The tonal shift probably turned a lot of fans off and did not allow them to see it as a coherant movie, unlike the first two which just seemed like disconnected scenes strung together culminating in a mostly boring climax. The further in time we get from the actual release the better it seems to be received even among hardcore fans. I don't think anyone will say at this point that its a bad movie.
LTTP: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (The Movie)
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The tonal shift probably turned a lot of fans off and did not allow them to see it as a coherant movie, unlike the first two which just seemed like disconnected scenes strung together culminating in a mostly boring climax. The further in time we get from the actual release the better it seems to be received even among hardcore fans. I don't think anyone will say at this point that its a bad movie.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
I could never get into neither the movie nor the book, as I just didn't care about Harry's relationship to Sirius at all, and just found Sirius to be a whiny, annoying fucker. The introduction of the Dementors was admittedly pretty cool though. Also, the grey, drab colour scheme and the sudden turn towards a more 'serious' story was such a drastic shift from the more colourful, childlike style of the first two movies it just put me off completely.
Just to explain a bit more on why Lupin thought Sirius was bad.
Dumbledore has a badass protection spell that can make a place completely indestructible, but it's one weakness is that at least one person with access has to stay outside at all times. Anyone with access can give anyone else access, and if the last person outside is killed, the spell comes down.
Dumbledore was going to set this spell up for the Potters and make himself a near-indestructible gatekeeper, but James convinced them that it would be better for Voldemort to think that Dumbledore was the gatekeeper, when actually James was going to make Sirius, his best friend, the gatekeeper. Then after everyone (including Dumbledore and Lupin) accepted this plan and walked away, James and Sirius grabbed Peter, the weakest one of their group, and told him that they were going to pull a double-fake and make him, not Sirius, the gatekeeper, because nobody would suspect a pathetic rat of being important.
When Voldemort killed the Potters, Sirius knew that Peter was the one who broke, so he attacked Peter in a rage, but what Dumbledore and Lupin saw was the man they "knew" to be the gatekeeper turning against and attacking/killing one of his friends after betraying another. All the evidence was against him, even the eyewitness of Dumbledore and Lupin. So they took Sirius down and hauled him off to monster-torture prison.
When the map said that Peter was still alive, and that Sirius was going after him (not Harry) for a second time, the wheels in Lupin's brain started to turn.
Mike Works
Member
I love Alfonso Cauron, and Prisoner of Azkhaban is the only movie of the series I'll gladly rewatch.
The Deathly Hallows Part 1 was one of the most boring movie-watching experiences ever. Ever.
The Deathly Hallows Part 1 was one of the most boring movie-watching experiences ever. Ever.
The move from kiddy - to teenage drama - to all out adult-oriented dark thriller.
The elements of the "dark thriller" is also present in the earlier books, just it is dailed down and becomes more stronger in the later books. The kiddy element becomes less and less as the series progress.
If you grew up the book, like me, they perfectly transition from 1 to 7. I guess that is why they've been so successful. Rowling adjusted her tone with every book for its aging audience.
Regardless of whatever you consider "kiddy", these are well-written books full of imagination and can be read by any age.
King of the Potato People
Member
One of the better, well directed Harry Potters, Hermione really shines in this movie
All of that makes the events of the movie much more clear in my mind (it wasn't THAT hard to follow to begin with, but this is the kind of stuff you don't get from just watching the movie). But if I understand correctly... Dumbledore is the only wizard that Voldemort is afraid of, so why wouldn't they just go ahead and make Dumbledore the gatekeeper? Why even pull the double fakey fake?
Red UFO said:
Well so far through movie 3 the only thing I've seen of Voldemort is him being on the back of some dudes head and he was pretty annoying then.
Well, you also saw a young version of him pop out of a book.
That's true, though I associate that with Tom Riddle and not Voldemort... I mean, I can get behind being scared of 'Voldemort!' but Tom Riddle? He sounds like the guy at the wizard corner store who always forgets his wallet. He wasn't very menacing....
Though back of the head Voldey wasn't very menacing either...
Voldemort isn't afraid to face him 1:1. But if he doesn't feel like he could beat Dumbledore, nothing is stopping him from taking out Dumbledore by ganging up on him. Dumbledore might be able to beat Voldemort, Malfoy, Crouch, Snape ... in fair 1:1 fights, but not together.
Try to keep spoilers to a minimum, remember I'm not familiar with any of the source material so I'd like to stay free until I see the movies.
Alfonso Cuaron did an amazing job, and I always wanted him to stay throught the other movies. The book is also one of my favorites, since Quidditch gets better with Firebolt (the new broom) and all of the sessions with Lupin. Still, for a movie adaptation, it works greatly. Also, John Williams did the best job on the series. "Hedwig's Theme" and "A Window to the Past" are so good.
About Michael Gambon as Dumbledore for the first time, he did an amazing job in PoA. However, on Goblet of Fire and the others, he seemed too much aggressive.
About Michael Gambon as Dumbledore for the first time, he did an amazing job in PoA. However, on Goblet of Fire and the others, he seemed too much aggressive.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
This movie has one of the best scores John Williams has ever done. True story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg__wAowsLs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg__wAowsLs
I thought OG Dumbledore was alive for PoA. I had no idea Gambon took over at PoA which shows how good of a job he did.
The score was really amazing and remains some of my favorite aspects of the movies so far.
I think the director is responsible for that. I liked Gambon in every movie apart from GoF.
Prisoner of Azkaban was the last Harry Potter movie to be scored by John Williams.
Yeah, the only thing I disliked is that he took off the glasses so many times with David Yates as director. The glasses give Dumbledore a better look as character. And John Williams didn't score GoF because of Star Wars: Episode III. And afterwards, he never went back.
Zoe
Member
ehhhhhh, as someone who hasn't read any of the books, I have to say the 6th was the most boring out of them all.
DrForester
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Third movie is mixed for me. I like the lighting and tone changes, and the new Hogwarts, but that's about it. A lot of the other production decisions I did not care for. I think the costumes and other changes took a dive. Hogsmead going from rural county village, to town on the alps was a bit silly. The kids now shopping at the Wizard GAP, abandoning the robes any chance they ger. Also the Werewolf was one of the worst designed things I've ever seen in a family film (not to mention that in the books werewolfs are supposed to look pretty similar to regular wolves).
The other problem (and this is no fault of the movie) was PoA's plot to begin with. More specifically the stupid time travel ending. There are a few things in this magical world (several in later books) that just make no logical sense. But in this film, that was a stupid time travel plot.
I think Gambon was fine in later films, The last scene he is in the film series was really well done I thought. GoF is the exception, and I blame the director because it wasn't just Gambon. There was a big nosedive in acting quality in that film from almost all parties. The director seemed to have very little knowledge of the books. David Tennant is a fine actor, but GoF is by far the worst performed role I have ever seen him do.
The other problem (and this is no fault of the movie) was PoA's plot to begin with. More specifically the stupid time travel ending. There are a few things in this magical world (several in later books) that just make no logical sense. But in this film, that was a stupid time travel plot.
I think Gambon was fine in later films, The last scene he is in the film series was really well done I thought. GoF is the exception, and I blame the director because it wasn't just Gambon. There was a big nosedive in acting quality in that film from almost all parties. The director seemed to have very little knowledge of the books. David Tennant is a fine actor, but GoF is by far the worst performed role I have ever seen him do.
Spring-Loaded
Member
OP, you have 7, pt. 1 to look forward to. That one was probably the most true to its book counterpart out of all of them. I can't say what it's like if you haven't read the books though, I just remember it getting a lot of things right.
Prisoner of Azkaban score blows my mind because I remember reading some Williams interview where he said he basically wrote it during a plane trip in the middle of all the other projects (The Terminal, Episode 3, War of the Worlds, Memoirs of a Geisha, Munich).And John Williams didn't score GoF because of Star Wars: Episode III. And afterwards, he never went back.
That's it, I'm done.
This was the last LTTP thread on Harry Potter folks!
New LTTP thread coming next week for GoF
Harry Potter
Banned
That's it, I'm done.
This was the last LTTP thread on Harry Potter folks!
New LTTP thread coming next week for GoF
I love Williams but Alexandre Desplat composes two amazing scores in the last two movies.
I absolutely love the score from PoA. Best Potter movie and easily the best soundtrack. William's score for the first movie is really great stuff too. He phoned it in for Chamber but at least he went out with a bang for PoA. I go back and forth with how I feel about the OST for Goblet of Fire. It's no where near the quality of John Williams stuff, but I think it's still worth a listen. Hooper's first soundtrack for Order of the Phoenix was quite good, but I feel like he got a bit lazy with his work on Half Blood Prince. The two soundtracks for DH P1 and P2 are easily the most forgettable of all of them.
But going back to the HP films themselves, yeah PoA is the highlight. Goblet is my favorite of the HP books, and I tend to like the movie a lot too. I don't really get the outright hate for that one. It's one of the weaker ones, but certainly better than SS and CoS. I found that I actually liked Order of the Phoenix more than I did the book. That book was bloated as hell and Harry was maybe a bit too whiny. I think the core story benefited from the edits and while Harry was still rightfully angry, he certainly wasn't a big baby either. I also enjoyed HBP a lot, and enjoyed it more my second time watching it.
Then there is DH P1. That is without a doubt the worst HP movie. It is almost unbearable to get through. I was actually worried that because that movie was so bad that it was automatically going to make DH P2 bad as well, but thankfully DH P2 benefited from the split. That movie is so damn good, up there with PoA for sure. P1 soured me on HP so much that I almost didn't even want to see P2, but I ended up walking out of that theater blown away. Loved it.
But going back to the HP films themselves, yeah PoA is the highlight. Goblet is my favorite of the HP books, and I tend to like the movie a lot too. I don't really get the outright hate for that one. It's one of the weaker ones, but certainly better than SS and CoS. I found that I actually liked Order of the Phoenix more than I did the book. That book was bloated as hell and Harry was maybe a bit too whiny. I think the core story benefited from the edits and while Harry was still rightfully angry, he certainly wasn't a big baby either. I also enjoyed HBP a lot, and enjoyed it more my second time watching it.
Then there is DH P1. That is without a doubt the worst HP movie. It is almost unbearable to get through. I was actually worried that because that movie was so bad that it was automatically going to make DH P2 bad as well, but thankfully DH P2 benefited from the split. That movie is so damn good, up there with PoA for sure. P1 soured me on HP so much that I almost didn't even want to see P2, but I ended up walking out of that theater blown away. Loved it.
I can see those things being annoying for someone who wanted to see the book come to life on the big screen, but seeing the kids in regular clothes made a big difference for me in being able to really get interested in the story. Those frumpy robes always threw me off.
As far as the time travel ending... I'm not a huge fan of time travel in movies (Love Dr. Who though) but this one wasn't too egregious. They didn't do anything that insane besides having Potter save himself by using a Petronas he knew he could cast because he... saw himself cast it. That was dumb!
Why not have Potter be able to cast the Petronas because of the memory of his father saving him? Obviously his father didn't save him, but those feelings were very real for him right before he had to step in and do the spell, and it's EXPRESSLY stated earlier in the movie that the good memories used to the power the charm do not have to be REAL memories, only that the feelings of awesomeness be real.
I agree that PoA had the best Dumbledore. The scene in the hospital wing was the most perfect depiction of the character in any of the films. It's a shame that it took until the 6th movie for the writer/directors to bring that Dumbledore back. I also love the costume they gave him. Less Old Father Time and more Dumbledore.
I don't see why the kids dropping the uniforms is a problem. That's a good example of how the American-tinged view of British boarding schools soured the first two films, actual schoolkids will loosen their ties, let their shirts hang out, etc, and change out of their uniforms as soon as the school day is over. It was so much better they way they handled it post-Columbus. Kids looked kids as opposed to the perfectly preppy dweebs from PS/COS.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Score is one thing I enjoyed about GoF
Harry Potter
Banned
Interesting. I didn't like Doyle's work in that. Only track I really liked was "Another Year Ends".
If by groundmap you mean the entire first 2/3 of the books are meaningless emo crap and ignoring everything that anyone says and blundering into scrapes. I'm reading them the second time around for my second child and she found the start of Arkansan dull as shit (I'm paraphrasing) and then it all kicks off about three chapters from the end. And the books only get worse from then on. They almost literally tread water and then explode at the end.
I understand it probably gels best with those that grew up alongside the books, reading each as it came out, as the readers' ages would be similar to Harry. But reading it as a series one after the other really doesn't work unless you're already a teen. The first book is a great wizardy adventure, suitable for under-10s, but it gets too navel-gazy too quickly
DrForester
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I really like the score during the First Task. Certainly not the best soundtrack the series had, but I still found it enjoyable.
Harry in Winter was quite good I thought.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Wow, I've never seen anyone who liked both liked the fifth movie and hated the seventh. What qas so bad about the seventh in your opinion?
Harry Potter
Banned
Ya, it's ok. Makes me think of stupid Cho Chang.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Other than the stupid dance scene, I loved DHp1.
I love this film, definitely my favourite of the series for reasons already mentioned by others.
I started reading from the fourth book onwards so could you elaborate how the ending is different in the book than in the film?
I started reading from the fourth book onwards so could you elaborate how the ending is different in the book than in the film?
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Oh the 3rd book and film end pretty much the same. It's just that obviously the Time Travel thing is the books fault for originating it, I don't fault the film for keeping the book. The time travel bit just brings down the story of both for me because it seems so silly. Not just in this film, but the existence of Time Travel in the series as a whole just seems stupid.
Because they're idiots.
Yeah, that's a major scene for me too. And one of the reasons I wanted Cuaron back.
Time Travel always fucks everything up from a plot perspective because if consequences aren't presented for traveling through time (they aren't presented in PoA) why don't they just go back and fix fucking EVERYTHING? There's no reason no to apparently since there is a self-fixing paradox protection in the Harry Potter universe.
My running theory is that every wizard on the face of the earth besides Hermione is a complete idiot who doesn't trust anyone and is a racist slave owner.
I don't have a problem with the time travel ending, I have a problem with a non-telegraphed time travel ending. We get a couple of mentions that hermione is doing lots of subjects, but that's all - right until the end. So you get the sudden reveal with no inkling or warning at all. Makes it feel disjointed from the rest of the book. Almost like its retconning itself.
Right I see. Actually is time travel ever brought up again at all? If not, was there any explanation for it?
itwasTuesday
He wasn't alone.
Only HP movie I saw in theaters, was a dome Imax I believe.
The 3d Wanted posters plastered everywhere of Gary Oldman were fantastic.
The 3d Wanted posters plastered everywhere of Gary Oldman were fantastic.
genericsuperhero
Member
I love that fucking poster. So perfect. By far, more than anything else, my favorite piece of imagery and marketing from the HP movies. That scene in the Leaky Cauldron, when Arthur is talking to Harry but all you see is that poster is one of my favorite in the movie.
PoA is my, like many others, favorite HP movie. Everything (except some edits to the story) just hit the right note.
The kids were the right ages to be decent enough actors and not just kids, the movie had a good mix of humor and tension, and Cuaron did a wonderful job of making the school feel like a living, breathing, magical community. That was something that Columbus never did get right - SS and CoS feel slow, boring, and stuffy in comparison to PoA. While Hogwarts is an English boarding school, the one thing it was never in the books was boring. Crazy shit was happening all the time, and in PoA that was the first time that we saw that.
However, as a HP fan, some of the story edits were confounding. They even had to go back later and retcon the way Expecto Patronum was handled in the movie (in OotP, when Harry is teaching everyone Expecto Patronum, he says 'Animal forms are the most powerful, but shield forms are also useful'). But really, why ignore the marauders? Why ignore the history of the Whomping Willow, the Shrieking Shack, and the Map, and in doing so, never explaining why Sirius and Pettigrew were animagi, and also never stating that his Dad was an animagi? All this history is cause for Harry to trust Sirius in the end, and serves to strengthen his relationship with Lupin and Sirius. And also because of PoA, we never once see Hogsmeade outside of winter and snow, which is a darn shame.
Stopped reading there, thanks for labeling it at least. *lol*
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