State of the Shelanman

Overall, I found the adaptation to be great fun. The Yule Ball (and scenes leading up to it) were amusing, they managed the youthful-embarassment without making it too painful to watch.

Ron Weasley's dress... er, wait, dress robes... were really really horrible, which added to the humor of the scene quite nicely. Something about moldy old 18th century-style robes that... don't really look very manly.

The Prefect's Bathroom. Damn, I want a bath like that... though I could deal without the creepy ghost trying to put the moves on... This scene was made more humorous than usual because of the reaction of the crowd. I said this last movie, but I forget how teenage girls act... when Harry jumped into the bath, the audience could be heard sighing dreamily and screaming. It was... sad, but funny...

The Quidditch World Cup. Wow. As short as these sequences were, they were fabulous and fun... the World Cup was a truly magical carnival.

The Maze. Boo! Hiss! I totally disapprove of how the maze was done. Sure, it looks creepy, but for the first 5 minutes, nothing creepy happens, but all the actors are acting terrified. And then when something creepy does happen, it's not nearly as creepy or magical as advertised.

Dumbledore talks about dragons and monsters and losing yourself, but all there is is a maze whose walls close in periodically, and once or twice reach out to entangle someone. Not nearly as cool or creepy or magical as I expected. This was the single greatest disappointment in an otherwise fabulous movie.

The other tasks were done nicely, though Harry seems rather dumb, having to be told to use his wand... but whatever... staring at a big huge giant fire-breathing dragon has to be scary and disorienting, so I'll forgive him -- though it is problematic -- one of Potter's great strengths is his ability to deal with pressure like this without losing his head. That ability saves him time and time again, but here we see him completely lose it until someone in the crowd nudges him into action.

There were plenty of amusing takes and embarrasing moments to go around -- entirely appropriate for kids of that age -- but there are serious moments and creepy moments as well.

Overall, the tone of the film is definitely on the creepy side, (I avoid saying "dark" because it has become an overused word with regard to Harry Potter books and movies) without dipping too deeply into what has become of the horror genre. There are definitely those moments when you're waiting for something to jump out from around the corner... all the hallmarks of an edge-of-your-seat type of film, but then there are all the light, fun and magical moments as well... All in all, it balances out to two-and-a-half of the more entertaining hours of the last few months. I can't wait to see it again, and if this sounds remotely interesting to you, GO!

If you haven't read the books, but are into the fantasy genre at all I strongly recommend you go. I suspect you'll enjoy it even more than those of us who know the books, because you won't be tainted by expectations.

I wish to conclude with one additional small gripe: The movie is trying to condense 700 pages into 150 minutes. Newell did so rather well, but some of the transitions are so non-existant that it took me as much as 10-15 seconds to figure out what had transpired between fade-out and fade-in... if you're going to jump from scene to scene, location to location, you must provide some hint as to what you're doing...

Meh... Go See It! Worth the $10.

— The Shelanman