Before you read this entry, know that it has absolutely NOTHING to do with Japan, or my adventures here thus far. For the next four paragraphs or so, this website is returning to its orignal place, where Stephanie writes about whatever she wants whenever she wants to. It is my place to vent, and venting is what I shall do now. I appologize for the disappointment.
This is MY review of Harry Potter 3. A disappointing film even from Japan. Sigh.
“You are not missing much by having to wait to see it…” says Savanna to me in an email. To which I of course blew up in her face and yelled and hissed and screamed that she could actually say such a thing. Savanna, I appologize. You were right. I hate that you were right too. It’s such a disappointment. The whole film was such a disappointment.
I read what everyone wrote, including Dave, who after seeing the movie a second time said it was brilliant. I must disagree. There was no need for that book to butchered in such a way. The first movies were flawless, great, nothing could have been better. Then we got word that they would switch directors for the 3rd movie. “What was wrong with the director they had?” I silently questioned…
Where shall I begin with my rage? The music perhaps. There should not have been so much music, and it wasn’t all that good. Some movies were not meant for a soundtrack, and this was one of them. The only music that should stick in your head after the film should be the openning credits. I am not saying the music was all bad, there was just waaaayyyy to much of it, and ALL the time!!!
Moving on from the music I will being to get into the speediness of it all. What were they thinking? The movie didn’t flow at all. Not in the slightest. The whole beginning half of the movie to me was in fast forward mode, the scene flew by so fast, with that annoying music faster than the Shinkansen flys through a tunnel (you would find that funny if you were in Japan right now). For the entire first half of the movie you felt as if you were on a roller coaster dipping and diving and turning and twisting, and not until midway through does it begin to calm down and some sort of plot develops!!! Ughh!
What they left out:
Far too much. For the non-readers in the theatre, way too many questions were left unanswered. There is one thing a director has to keep in mind when making a movie based on a book. They must be thinking at ALL times about the people who are paying to see your movie, even though they haven’t read the book. They have to understand what it going on at every moment, so they do not leave with a billion and one questions about “What exactly happened there?” or “What was the point of that?”
Here are some questions Noel had to ask me and ones I thought of myself, which, if you ask me, what I will list is far too many to have to list at all:
1. Why was he a dog?
2. Who was the rat?
3. What happened to the rat?
4. Why was there a horse at the end?
5. So they went back in time?
6. How did that guy know about the map?
7. How did that guy know Harry’s mom?
8. What was that for?
9. Who was that?
10. So that’s his God Father?
11. Why were they all sleeping in the hall?
I have more, but it is late, so I will end this now.
My next issue of maddness is the one of “feelings”. In the books you feel that they are at school, that they are struggling in classes, that they are having fun, that things are happening. I didn’t feel anything during those parts of the film, until about mid-way though. They weren’t even in their school clothes at all, which I found to be a very very nice change, but it was a little too much…
Dumbledore. I give the actor a thumbs down. He just didn’t have the compasion that the other actor had. He seemed a little less concerned about Harry, and the relationship between the two of them is more important than he showed on camera. Not that he didn’t do a good job, I just think he could have done better.
Well I think that is all I will complain about today. It just upsets me so much that such a great book can be butchered by a movie. “Butchered” may be a harsh word to use, but it is what I feel happened. I find myself not looking forward to the fourth movie at all. There is a reason that each Lord of the Rings movie was so long, and this new director seemed to have missed that reason when he made Harry Potter 3. I am going to buy Harry Potter 3 over here (The imported British version) just to read it how it should be. It wasn’t that bad of a movie overall, but compared to the book it was terrible. It could have been better. That is the one thing I cannot stand, when something could have been much better, but was not. Oh well. It’s over. Nothing will change now. It is a movie, based on a great book. Based. Badly Based. I only hope that other people share some of the same opinions I have to offer, and if there are so many of us that feel we have been cheated out of movie, perhaps the next one will be a little bit better.
That is all for the night.
I promise this next entry will be about Japan, and something fun and new and exciting. Goodnight