesome! The ship from Durmstrang was probably my favorite effect, but that could just be because I love ships. The Yule Ball was quite lovely (I WANT that Christmas tree!) and I really did love seeing everyone's formal dress. Ron's robes were suitably hysterical, and Hermione was as lovely as I expected. In other words, no surprises, really.
My favorite scene was actually slightly before the ball during Potions class, when Harry, Ron and Hermione were discussing dates for the dance. I had just complained to Mike that Snape wasn't getting enough lines, and then he proceeds to spend the rest of the scene silently beating Harry and Ron around with books. It was *hysterical!* The deadpan expression was just perfect. Mike and I sat there laughing *so* hard, and then Mike's like, "Yeah...Snape doesn't *need* any lines." So true, indeed.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the movie really didn't do anything for me. It was cool and all, but I just felt like they cut so much out that it just couldn't be all that effective. Rita Skeeter, for example, was hardly in it - no word about her being an animagus or anything! Cho Chang (thankfully) wasn't in it much, either, and I felt the "love" scenes between her and Harry were just stuck in there without much thought. Winky wasn't even in the movie at all! And the whole thing with Barty Crouch never really got fleshed out, either. And I realize it would have just been meaningless space, but I kinda would have liked to see at least a few minutes of the Quidditch World Cup, if for no other reason than the stadium was really cool. Also no info on Maxine being a giant, and only that one tiny moment with Snape and Karkaroff discussing the Dark Mark. I realize that a movie with all this in it would be about 10 hours long, but I almost feel like if they don't have enough time to adequately get the important points across, then maybe they shouldn't be making the movies at all. *sigh* Ah well...
And I know Mike claims that I'm robbing the cradle, but I can I just say that I thought Draco looked rather hot in this movie?