Harry Potter Keeps On Going

So I finished reading Prisoner of Azkaban today, and I viewed the movie a few days ago, so I'm prepared to blog.

First some background...for a long time this was my favorite of the series. I have fond memories of reading it at the Fairfield University library when I was supposed to be studying for finals. But by the time all the action went down with Sirius Black being a dog and Pettigrew being a rat and Lupin was an omg werewolf - there was no putting it down. (The whole thing with Pettigrew being a rat really surprised me. Totally did not see that coming. But I'm not very good at seeing things coming either.)

This book just has so many good things. Some thoughts:

• I loved Lupin when I first read this. I picked him in my head as this handsome, if tired looking guy. When I saw him in the movie I was kind of disgusted in all honesty. Totally not my vision at all. Definitely never pictured Lupin with a mustache. This book is definitely the best for Lupin...his character kind of goes down hill after this. A shame, really.
• I know it was important for the plot in this book, but who the hell would want to take Divination? Even the other teachers don't take Trelawney seriously! It's such a stupid and pointless subject - I don't even know why Hogwarts would teach it. I would have stomped out with Hermione. Ron and Harry should have dropped it after this year and taken something else.
• Book Snape is usually fairly different from movie Snape, and that's especially true with this book. Man, Snape flips out on Harry at the end - screaming at him right in front of Dumbledore. I can understand why, but nothing even close to that happens in the movie. But I'll get to the movie more in a bit.
• Oh, Crookshanks. You faded into the background big time. In the later books it's easy to forget Hermione even had a cat.
• I'm usually a Draco fan, but he was more whiny and miserable in this book than usual. I would have smacked his ass too.

Well, a lot of my comments have to do with movie book comparisons, so let me just jump right in here. The movie version came out in 2004, and it was bye bye Chris Columbus, hello Alfonso Cuaron. It's the only Harry Potter movie he'd direct. And I have to admit some of the shots and cinematography in this movie really are beautiful. The script itself, however...

When I first saw this movie I hated it. I thought it was too short and left too much out - most notably all the stuff with the Marauders - unforgivable to leave out in my opinion. That stuff was just too important. If you wanted to keep the running time short you should have dumped the Quidditch scenes or something instead. Upon seeing the movie a few more times, though, I like it better, though I still think it left too much out, and, well, I'll get to the other big problem in a minute.

Movie thoughts:

• In the movie, Harry sees Pettigrew on the Marauder's map and then tells Lupin that it must be broken. (To which Lupin makes a "wtf" face.) This doesn't happen in the book, but for movie pacing, I really liked this scene. In fact I couldn't even remember that that didn't happen in the book until I got past that part and low and behold...Harry never saw such a thing.
• Hermione outright punches Draco in the movie - in the book she is describes as slapping him. I prefer the punch myself, and her follow-up line: "That felt good."
• I've touched on movie Snape vs. book Snape already, but it's worth mentioning again. Movie Snape is so much less angry. I actually prefer what happens with Snape at the end of the movie than what happens in the book. In the movie he returns to consciousness just after Lupin's transformed into a werewolf - when he sees the werewolf bearing down on him and the trio, he instinctively puts his arms out to protect the children. Shows another side of Snape - an important side.
• Michael Gambon takes over as Dumbledore in this movie, replacing the departed Richard Harris. I'm not a fan of his Dumbledore - especially in Goblet of Fire (but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.) but he was okay in this book. I like his reaction after Harry and Hermione return from freeing Buckbeak and Sirius :

Dumbledore: Well?
Harry: He's free. We did it.
Dumbledore: Did what? Good night.

• There's tons of action that wasn't in the book, of course - most notably the kids being chased by werewolf-Lupin through the Forbidden Forest. What did they actually do in the book? Hide in Hagrid's hut. Not really as exciting.
• My favorite line in the entire series (it's also in the book)
  

Sirius: I would have died! I would have died rather than betray my friends, as we would have done for you!

• But then there's that ending. Ugh. The ending of the movie shows Harry getting his Firebolt broomstick, which in the book he gets for Christmas and actually starts off a whole bit of plot where Hermione tells a teacher about it and they take it away to make sure it's not jinxed, which gets both Harry and Ron mad. But instead of ending the movie like the book ends (Hogwarts Express and such) he gets the boom instead, jumps on it and flies out the window, and he ends with one of the worst freeze frame shots I have ever seen in my entire life. I couldn't find a photo of the exact moment I'm talking about, so this'll have to do. If I were Daniel Radcliffe, I would not want my face appearing like that on a gigantic movie screen for millions of people around the world to see. But directing choices aside, having a scene in the middle of the book at the end is just not cool in my canon loving mind. I can let a lot of things slide - I understand that they change a lot of things around for time/editing/story/pacing etc., but this was just unnecessary. I would have rather it was left out entirely. Don't make up a whole new ending.

I think a general problem with Harry Potter movies is that they keep trying to make them appeal to "everyone", when in reality I don't think most people who aren't Harry Potter fans are going to waste their time. Not by this point. Why would you see movie 3 if you hadn't see 1 or 2? You wouldn't. Unless you were dragged along basically against your will. Or got drunk and stumbled into the wrong theater. Something like that.

Up next...Goblet of Fire!

Harry Potter Continues

Okay, so as I previously mentioned I'm working my way back through the Harry Potter series. I just finished Chamber of Secrets, and I also rewatched the movie.

Dear god, does that movie have the cheesiest ending you've ever fucking seen, or is it just me? I guess not, because this book agrees with me. Otherwise it's a pretty good version of the book. Kenneth Branagh is awesome as Lockhart, a character I must admit I love. Also, Jason Issacs is great as Mr. Malfoy. I must admit I'm a fan of the whole fucked up Malfoy family - especially Draco.

When I first read Chamber of Secrets I thought it was amazing. I've read it a few more times since then and after reading it this past time I've come to the final conclusion that while I like the book a lot, I don't like it nearly as much as I did the first time through. I guess we can only blame the progression of the series for that. The later books are more complex and the story only grows richer. But the book has Lockhart and creepy Mr. Malfoy, which I always enjoy. I don't enjoy Aragog. And I don't care for that scene in the movie either. But I hate spiders. And Dobby is pretty annoying in this book, even if he kind of grew on me in later books.

But I can remember getting to the end of this book for the first time - where it's revealed that Lord Voldemort IS Tom Marvolo Riddle. I was shocked. One of the many things in the series I never saw coming. That sort of surprise always adds something intangible to your first experience - something you can never have again, because when you read it again you know what's coming. I think that definitely contributes to the little bit of wonder that had slipped away after this rereading.

Onto book 3 - one of my favorites.

This Is How It Is

You know how many times I yearned to write in here? And did I? No. It's sad that sometimes the prospect of just jotting down thoughts is exhausting. There's really no excuse for it. I need to get my act together and talk about SOMETHING - anything - every day, even if it's only for 5 minutes. How successful will I be? Well, I wouldn't put money on it.

Today was just one of those days where everything just annoyed the shit out of me. I hate days like that. Though I must admit the last several work days have been more bearable than usual because I have many new podcasts to listen to. I love podcasts. They save my life. Right now I'm addicted to "Stuff You Missed in History Class". I'm a history nerd, so I downloaded all the back episodes and I'm loving it. I've learned a lot. So I like to think I'm learning while I'm working. Doing two things at once.

I've also been busy rereading the Harry Potter series. I started with the last book, actually - it was the only book I'd only read once. And when I read it that one time it was right after it came out, and I totally rushed through it, just dying to know what happened. I thought it was okay, but I felt kind of hollow when it was over - and not just because the beloved series was over. For me, I just felt like stuff was MISSING. On reading it again I realized just how much of the plot I actually didn't remember. (Though I clearly remembered every last person who died.) And although I found I did enjoy it more, that same hollow feeling remained. I guess I just didn't find the ending fulfilling. I felt like stuff was missing. That doesn't make it bad...it just makes it...hollow.

So then I went back and read "The Sorcerer's Stone", which I hadn't read in years and years. There's so much in that book that you have to really suspend belief a bit to really absorb properly. There were so many moments when I couldn't help thinking "You're first year students!" or "You're eleven!" That really didn't detract from enjoying the book - stuff like that doesn't really get to me too much, even though I do recognize it. Sometimes you have to just step back from logic and enjoy something for what it is. Most of the time, it's not a big deal.

I'm on Chamber of Secrets now, which is one of my favorites. Gotta love Lockhart.

But I did think about something as I was rereading Sorcerer's Stone...if you were a Muggle parent, and got a letter from some school you never heard of, telling you your kid was a wizard/witch and had magic powers, wouldn't you freak out a bit? Would you automatically want to send your child to this school, into this world you know nothing about? I think it would take a lot of convincing in most cases. I'm sure there would be parents who would refuse to send their kids at all.

But, like I said before, it's not a big deal really. Just one of the things you have to let go.