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ALMOST BETTER THAN THE BOOK
Oh, worship Alfonso Cuarón. Prisoner of Azkaban was so cinematically gorgeous, and so different from the first movie... it was like the enchantment of stepping into the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley for the first time again. His wizarding world is so much more magical than Chris Columbus's, down to the tiniest little detail and the simplest of establishing shots.
Poor Hedwig, repeatedly blinded whenever Harry does his homework at night ^^;;
I love those shrunken heads XD
Geez Ron, easily spooked [on the train] aren't we? Too bad he hasn't lost his "comedic" cowardliness from the second movie, though it has gotten a lot better.
My god, Malfoy's hot with his new hair XD Lovely shriek he's got though, sounds just like a girl. =P
Oh, the scenes with the Dementors outside Hogwarts just took my breath away. [Particularly the first shot] having just come from such a warm, happy scene, and shifting to the spectres hovering around the castle... ::major shivers:: I find the Dementors' flying-ness pretty odd, but it worked for movie purposes.
The forest is beautiful. So much more real and natural from the soundstages of the first two movies.
Wow, some damn good muggle clothes going to Hogsmeade. Them students got good fashion sense =P Speaking of, I kind of miss the old uniforms (one of the very few things I prefer from the first two movies), partly because my Hufflepuff scarf is now defunct =P
Isn't that gin-normous pendulum at the front door kinda hazardous? [Then again, what at Hogwarts ISN'T hazardous...]
Eee, the squashy purple sleeping bags! ^^ Wow, I would LOVE to be able to sleep in the Great Hall. *_*
Bwahaha, adored the Whomping Willow's changes throughout the seasons. (Those poor birds though...) Was particularly tickled by autumn, because had recently re-watched Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about.
"He's got a point, you know"!? Ron! That was supposed to be your one chance to defend Hermione! Don't ditch it what with all your nudge nudge hint hints throughout the rest of the movie!
[out of order] Speaking of shipping, hooo boy. OT3, anyone? XD And Remus so did not "embrace Sirius like a brother" XD XD
Five thumbs up for Hagrid's tie!
Geez Hermione, a simple Alohomora couldn't do?
Major props to the CG team for Buckbeak, a moderate-decent model but a fantastic piece of animation. Major props to the art team who painted the not-entirely-realistic-but-perfectly-ethereal matte moons throughout the movie.
Overall, my only quibble with the movie was that it was a bit too fast-paced at times, and lost a lot of exposition, especially the important stuff at the end, thus confuzzling newbies. But oh god, it was so smoothly placed together, a much better piece of story-telling than the must-show-off-landmark-scenes! first movie.
I especially loved the little additions to the Time-Turner scenario, like Hermione throwing rocks into Hagrid's hut and making the howl - little things in the film I was puzzled by the first time, yet didn't think to attribute to the time traveling. Putting together pieces of the puzzle, just like reading the book the first time.
The Patronus scene brought tears to my eyes, because it was so perfectly like how I imagined it. The same kind of forest, the same moonlight on the lake, the same glowing stag... (If I hadn't had to squash that scene into tarot card-ratio, it could've been even better...)
BUT I so wish Harry had conjured the full stag, for real, the second time, and got to meet it so delicately, and I wish Hermione hadn't been there in such a private moment for Harry. Heck, I wish they had explained the significance of the stag at all, that was one of the most magical moments in the book. But, oh well. They still did an incredibly beautiful job, even if it was flawed.
Oh yeah, I really liked the werewolf model, even though the CG didn't look very "realistic". It wasn't a typical Hollywood werewolf or an ordinary-looking (large) wolf from the zoo, it was truly a scary sumbitch. If I ran into that thing in a survivor horror game, I would ditch so fast. Even though the books say there aren't many visual differences between a werewolf and a real wolf, I loved the look of that freaky thing. And it was heart-breaking to remember that the kindly, intelligent professor was still behind that twisted creature. The casting and makeup for Lupin doesn't really fit my mental image for him, but he made himself endearing in what felt like such a short amount of screentime anyway.
Whee, taking brother to see it when I go home! MUST drag mom along too. ^^ Pray for director's cut DVD with more exposition!
Poor Hedwig, repeatedly blinded whenever Harry does his homework at night ^^;;
I love those shrunken heads XD
Geez Ron, easily spooked [on the train] aren't we? Too bad he hasn't lost his "comedic" cowardliness from the second movie, though it has gotten a lot better.
My god, Malfoy's hot with his new hair XD Lovely shriek he's got though, sounds just like a girl. =P
Oh, the scenes with the Dementors outside Hogwarts just took my breath away. [Particularly the first shot] having just come from such a warm, happy scene, and shifting to the spectres hovering around the castle... ::major shivers:: I find the Dementors' flying-ness pretty odd, but it worked for movie purposes.
The forest is beautiful. So much more real and natural from the soundstages of the first two movies.
Wow, some damn good muggle clothes going to Hogsmeade. Them students got good fashion sense =P Speaking of, I kind of miss the old uniforms (one of the very few things I prefer from the first two movies), partly because my Hufflepuff scarf is now defunct =P
Isn't that gin-normous pendulum at the front door kinda hazardous? [Then again, what at Hogwarts ISN'T hazardous...]
Eee, the squashy purple sleeping bags! ^^ Wow, I would LOVE to be able to sleep in the Great Hall. *_*
Bwahaha, adored the Whomping Willow's changes throughout the seasons. (Those poor birds though...) Was particularly tickled by autumn, because had recently re-watched Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about.
"He's got a point, you know"!? Ron! That was supposed to be your one chance to defend Hermione! Don't ditch it what with all your nudge nudge hint hints throughout the rest of the movie!
[out of order] Speaking of shipping, hooo boy. OT3, anyone? XD And Remus so did not "embrace Sirius like a brother" XD XD
Five thumbs up for Hagrid's tie!
Geez Hermione, a simple Alohomora couldn't do?
Major props to the CG team for Buckbeak, a moderate-decent model but a fantastic piece of animation. Major props to the art team who painted the not-entirely-realistic-but-perfectly-ethereal matte moons throughout the movie.
Overall, my only quibble with the movie was that it was a bit too fast-paced at times, and lost a lot of exposition, especially the important stuff at the end, thus confuzzling newbies. But oh god, it was so smoothly placed together, a much better piece of story-telling than the must-show-off-landmark-scenes! first movie.
I especially loved the little additions to the Time-Turner scenario, like Hermione throwing rocks into Hagrid's hut and making the howl - little things in the film I was puzzled by the first time, yet didn't think to attribute to the time traveling. Putting together pieces of the puzzle, just like reading the book the first time.
The Patronus scene brought tears to my eyes, because it was so perfectly like how I imagined it. The same kind of forest, the same moonlight on the lake, the same glowing stag... (If I hadn't had to squash that scene into tarot card-ratio, it could've been even better...)
BUT I so wish Harry had conjured the full stag, for real, the second time, and got to meet it so delicately, and I wish Hermione hadn't been there in such a private moment for Harry. Heck, I wish they had explained the significance of the stag at all, that was one of the most magical moments in the book. But, oh well. They still did an incredibly beautiful job, even if it was flawed.
Oh yeah, I really liked the werewolf model, even though the CG didn't look very "realistic". It wasn't a typical Hollywood werewolf or an ordinary-looking (large) wolf from the zoo, it was truly a scary sumbitch. If I ran into that thing in a survivor horror game, I would ditch so fast. Even though the books say there aren't many visual differences between a werewolf and a real wolf, I loved the look of that freaky thing. And it was heart-breaking to remember that the kindly, intelligent professor was still behind that twisted creature. The casting and makeup for Lupin doesn't really fit my mental image for him, but he made himself endearing in what felt like such a short amount of screentime anyway.
Whee, taking brother to see it when I go home! MUST drag mom along too. ^^ Pray for director's cut DVD with more exposition!
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Oh yeah, huh! I can see it perfectly in my mind, but I didn't make a note of it when I was watching. The entire creature was so disturbingly twisted anyway that I just sort of had it down as an overall "man this thing is messed up".
And kinda wished that Lupin didn't have that moustache
I didn't expect to like this Lupin at all, since he looked so contrary to what I expected, and his scenes were so toned down (due to Lupin's personality) and expected so there weren't any parts that particularly swayed me. But somehow in the end I found myself realizing I'll really miss the guy, just like I did for book Lupin. So kudos to Thewlis.
Speaking of which, why did we not have more of a Cedric focus? And where was Wood?!
I was hoping to see Cho Chang, myself ;) And Sean Biggerstaff was just not signed on to the movie, I had heard that news from the very start. The Quidditch Cup subplot was a big part of the book, but I entirely understand Fonsie (<g>) having to cut all around it.
Squee for Dawn French the Fat Lady.
I thought at first the singing was a bit stereotypically out of character, but that shattering glass just won me over XD
Speaking of which, where was Nearly Headless Nick/John Cleese?
Yeah, I was kinda waiting for him rather than the nameless ghosts we saw in the movie. But I don't particularly mind, this movie doesn't really need that brand of Monty Python silliness (except aforementioned Whomping Willow scene <g>). I thought at first he might've been the ghost who met up with the Gryffindors in the first night; I loved the reaction of the kid who walked into him XD
I agree, it was a little shallow and fast paced, but sooo good.
Hm, I don't even think it was shallow, except in terms of what plot that was there and couldn't be fitted in. As an emotional and artistic work, however, not shallow by far.
And thank GOD the twins look less dweeby now
Eh-heh, I don't think they look much *less* dweeby, but that's okay because they finally got the roles like they deserve. ^^