Due to Doyce’s good graces, Margie and Jackie and I were able to sneak out this afternoon and catch the new HP flick, the fourth installment.
It is perhaps indicative of how in need of editing Rowling’s work has become that they were able to distill quite a thick book into a fairly decent 2 hour flick. Granted, some good stuff gets cut out — mostly some interesting interpersonal conflicts and more intricate conspiracy theories and much backstory — but quite a bit of far less useful elements get left out as well (excess dross about the bureaucracy of the wizard world). If things seem a bit sketchy early on, the movie still holds together pretty well. As usual, though, I’d have been willing to see more, and I hope there are some fairly extensive extra material scenes in the DVD release. (Evidently there had been serious talk about making two movies, to be released several months apart; that might have worked out better in some ways.)
At that, though, it’s by far more of a “story in-between” tale than the earlier movies (or books). You’d be lost if you hadn’t seen the earlier movies (or read the books), and the ending is hardly the “feel good picture of 2005” sort of thing. People have said (admiringly) that it’s definitely a darker movie, and that reflects where the overall book series has been going. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, though it pushes back further the day when we let Katherine see it (we’re currently debating whether she should see #1 yet).
The special effects, as has been true from the beginning, are superb, even more than usual here. The primary actors have grown up nicely (even if faster in the 18-24 month movie schedule than in the books). The backup cast — the faculty at Hogwarts, mostly, though with a slew of other characters — are more sketchy, largely because of their numbers vs. the time alloted to them. We don’t get to really know much about Mad-Eye Moody, for example, and the regular faculty (with the notable exception of Dumbledore) get a quick line or scene here or there, somewhat wasted (Gary Oldman, alas, could easily have just phoned his in, and Alan Rickman’s Snape misses out on a lot of extra story bits that got cut).
Dumbledore get quite a bit of screen time, and becomes a lot more “human” in this installment. Which is fine, except that Michael Gambon’s accent tends to come and go at times, especially when he changes his delivery on different occasions.
That said, the story itself is pretty decent, even in its abridged version. Though much of the tale has to do with the Tri-Wizard Tourney (introducing two other schools of magic and their students), it’s really about Our Kids Growing Up. Hormones a-plenty, and though that gets much shorter shrift in the movie than the book (still enough to give me flashbacks to a half-dozen bad high school dance experiences of my youth) it’s still a major presence, made all the more significant for the cast’s aging.
Long story short: If you are a fan of the books and/or are up on the movies, go see it. It’s great, visually, and the overall saga definitely progresses, leaving you wishing the next movie were out for viewing as well. If you’ve never seen or read any HP — well, rent the other movies first. It will all make a lot more sense.