goblet of fire movie
well i got to look at the gof movie on dvd on the weekend. i really enjoyed the extras (not the games - yawn) but then i'm a sucker for behind the scenes stuff.
my first impressions of the movie pretty much stand now. i think it's a sophisticated fan fic.
i *wish* i could really love it. there are so many elements that are wonderful, but i just was left a bit *humpfh* about it all.
i don't really understand how you can care about the books so much (as the producer and some of the actors obviously do) and just kind of miss it.
now before everyone jumps up and down and says "it's an adaption" i KNOW that. i am quite comfortable with lots of the cuts they made. i think that it was a mighty task to bring such a huge story to the screen in anything less than mini series length.
some of the cuts/changes i am quite comfortable with.
eg.
*barty junior's backstory
*SPEW
*layered plot elements in the maze
*less quidditch world cup (sad but ok)
*voldie's eyes not red - you needed fiennes' performance
but i DON"T understand -
*why they had to totally change the point of the dragon sequence and make some time sucking chase when they were so short of time to start with! it could easily have been half as long (though after my dh worked in post production at a disney studio for a while i can totally understand some exec saying 'we've spent $x developing that dragon, let's get our money's worth)
*sirius in the fire was just RIDICULOUS i was embarassed.
*what was with barty crouch and the tongue thing? surely he could have twitched his shoulder or something else for his dad to recognise him. the tongue was too confusing with nagini etc. enough snakes already!
*butchering the mood at the end, like harry just kind of 'got over it' really quickly was awful. i've read about the 'film making rule' that after the climax you have to wrap it up in x minutes, but i was still disappointed.
the depth of harry's experience is expressed so much in the caring of sirius, mrs weasley and ron and hermione. it was so diminished.
*hagrid would not GROPE madame maxime. he's a hot blooded giant and all, but his shyness would surely not allow him to cop a feel in front of dumbledore etc!!!!!!
regarding the performances:
gambon ..... *sigh*
i kept an open mind for this second viewing. i put harris out of my head all together. but when he came rushing in and shoved harry up against the cabinet... i mean HONESTLY! and even more offensive was how he was draping himself over fleur delacour before the third task. i do like that he was more energetic and had the sparkle that poor old richard was lacking in cos due to his ill health, but he had none of the self possession and dignity of dumbledore. he had none of the aura of great wisdom. yes, he is troubled about events and finds himself without all the answers, but he wouldn't be falling apart all over the place!
emma watson.
her eyebrows were distracting me!
rupert grint.
i love him as ron. his querelous "where!?!?" when told to hold professor mcgonnagal's waist was priceless. he has been limited by the movie characterisation i think, but has it down imo.
dan radcliffe.
he's not the greatest actor of the age, but i buy him as harry. he captures something of his inner world i think. given the material and the way things are cut i think he does really well. the next movie will really show if he has the goods or not.
maggie smith.
perfect
tom felton.
it annoys me that he doesn't have the same accent as his father. (who is also spot on imo)
gleeson
i liked his moody. he was cantankerous and quirky. i could see why harry would trust him and feel betrayed by him.
fleur (can't remember the actor's name)
just not veela enough. gorgeous in a very human way, but not statuesque and intoxicating!
SO
the flow from one thing to another just didn't win me over. i didn't get swept up. i couldn't suspend my disbelief. i don't mind fast pacing, or slow pacing or whatever , as long as it works. i wish i loved this movie, but somehow the whole just didn't end up greater than the sum of it's parts to me.
however, not everyone agrees with me.
here are some thoughts of others more learned than myself.
http://swordofgryffindor.com/2006/03/21/goblet-of-fire-pensieve/
http://www.mugglematters.com/2005_11_01_mm_archive.html
scroll down about half way to these two posts
Worth the Price of Admission - and then some
Merlin's Movie Review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
and
A Couple other Notes About the Goblet of Fire Movie
my first impressions of the movie pretty much stand now. i think it's a sophisticated fan fic.
i *wish* i could really love it. there are so many elements that are wonderful, but i just was left a bit *humpfh* about it all.
i don't really understand how you can care about the books so much (as the producer and some of the actors obviously do) and just kind of miss it.
now before everyone jumps up and down and says "it's an adaption" i KNOW that. i am quite comfortable with lots of the cuts they made. i think that it was a mighty task to bring such a huge story to the screen in anything less than mini series length.
some of the cuts/changes i am quite comfortable with.
eg.
*barty junior's backstory
*SPEW
*layered plot elements in the maze
*less quidditch world cup (sad but ok)
*voldie's eyes not red - you needed fiennes' performance
but i DON"T understand -
*why they had to totally change the point of the dragon sequence and make some time sucking chase when they were so short of time to start with! it could easily have been half as long (though after my dh worked in post production at a disney studio for a while i can totally understand some exec saying 'we've spent $x developing that dragon, let's get our money's worth)
*sirius in the fire was just RIDICULOUS i was embarassed.
*what was with barty crouch and the tongue thing? surely he could have twitched his shoulder or something else for his dad to recognise him. the tongue was too confusing with nagini etc. enough snakes already!
*butchering the mood at the end, like harry just kind of 'got over it' really quickly was awful. i've read about the 'film making rule' that after the climax you have to wrap it up in x minutes, but i was still disappointed.
the depth of harry's experience is expressed so much in the caring of sirius, mrs weasley and ron and hermione. it was so diminished.
*hagrid would not GROPE madame maxime. he's a hot blooded giant and all, but his shyness would surely not allow him to cop a feel in front of dumbledore etc!!!!!!
regarding the performances:
gambon ..... *sigh*
i kept an open mind for this second viewing. i put harris out of my head all together. but when he came rushing in and shoved harry up against the cabinet... i mean HONESTLY! and even more offensive was how he was draping himself over fleur delacour before the third task. i do like that he was more energetic and had the sparkle that poor old richard was lacking in cos due to his ill health, but he had none of the self possession and dignity of dumbledore. he had none of the aura of great wisdom. yes, he is troubled about events and finds himself without all the answers, but he wouldn't be falling apart all over the place!
emma watson.
her eyebrows were distracting me!
rupert grint.
i love him as ron. his querelous "where!?!?" when told to hold professor mcgonnagal's waist was priceless. he has been limited by the movie characterisation i think, but has it down imo.
dan radcliffe.
he's not the greatest actor of the age, but i buy him as harry. he captures something of his inner world i think. given the material and the way things are cut i think he does really well. the next movie will really show if he has the goods or not.
maggie smith.
perfect
tom felton.
it annoys me that he doesn't have the same accent as his father. (who is also spot on imo)
gleeson
i liked his moody. he was cantankerous and quirky. i could see why harry would trust him and feel betrayed by him.
fleur (can't remember the actor's name)
just not veela enough. gorgeous in a very human way, but not statuesque and intoxicating!
SO
the flow from one thing to another just didn't win me over. i didn't get swept up. i couldn't suspend my disbelief. i don't mind fast pacing, or slow pacing or whatever , as long as it works. i wish i loved this movie, but somehow the whole just didn't end up greater than the sum of it's parts to me.
however, not everyone agrees with me.
here are some thoughts of others more learned than myself.
http://swordofgryffindor.com/2006/03/21/goblet-of-fire-pensieve/
http://www.mugglematters.com/2005_11_01_mm_archive.html
scroll down about half way to these two posts
Worth the Price of Admission - and then some
Merlin's Movie Review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
and
A Couple other Notes About the Goblet of Fire Movie
posted by jkr2 | 4:38 pm
7 Comments:
I, er, have recanted of all positive comments on hte GOF movie LOL.
I just really started ot realize that Gambon's DD is crotchety in a way the DD of the book would never be ... as you say "self-possession." I can see DD saying "what would you suggest Minerva," a little slowly with an inquisitive and insightful look over his spectacles, not with the "would somebdoy PLEASE get me a cigarette? I'm having a nic-fix!" tone of the movie's portrayal.
In the end it came down to ... I cuold not find any reason to buy the DVD for myself when it came out. All other movies that I remotely like I am tempted to buy (I should say remotely really like, the movie was ok to pass a couple hours in a theater satisfying my curiousity, but that was it ... POA I at least wanted to see again in my own home their good iconic rendering of the clash between "the un-man" and "man's best friend", and that was enough temptation to turn me to the dark side of consumerism)
Even with 3 viewings in the theater I couldn't find myself with any compulsion to put the cash on the barrelhead
sorry ... nic-FIT
OK .. yes, I'll concede ... Fiennes was a downright spooky Voldy
and I agree ... I don't see how they will get that actress to pull off the Fleur of book six, they're going to have to seriously up the "seems haughty" button to pull off the impact of the reconciliation with Molly Weasley ... unless they totally hatchet that scene ... but even after that there is a certain thing of "seems haughty but you just have to get used to her, she's good in her own way" (things like, "I am good looking enough for both of us, I theenk!" and "the Britsh overcook their meat, I have always said thees.")
Oh yeah, you're Rupet Gint is the best out of the 3 kids (I liked how Rowling worked him in to HBP, when Slughorn says something to Harry about his friend Rupert LOL)
I think they pretty much nailed the whole weasely gang early on in the movies. I love Fred and George ... if they axe their escape scene from movie 5 I will boycott the next two movies. that scene was quite simply brillian in the book.
hey merlin.
i was given the dvd for my birthday. (not a bad guess, really, though i would have prefered the books of course! but gift horse and all that).
i think with gambon/"dumbledore" he's not left himself very far to go, as the progression goes in the next films. of course all discussions of these movies on forums and stuff the people who know 'the rules' twaddle on about how the public doesn't remember from one movie to the next blah blah blah.
but i do think that misses the point that in adapting a SERIES of books it's a specific task to do it well... wouldn't you think????
so to do it well, you're balancing the needs of the individual film to stand on it's on merits with a need to make a cohesive whole from 1-7. i was saying to my dh that i wished that jkr had waited for all the books to be finished before selling the rights for the movies.
i think they would have been approached differently. more foreshadowing could have been intelligently woven in etc.
i guess that the 'fandom' thing with the movies and the books have kind of played off against each other to help make it a massive thing.
i have a bit of a soft spot for david hayman and dan radcliffe when they're interviewed about the films. they're so earnest about it all..... so what happened?????????????
what i was going to say about gambon, by the time he gets to HBP where he actually makes himself vulnerable to harry, he'll be a total blithering mess!
if he's at a 'nit-fit' now, he'll be like a addict going cold turkey when he's trying to impress on harry how important it is for him to make his own choices etc.
he'll probably be throwing harry around the room!
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