Weekend: Swimming, Harry Potter, and Lots of Phone Calls

[autographedcat]

So, although most of our weekend was spent calling friends and sweeties and relatives to tell them our news, we did manage to accomplish some other things over the weekend as well.

Saturday we went swimming, and then went out to Asia Garden for a lunch of Chinese food. I really like the food there, and they have the added bonus of delivering to our apartment when we want takeout. (And are, amusingly, faster to deliver than the place that's right across the street). We then did some necessary shopping and came home to watch TV, hang out on #filkhaven, and call everyone we needed to call.

Sunday was more swimming, after which we ordered some pizza and then went down to Medlock Crossing to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.



Overall, I really liked the movie, even if it was a bit streamlined from the book. There were only a few nitpicks that we found very annoying.

• Harry is supposed to be a reasonably bright kid. After getting caught walking with his invisibility cloak through the snow once, you'd think that he'd exercise a bit more caution. The bit with the lollypop was just plain dumb.
  
  
• I don't think the film did a very good job establishing how close James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew were in school, nor did they manage to convey any real sense of what an animagus was or why it was important....it was mentioned in passing, but you never got firmly established that it was being shapeshifters the four of them had in common. This might be forgivable, but I can't belive they blew it on....
  
  
• The MAP. For heaven's sake, the map is a huge, major plot device in both the book and the movie. In fact, the resolution of the plot largely depends on it. Would it have *killed* them to at least give a nod to Mssrs. Mooney, Padfood, Wormtail, and Prongs, and why those four names were important? There was a perfect time to do so in the scene where Lupin says goodbye to Harry, if not before then.
  
  
• The importance of the stag avatar in Harry's patronus spell is likewise glossed over. This is important stuff, guys. The little details matter.
  

Having said all that, what a fun film. I think that Alfonso Cuarón did a great job of capturing the feel of the HP universe...there are few missteps in terms of tone. The three main actors are (ahem) growing up nicely, and I was especially glad to see that Daniel Radcliffe has settled into his voice...in Chamber of Secrets I was expecting it to crack at any moment.

The supporting cast was likewise marvelous. Michael Gambon did a fine job stepping into the enormous shoes left behind by the late Richard Harris, and Alan Rickman was....well, Alan Rickman, Despite not getting as much to do in this film as in the previous two. I thought that David Thewlis made a very good Lupin, although I've had at least one person express to me that they didn't think he was handsome enough. I thought he did a great job of capturing the "weary man-with a secret" that is the center of Lupin's character in the third book.

I didn't much care for Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy in this film...I recall Draco being a bully, always, but I don't recall him being such a whiny snivelling coward at the first sign of resistance in the books, and I'm not sure the characterization works for me. This may be more Cuarón's fault more than Felton's, though. We'll see how they play it in the next one.

Overall, I give this film a B+, and if they fix some of the above in the DVD release I'll upgrade that to a solid A. Very much recommended, but make sure you read the book to get the details they left out or glossed over.


Once we got back from the movies, kitanzi called her dad (and left a message) and her brother, both to wish them a Happy Father's Day and to tell them about the upcoming wedding. We ended up going to bed early, because Kit had to be up early in order to report to jury duty on Monday. I'm sure she'll tell you all about that later over in her journal.

This weekend upcoming is Atlanta Pride, and then the weekend after that we'll be travelling up to North Carolina for a family gathering, so the days are just full. :) I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend as well!

Comments

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

They started filming on the 4th film in April. If they can stick to a one-a-year schedule, they can pull it off. Emma Watson is 14, Radcliff is 15, and Grint is 16, so they might can JUST pull it off. At least the characters are SUPPOSED to age one year with each book, along witht he actors, so that will help.