Harry Potter

I saw Harry Potter today, which I liked. Seeing how I really love the books though, it's hard to imagine a Harry Potter movie I wouldn't like unless it was really god-awful. So having said that, there were several things about the movie that I didn't particularly care for.

At times the film seemed to struggle with deciding how seriously to take itself. There were several one-liners and comic relief moments that fitted very awkwardly in the broody atmosphere of the film.

The precise events of the ending in the novel were changed to make the ending in the movie more subdued. This was quite a sensible choice since Harry Potter should always be about Harry Potter and so by applying some restraint, Yates prevented Harry's personal journey from being overshadowed by the spectacle and chaos of everything that happens in the Battle of Hogwarts. However, this came at the cost of the huge emotional payoff at the end of the novel. When Harry defeats Voldemort the feeling of triumph is notably missing and there's just a feeling of relief. There's more reflection than celebration at the end of the movie which I didn't like because there's not much to reflect on unless you're really familiar with the series.

But there were a lot of great moments that surprised me too. The spectacle of Hogwarts preparing for battle was quite impressive. Helen Bonham Carter was really good when she acted as Hermione in Bellatrix's body. Several moments involving Snape like his duel with McGonagall were tragic and touching. Alan Rickman does a good job of making Snape look like he's constantly in pain. I should probably say that I might not have noticed a lot of this stuff if I hadn't randomly browsed through all the Harry Potter-related pictures and posts on Lozi/Janet's Tumblr a few weeks ago.