V. pleased with HP4
I just got back from seeing Harry Potter 4 with Christina and Ricky. Without spoiling it too much, I’d like to commend the most recent cinematic installment for its consistency and accuracy. The third movie deviated so much from the other two—for example, completely redesigning Hogwarts—and it showed little regard for the plot of the book. As a film alone, it was pleasant enough; but the third book, my favorite in the series, is infinitely better. The fourth movie did not quarrel with the directorial changes made in the third; it maintained stability for the viewers.
The fourth book is over three hundred pages longer than the third, and yet the new director managed to follow the written order (one of my biggest dislikes of the third movie concerns the placement of Harry’s receiving the Firebolt). Surprisingly, even the jokes thrown in were amusing. The only problem with it is that it is too rushed. What prevents Return of the King from being my favorite LotR film is the abundance of action without much story and character development. Battle scenes are connected by brief romantic and contemplative moments. HP4 bore much resemblance.
[Spoiler warning!]
The fourth movie moves from one event of the Triwizard Tournament to the next with almost nothing else in between. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the story suffered a bit at times in order to make all of the events believable and concise enough to fit into two hours and thirty minutes, but all of the modifications were tolerable and plausible. The kids are hardly ever seen in class; it seems the whole purpose of the year was for them to watch (or participate in) the tournament. The book takes a while to wade through because it is not one exciting scene of action following another. There are long, drawn-out parts about the house elves, and longer moments spent in the pensieve, and so many “boring” parts that make the really interesting stuff even better. That’s what this film needed. The audience would readily have watched the somewhat background plot—almost entirely cut from the film—in order to understand the characters and the school year better, not to mention (although I am mentioning it) the amount of drama that emerges in the fourth book that is only perhaps half present in the film.
These are very nitpicky criticisms. Usually I get extremely hung up on accuracy, so it’s really a big thing for me to think that a movie based on a book is good. This movie restored my faith in Harry Potter films. I recommend it to anyone who has read the book, or who will never read the book, without my usual “The book is much better” warning.
November 18th, 2005 at 4:51pm
I saw this movie.
November 18th, 2005 at 10:53pm
Oh man, I was amused by your statement: “What prevents Return of the King from being my favorite LotR film is the abundance of action without much story and character development.”
I’m probably a really horrible movie watching person, but a lot of the movies I like are purely on the basis of action and/or cool effects :). I actually thought the LOTR movies were better than the books….but I don’t really like the Harry Potter films that much since they have that kiddish feel to them whereas the books are, well, nevermind.
November 19th, 2005 at 11:41am
I tend to like a balance between action and story, like The Two Towers (that’s my favorite). Too much excitement becomes monotonous for me.
Heh, I understand about the HP movies. I worried they wouldn’t follow the last sequence in the book properly because it would be too scary or something, and a number of movies try to not end sadly. I’ve only read slightly over 1/3 of the LotR books, and I think the necessary rush in the movies is a good thing in their case.
November 22nd, 2005 at 12:34pm
I agree wholeheartedly with you analysis of the HP4 movie. It was much more accurate than the third movie, though I’d have to say that I didn’t mind the plot of the third movie. I enjoyed it so much more than the first two, simply due to the change in direction and cinematography. A lot of the lines used in the fourth movie were actually in the book (or adapted from the book), which was very humbling. It’s sad that all of the side stories (what happened to SPEW?) have to be cut out in order to make the movie a reasonable length. When I read of the movie possibly being 4 hours with intermission, I thought it would be perfect so the movie could be more complete. I suppose the target audience has a much smaller attention than me, but art should not be sacrificed for kids!! Okay that was overkill.
November 22nd, 2005 at 12:49pm
Oh not at all, Carli. After all, we were the first generation to start reading Harry Potter, and now the movies have to cater to the children? Pah! Even if they had to cut out SPEW (to be honest, that was probably the most boring part of that book for me), they didn’t have to elimate Dobby and uh…Crouch’s elf. What if they have some unbelievably huge role in the seventh book, and then the movies would have to try to amend their editing later. Four hours with an intermission, that would have been great. But really, they could have made it just an hour or half of an hour longer to get in more story. People sat through RotK (multiple times). And anyway, isn’t HP4 a bit too dark for kids who can’t yet sit still for four hours?