*Warning, this post will have information from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, both the book and film. I will try to stay within the bounds of the book so as not to ruin any of the film’s quirks*
Disclaimer done, ranting begins.
I went to a midnight showing last night. I was eager, hell, obsessive, about the release of this movie. New director, new main characters, old favorites, one of my favorite in the series of books, etc. This is the only movie I’ve been looking forward to, with the exception of Spiderman.
The pace of the movie was great. It kept moving, it kept you interested, and they didn’t waste time explaining anything. Columbus was limited, in that he had to make the movie for kids, who, even if they had read the books, might not understand any of what was actually going on. What do you want, they’re kids. This movie, however, didn’t cater to them. It was child appropriate and understandable, but this was clearly not the work of someone who had made Adventures in Babysitting, if you get my meaning.
Yes, the cast looks older. Get over it, it’s what humans do. In all honesty, the character that I had noticed the biggest changes from was Neville. He seemed to have grown into some of that baby fat. Overall the cast rocked my socks. You could tell that Daniel, Emma, and Rupert had learned volumes since the last film. Oldman was Oldman, which is to say that he played the role to perfection, he met and exceeded all my hopes, and managed to scare the crap out of me even in posters where he was silent. Thewlis as Lupin was awesome. The Only work of his that I knew his short role in The Big Lebowski, so I had no idea what to expect from him. I was not disappointed. Gambon as Dumbledore was awesome. He’s not Richard Harris, blah, blah. The man is dead, someone had to take the role, and Gambon did so without trying to copy Harris, and he put his own flare into the role. There’s no doubt in my mind that Alfonso helped him a bit with his own ideas as to how Dumbledore would act.
Major plot points were covered. Small details were sometimes chronologically wrong, or inferred. Example, The Marauder’s Map wa present, but they never go into detail as to who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs really were, and why they had the names, but if you knew your ass from your elbow, even if you hadn’t read the book, you might piece it together.
The music was awesome, and wasn’t a John Williams jerk off session. Alfonso took the liberty of using various styles of music that were appropriate for the scene. The overall style was completely different. The previous films made you wonder, “What if this fantasy world exists?” This film will make you wonder whether this kind of world can’t exist.
Biased opinion says this is going to be the favorite from this year. Unbiased opinion says that it was a solid stand alone film, and is sure to please most.
I’ve got your Sirius Black right here.