Raven - Hey hey welcome back!! Don't worry mate, I didn't think you came across as rude at all!! You were merely doing what this forum is all about - expressing your opinion.

Ginebra - I'm glad you think Cuaron is an awesome director like I do. However, I won't go as far and say he was better than Columbus. He was just different.

That's what I say to those who criticize Cuaron. Cuaron's not a bad director. He's just different from Colombus. He has a different style about him, and he's willing to take risks.

All of us are different, so whichever director takes on HP will never be able to please every single one of us. All they can do is display their style on screen and put that unique "stamp" of theirs in the movies they direct.

Personally, it's not how I would have done it, but hey, that's why I'm not a director, every single person would have a different take on how they would do it, and everyone would say *OH MY GOD, I can't believe what *enter name here* did to it!!!*...

I think he did a good job. So it's not the same as Chris Columbus did it...He didn't really capture how I envisaged it either. But I still enjoyed the films, one just has to have a slight sense of detachment and realise not everyone sees everything the same....

It was a good film....it got across the general idea. The Dementors terrified me, Hogsmeade delighted me, Aunt Marge had me at boiling with rage....sure it missed out some details, and some of that disappointed me, but, as everyone's said a thousand times already, you can't fit EVERYTHING in to one movie, especially one that appeals to children....

Ashleigh, I'm 21 too, and a mommy....Grown-up Potter fan hi-five!!!

*hi five's Nivaya* Yayyy...FINALLY, someone my age!! heehee And whatever you said, 100% agreed!! That's what I've been trying to say all this time, but some people just don't seem to get it. So I'm stoked you think the way I do!!

*Rubs hands together evilly* Soooooo, what'd I miss? All right I know I know... It's just me but yeah anyway more people who agree that's always good... Welcome!!!

~Raven

P.S. this is kind of scary my dad's listening to my Moulin Rouge soundtrack... OMG, he's going to be giving me funny looks after this last part... geez! Why do they have to have these inserts with weird sound effects?!?!?!

RAVEN~!!! Welcome back!!!

You've missed heaps, mate...HEAPS!! Hehe I've written so many different versions of my pro-POA thesis I'm starting to feel a bit like a broken record!! But it's all good, I love POA and I can talk about it from dawn till dusk...

I feel so loved! Sorry I disappeared again but I'm in Washington DC right now and it's been a reaaaaaalllllyyyyyy long week, but hey I've seen a lot. I've missed talking to you all! Let's get talking!

Raven

Awwww...well I've missed talking to u too... *huggies*

How was Washington? I bet it was fantastic!!

Well, I go home tomorrow, but yeah it's been pretty cool... The only thing that really sucks is I have to go back to school on Monday maybe I'll be able to send you a picture of a hummingbird I caught mid flap at the zoo, I was completely shocked and excited about that!

Raven

Well, that letter was a little harsh, lol. I thought the film was good. and the two other films were always being made fun of cause they felt it wasnt so much of an apdotation as much as just a movie. we have to remember it was just a movie. based on the books, not the actual books. though i did feel they left a little too much out of the movie. and the characters will never be like the books becuse each person sees the characters in their own way, same as the books and films.

Precisely, Bellatrix!! That's what I've been saying all this time!! Good on ya, for being open-minded enough to see the difference!!

If I had to say which movie was more memorable, Columbus' or Cuaron's, I'd have to say the latter.

I mean at first I was pretty against the movie because I totally missed out on Quidditch and it's a real let-down to the kids as well. Also, some parts of the story may have been confusing to people who have never read the Harry Potter stories. Some things that may seem so obvious to the fans, may not be. I'm not sure if Cuaron assumed the fans would know it. The Marauders, for instance? My dad was just sitting there wondering who those people on the map were.

However, Rowling said in the first place, that she did not want to keep it so close to the book. If you want it so close to the book, you might as well just read the book and make up your own images.

In the Prisoner of Azkaban, I "felt" more than I did in the two previous movies. Despite the dark background, he added a dose of humor which I found was strangely appealing. I mean Draco was a bit more funnier, but it just made me hate him even more. This bum was causing Harry so much trouble? And Cuaron made me afraid of the Dementors, shocked about Aunt Marge's bloatedness and afraid of the fugitive Sirius Black (though that's partly Gary Oldman). He conveyed the message of the Time-Turner, about how it goes in this cycle - one of my questions that was never answered until the movie.

And his camera angles were good. Also adding his transition from scene to scene. I remember Hedwig delivering a note and it went from fall to winter.

As for Hermione being dressed up as a "Britney Spears" wannabe, I don't think that was the attention. Every teenager wants to attract some attention, even nerdy girls want guys. It also fits perfectly in to the Goblet of Fire, where she dates Viktor and gets her teeth fixed (and gets Ron jealous).

Everybody is pointing out all these "mistakes" that were made in the movie. Perhaps there was something wrong and the director had to change it? It may be a reason that only the cast and crew know. . .

In essence, please do not denounce Cuaron just because he did not follow the book. The central plot was followed and the audience members did not need to have watched the previous movies or read the books to understand the storyline. It was an enjoyable movie. I'd watch it again and it's my favorite book.

Did PoA come out in DVD yet? If not, when?

Hear hear joeshmoe!! If you’ve been following my posts on many of the POA threads, you’ll see that what you’ve said is EXACTLY my thoughts too!!

Mighty shame that not everyone can see things the way we do. People just need to be more open-minded when it comes to the movies. As I’ve said like about a hundred times – The movies are just BASED on the books, they were NEVER meant to be an exact visual representation of what we read. Put simply, people tend to forget that books and movies are not the same thing, and can never be the same thing.

The thing is, each and everyone of us are unique individuals. We come from different (social/family/ethnic/etc) backgrounds, we have had different life experiences, we are of different age groups…the list could go on. Therefore, it is only natural that we will all have different opinions. And in the same way, each director is different and has a unique style about them. So whoever takes up a HP movie will NEVER be able to please every single person on this planet, especially the fans.

Put it this way – when all of us picked up PS/SS and read it, we all had our own vision of Harry, of Hogwarts, of all the characters in this world. Even JKR, being the creator of this whole series, had her own picture painted of how this world looks like. The same will be for the directors that take up a HP film. So as they can’t possibly please everyone as each person would have their own vision of the world, all they *can* do then, is present the film through their eyes, from their perspective. Each director is given the freedom and “right” in a way, to do that…to put their personal stamp on the movies they direct.

And what I noticed is this. People tend to forget why exactly they hated or was disappointed by POA. People tend to blame it all on Cuaron, but in actual fact, they didn’t like the movie not because Cuaron was a bad director, it’s just that his style didn’t agree with them.

Another thing people need to bear in mind is that JKR has a say in all the decisions, big and small, pertaining the movie. She is, after all, the creator of this whole world!! So whatever we see on screen, had already met JKR’s approval. And JKR has said that POA is her fave movie of the 3, meaning that Cuaron probably captured the world closer to JKR’s vision than Columbus did. This is not to say that Columbus is any less of a director, of course!! What I’m trying to say is, if it’s good enough for JKR then we shouldn’t be fussed…she after all, knows best!!

Oh and one other thing I have to mention is this – Warner Bros. have said that they do not want the HP movies to be homogenous. This means that they do not intend for the movies to look, to feel, to BE the same…which explains why they’re bringing different directors on board. I think the reason why they are doing this is to keep things “fresh” so that you won’t get bored (I mean it’s a 7 movie series, think about it!!) and also so that people won’t have to watch from the first one or watch it chronologically to enjoy the movie. Sure, there will be some things that may need explaining, but overall, you’d be able to get the movie from just watching the one.

Basically when you go for a HP movie, you have to go bearing in mind that what you will see is just a depiction of what happens in say, POA, and will not portray exactly the pages of the book. If you are going expecting that, then you’re just kidding yourself. And as joeshmoe said, you should not watch the movies and just stick to the books and paint your own images.

For me, the important thing is that the movies keep to the SPIRIT of the books. As long as the main theme(s) of that particular book are conveyed, as long as the main plots (and some subplots) are not cut off, as long as significant scenes that help move the story and complement the theme(s) appear…that’s all that matters.

Cuaron’s only “crime” was that he was different from Columbus. That’s it, really.

Oh and about the DVD joesh, it’s not out yet, it will be released November 23rd – can’t wait!!

I think the greatest problem with Cuaron is that he is trapped by the time constraints of a feature film. There is no getting around this -- he must cut things, and change the order to get the main story across in these time constraints. from my point of view, he did an excellant job with these constraints, even though I am sure he cut some scenes that were dear to him (I can't wait to see the scenes that were cut on the DVD!)

The one thing that struck me about the three Harry Potter films is how the entire vision has grown up with the children. In the first movie, Hogwarts was almost fairytale-like in its simplicity. By the third movie, the enter film was more realistic. I keep thinking that one of these days, we'll be able to see the intense wear that you see in modern day castle steps and floors.

Since the stories are from Harry's perspective, I think both directors did an excellant job accomplishing this feat.

i think that alfonso left out too much info. the movie could have been better. i wonder how chris would have done it?

i beleive the same thing that alfonso cauron shouldnt have changed so much of the book. as many fans of harry potter including me were very disappointed ithink alfoso cauron shouldnt even ever go near a potter film again he changed so much from the book and every day i awaited for the movie anxiously it was like the clock had stopped when i found out when the third movie was coming out i waited for two years for that movie and my brother even warned me that i shouldnt get my hopes too high that it wont like i imagined it would be and he was right everyday i would watch the trilers on harrypotter.com and muggleent.com but when i saw i just was like how did jk rowling even approve of it to be made this way too many changes. sometime change can be a good thing but in thiese circumstances change is a very despicable thing that happened he changed a perfectly good childrens novel .

Thank you, dansgurl01!! We need more people that think the way you do.

xXhApOcHiCxX, well you obviously haven't taken in a thing I've been saying in this thread.

I respect your opinion that you were incredibly disappointed by the movie, but I think it's wrong of you to blame it on Cuaron.

I shall just quote what I said in my previous post:

Well, I think PoA is the best HP movie yet...I mean, it was because of this movie that I was urged to read the books...(no, I haven't read them before)

There is no a boring part...every scene run on smoothly after the other...

For example:
The scene of house keeping service at the early part of the movie (in Leaky Claudron, you know, the one where there's a wild gust of wind coming out and she said 'I'll come back later') Ha ha!! That's a funny one but it serve a purpose too...it is to stitch together the part where Harry had manage to tackle the monster book and the part where Crooshanks is chasing Scabbers...

And there's more of it in the movie...

My point is Cuaron did a great job with PoA! Excellent even!! He *did* preserve the HP spirit from the books to the film!!

And that's my two-cents worth...

Good day (or evening) everyone. This is my first post here in the COS forums and I am starting with this thread because it is a very interesting subject matter and I am able to easily give my opinion on the matter with, what I hope is, a logical and thorough argument. I tend to be rather lengthy in my posts, so please, bear with me. Therefore, I'll get started.

First of all, I personally enjoyed the film very much on many levels and I believe that it was a fine effort put forth by Alfonso Cuaron and his crew on most counts. You will see later on that I become highly critical and opinionated, which I do not mean to come out sounding offensive or "elitist" as some say, but just trying to make sense of things in the universe. I love Harry Potter just as much as everyone else here and I wish to merely keep that love strong and infinite........ ;-)

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The overall feel and vision of POA was dead-on from what I had imagined from the dozen or so readings of the book. The third year for Harry was decidedly darker and more dangerous (mentally and physically) than the previous two and POA reflects this very well. The change from the standard Hollywood movie look to the more grainy, almost homemade look gave it the edge it needed to make it interesting and more stimulating than its predecessors. It also seemed to walk the lines of a horror-movie style of filmmaking, though certainly not a horror movie by most standards. I felt that the blending of the blues, grays and blacks was done nicely and with good intent. It was a far departure from the rich and colorful world of Harry Potter as seen in SS and COS, which I had worried that anything other than what I had seen beforehand would just not look right or wouldn't work completely at all. However, Alfonso got the look right and he helped to make it feel just as magical with a more tempered color palette. Well done!
This next part of my critique will focus on the acting. On the whole, the cast did an outstanding job. The famous trio has obviously matured into their roles since we last saw them and the early signs of teenage rebellion began to surface. Dan Radcliffe gave a much more believable performance, minus the crying scene. I think we all could've used some fake tears there (at least) to help make the scene a little more poignant and realistic. That's just a minor qualm though, so in the end it didn't matter much. The stunningly beautiful Emma Watson once again performed brilliantly as Hermione Granger, always stealing scenes (and boys' hearts) at many places throughout the film. However, I wasn't too convinced about the Herm-Draco scene near Hagrid's hut. It's cool that she punched him rather than slapped in many ways, but I feel that it made her seem a bit out of character as a proper, highly intelligent schoolgirl. Rather, it gave me the impression that she was somewhat of a closet-brawler of sorts. I know that's going a bit far, but I seriously think that a nice, full slap in the face would have made more sense as far as staying closer to the fact that she's a girl and not a boxer. Again, that's more of a personal thing than anything else, so I'd rather not argue that point because it is basically moot from here on out. Then there is Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, the hopelessly clueless yet still lovable 3rd member of the trio. Just watching him perform is a blast and I always laugh at his scenes. He wasn't involved as much this time around, but he was wonderful as usual. As for the supporting cast, I was very happy with the casting overall. Tom Felton struck me as more of a sissy in the movie than he did in the book, which was disappointing because I highly enjoy his character and I wished that he could've been a little more of a tough-guy bully than a wuss, but whatever, he's still cool. All of the staff and students were great except the weird little guy conducting the choir (Flitwick?), the skinny, greasy no-name Slytherin that accompanied Draco in the snowball scene, and the impression that Dumbledore was more of a grumpy old man as compared to the Dumbledore from the first two films. Granted, we all miss the late Richard Harris as the defining role as the Headmaster, but Michael Gambon could have used a bit more charm in his role. Nonetheless, he did a fine job. David Thewlis as Lupin was great and he brought the more humane side of people out in the open. Gary Oldman as Sirius Black was very under-done in my opinion. Oldman was perfect for the role, but as he is really the catalyst for the events that transpire throughout the book, he never got the screen time to really justify his purpose and I never felt the close bond that he forms with Harry. In the book, there is a lot of dialogue that firmly establishes their relationship and thus gives you a firm understanding of their bond. It was merely glossed over in the film version. True, they had a conversation, but it was more of a getting-to-know-you kind of talk than anything else. I only say this because if you didn’t read the book then you would be a bit lost. As for the wardrobes, I really didn’t mind the muggle clothing all that much. I wasn’t too keen, at first, on the numbers and names on the Quidditch uniforms, but I grew to accept it and now it’s kind of fitting with the rest of the film.

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This is where it gets good people, so listen up. I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on opening night at the local IMAX theater and I was very excited, almost giddy. I was completely expecting something similar to one and two where the director followed the books as closely as possible so nothing would be too amiss or totally wrong. Well, the first scene with Harry practicing magic late at night was good. That was fine. However, 20 seconds later I'm already in the midst of Harry's Aunt Marge and another minute or so Harry gets highly upset and makes Marge become bloated and float off. By the time Harry is rolling his suitcase in the streets, only six, maybe seven minutes have gone by and we're already prepped for the Knight Bus scene. UMMMM, WHAT HAPPENED?? My God, that scene alone should have been at least 12 minutes long. We then would be able to get more emotionally attached to Harry and his feelings and would have a better understanding of what was going on. Granted, if you read the book than you could just fill in the gaps, so to speak, but that's cheating. If you hadn't read the book, then you'd have no idea of what I'm talking about and would then just consider me a rambling fool who doesn't appreciate a good movie. Whatever. I am ranting now, I know. But I really don't care because it ticked me off to no end and more so because it basically insulted every true fan of the book and even those who worked on the first two films. Anyway, from that point on when Harry leaves the Dursley's, the rest of the movie is little more than mere HIGHLIGHTS from the book and I felt as if I were watching a visual reproduction based on a VERY simplified outline of the story. We would get one scene that touched on a VERY IMPORTANT AND SPECIFIC event and nothing more. Just a brief look is all. It was scenes like this that needed to be elaborated upon and extended for everything to make sense as a whole to the story. Again, I'm saying this for those who are faithful to the book, not those who haven't read it. Aside from these numerous scenes throughout the movie, including those that were LEFT OUT COMPLETELY (I refuse to touch on this as it will lead me to write a novel length entry and that's not cool) there were dozens of HIGHLY questionable (and rightly so, because I can back it up) decisions and additions of the look and feel and general world as overseen by Alfonso. Yes, I know that you can’t have everything in a movie for time purposes, etc. but some of these were just inexcusable! As I won't put those down here, I will bring up two major and extremely outrageous changes that I know for a fact had thousands of HP fans worldwide sick to their stomachs over this.
First on the list and the most important one, The Whomping Willow. Okay, apparently Alfonso never read the books or even saw the second film. If he did, then he has no excuse for the ** that he pulled with this move. First of all, in The Chamber of Secrets (COS) and Prisoner of Azkaban (POA), JK Rowling CLEARLY states that the Willow is on school grounds (and when I say school grounds, I mean close to the school, not somewhere on the property far away) and within a reasonable vicinity from the large main doors of the school entrance. We also get the distinct impression that it wasn't located too far of a distance from the school because in POA, the doors are apparently within the same visual frame as the Willow:

"They moved around the edge of the Forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow."

We are told that it was very dark and so to try and see anything in such little light, even sparse moonlight, unless it was no more than a hundred or so feet in front of you would have been futile, especially when your vision is further obscured by trees and such. They were able to make out the Willow, but not clearly see it, therefore telling us that Harry and Hermione HAD to have been pretty close to the tree. This is also true when you take into account the following passage from POA:

“'Here comes Lupin!' said Harry, as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring towards the Willow. Harry looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely ."

Now, this right here gives us solid evidence that suggests that these particular stone steps are referring to none other than those of the main entrance to the castle, as we know that there are stone steps leading up to them. Plus, they could NOT have been very steep as Lupin was observed 'sprinting' down them. It's very difficult to sprint down normal stairs, even stairs on a hillside, as suggested in the POA movie version. However, this by itself could be debated and argued over. But, there is one more piece of evidence that makes its case all on its own:

"Barely two minutes later, THE CASTLE DOORS FLEW OPEN YET AGAIN , and Snape had come charging out of them, running towards the Willow."

It's really quite self-explanatory. The Willow was located close to the castle doors. In order for the two friends to have been able to see the tree AND the castle doors AND IMMEDIATELY recognize the new figure who had emerged from the doors in almost complete darkness, the doors and the tree and the forest would all HAVE to have been located within 200 yards (at the most) or so from each other. Even if you look at it from the POA movie angles, the castle appears as if it's nearly a mile away in the distance, thus negating ANY possibility of seeing someone running from the main gates of the castle. But then again, this wouldn't really matter because you COULDN'T EVEN SEE THE MAIN DOORS from where Harry and Hermione were. This is just another reason why Alfonso totally screwed up. I could go on about the tree in even greater detail, but I’ll leave the rest open for debate. But, I hope that those reading this will see where I am coming from and that I have ample evidence to back it up and make my point. I will point out one more thing on this before I move on. In the movie version of COS, the Whomping Willow was done with amazing accuracy to the book and was visualized EXACTLY as I have described above and to the specifications of the book, particularly in POA. The placement of the Willow in the COS movie would have made the problem of seeing (or being able to make out) the Willow, having a good line of sight of the main doors and being able to readily define those who left and entered, ALL while being in the same range of vision AND being able to be witnessed simultaneously from the shadows of the nearby forest, an easy and obvious solution. Would it have made sense? Yes. Was it visualized to J.K.'s standards? Yes. Does it harbor all the necessary attributes to have made POA make total sense and not raise any doubts at all? Yes. Was this perfect vision of The Whomping Willow carried over into POA, thus sustaining the precedent set by COS and allowing the movies to have a "one-ness" feel and consistency? HELL NO! The Willow has now magically relocated itself to the bottom of a rocky hillside void of any essence of still being on Hogwarts grounds (as seen from the COS point of view). I would love to say more on the location change. I would like even more to mention how Alfonso completely butchered the entire purpose of even having the tree there in first place. Ummmm......since WHEN was the Willow ever be able to be controlled with just a mere SPELL??? Seriously, how boring and stupid is that?? Walk up to it and say "Immobulus" and you're all set. That completely negates ANY of the mysteriousness and interest that the Willow possesses in the books. Horrible. Absolutely horrible. *sigh*

Alright. Now that we've looked into how poor of a job the Whomping Willow was made to be, let's look at the other problem that just really angers me: Hagrid's Hut. Once again, Alfonso has taken the liberty of magically relocating Hagid's Hut from the grounds of Hogwarts to the bottom of another rocky hillside. There is less here to argue, in comparison to the Willow. However, the location of Hagrid's Hut is inconsistent to COS. Also, it doesn't seem as if it's really on the edge of the forest, but more in the forest if anything. Just another liberty that Alfonso has taken that helps to ruin the movie for HP fans. Did any of the students EVER have to go down a rocky and uneven hillside to get to his house in SS or COS? NO. There are some things in the Harry Potter world that I believe you can take liberties with and others where you just need to leave it alone. The Willow and Hagrid’s Hut are two of them. It just goes to make POA a sort of dim-witted anomaly in the franchise, where you want to take it seriously like we could in the first two films, but we can't because the changes are so completely radical and wrong that it just eats at your conscience and never allows you to accept the movie for what it is. There is tons and tons and tons more that I would like to write about, but there just isn't the time and space and readers to hear my rants. I mean, if these two changes were used from the beginning of the series, then there wouldn’t be as much of an uproar. (True, I would still be mad, but only because it was done wrong initially and not changed to be wrong after the fact, if you get my meaning.) I am one for consistency between movies of a series because you have to keep certain aspects of a film constant in order for it to continue to make sense. I apologize, but I must bring up Lord of the Rings as an example because I know many of you here love LOTR just as much as me, so I have to ask you this question: In FOTR, we see a glimpse of the great city of Minas Tirith as described in Tolkien’s words. Would you have been happy with seeing Minas Tirith all of the sudden relocated to the other side of Osgiliath? It’s still in Gondor though, so that must make it okay, right? WRONG. There would be world chaos if that had happened. It’s the same thing with POA. Where as LOTR had consistency, POA did not. It’s one thing to change directors and give it a new look and feel, that’s completely cool, just DO NOT MESS WITH THINGS THAT WERE DONE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. That’s all I’m trying to say.
Moving on, moving on…… There is one good thing amongst many that I would like to point out from POA. This isn't really good, but more like AMAZING. I am talking about the soundtrack. One of John Williams' finest works in the past several years in my opinion. I listened to the soundtrack at least two dozen times BEFORE the movie was even released and I was STUNNED! (I am a Juilliard trained musician, for the record) Just from the musical passages, I could see the movie just playing out before my eyes and I could feel the emotions running through me as well as on-screen. The soundtrack is INFINITELY better than the movie, as far as the suggested vision and the emotional content is concerned. It's at par with most everything else. As of today, I have listened to the entire soundtrack non-stop at least six dozen times and each time I am always saddened by it because the music suggests to you that the visual representation of its content has a very high potential to be absolutely stunning. POA could have been the best in the series by far, if the music is anything to judge by. Unfortunately, the music is severely diminished once you put Alfonso's ideas to the screen. I believe that the music was so good that it seriously helped to make the movie work and stay together (and I'm being nice when I say that). So many people take the music for granted in films that they are unable to appreciate or notice that certain cues and passages are what really made a scene memorable or exciting, rather than just acting or solid special effects. As a musician, silence is also paramount in movies. Silence is music because it leaves the listener with a sense of uncertainty of what is coming or is really going on, thus forcing you to try and figure out how things are about proceed. If you don't know what I'm talking about or if you think that I'm full of it when I say that silence is music, then you should listen to your favorite songs or soundtracks and pay more attention to what's not going on instead of what you can hear. You'll be surprised, trust me. Okay, so I got off on a little tangent there with the whole silence bit, so I'll get back to what I was saying earlier. The music made the difference with this movie more so than what is obvious. Many people think that this soundtrack wasn't as good as the previous ones, which is fine considering its their own opinions. However, the POA soundtrack was ideal because it had the correct feel and colors and textures that this film so desperately needed to stay afloat. Sure it had less memorable themes than others, but to say that its not good or even at par with its predecessors is just an indication to me that A= you have no taste for classical music or for music in general, B= you don't or are unable to appreciate the beauty that can be found in a soundtrack simply because its a "soundtrack" and is therefore not enough to stand on its own, C= you don't like Harry Potter for whatever reason and so therefore refuse to even acknowledge the fact that the soundtrack has anything good about it just because it’s Harry Potter (I doubt that, being in the COS Forums and such), D= aren't as sensitive to the wonderful subtleties that are existent in John Williams' film score(s) as a trained musician is, thus not allowing you feel certain things the way we do (but that's not your fault), E= you are a trained musician or have extensive musical knowledge but have ulterior motives for disagreeing with me, or F= you are only arguing against me just for the sake of arguing and have the need to feel superior at all times (which is fine by me, because people like you don't mean anything to the rest of us anyway). If you happen to not fall into any of these categories and still dislike the soundtrack in some way, shape, or form, then please let me know because I'd like to hear your opinion. Seriously, please do. I know a lot of you must have more brains than I give you credit for and I would love to talk with you.
In closing, I just want to reiterate the fact that I only say the things I do because I love Harry Potter and it is dear to me as it is to most of you and I only want to see the best come from the books. It’s a matter of pride I guess you could say. I mean, I tell people that I love Harry Potter and they look at me like I’m some kind of freak. Whatever. J. K. Rowling is a genius and there is a lot to be learned from her work. Harry Potter fans may think that I am being way too critical about some of the things that I talk about, but then again, I’m not writing this for you, but for everyone else out there who was as equally displeased by the things I mentioned as I was and were either too afraid to say it out loud or just wanted someone else to so they could silently agree. In that sense, this is for you.

These are just a few of the problems that I had with POA. I'm not saying that I hated the movie, because I didn't. It was great and highly entertaining, just very rough in a few areas that could easily have been avoided.

Thanks for reading this far! I know I'm long-winded, but I try to explain myself as well as I can. PLEASE RESPOND!!! ALL COMMENTS WELCOME!!!

first of all welcome.

and, did you read the posts in the beginning of this thread?? well i think that the movie was constant. i know it was short but there was a time limit and they probabaly had to make it that way

You know, after I watched the special features in Dics 2 from PoA DVD, I appreciate this movie even more. You see, all of these people working very hard to make the movie a success. They put in a lot of effort in it.

For example, the person that takes care of Crookshanks (can't remember its real name though...but I think it started with C too...) who had gathered all the furs coming off from the cat and glue them together to make patches of fur and then clip it into the cat to make him look more messy. It was so much hassle and people might not even noticed it, but still they did it because they knew it would make a difference...

And then, these people who construct the Buckbeak model from bones!! So dedicated... And build the CGIs in trial and error mode. Once they made Buckbeak to act like a happy puppy, jumping around but Cuaron disapprove and said that Buckbeak should be more adult-like. And they had to do it all over again and change it...

All of them are very particular on certain aspect and they take their job seriously even though this is only a children movie. The fact that they're doing children movie did not relax their expectation a bit in order to deliver the best result they could produce...

We could probably overlooked many aspect in that movie and instead keep looking for mistakes to raise questions and blame them...(me included! shame on me... )

I know many other movies are like this, having a lot of people putting a lot of effort in it...but now, at least...I am assured that PoA falls in the same category as the other great movies...

So, salutes!! To all of those people involved in the making of PoA... it was indeed such a great movie....

Cajunfry (welcome by the way, isn't Cajun some sort of food? ), I hope you're not too opinionated because that would mean you wouldn't be open-minded to new ideas! And maybe you should tone it down a teensy bit.

Please note that there are time constraints and one cannot possibly put every single part of the book into the movie. If you want to watch a movie with the whole book, you might as well just read the book and create your own images. The scene in which Aunt Marge gets blown up happens so fast to Harry. Even in the movie, we are in Harry's perspective, as his world rushes around him as he tries to escape the Dursley's home. Even if things are left out, it's been said so many times, it's the spirit of the books that remained consistent throughout the entire movie. JKR did not want to follow so close to the book as Christopher Columbus did in the first two movies. We should respect her decision to have Cuaron stray, to have the screenwriter, Steve Kloves, stray a bit from the original story. I might even go as far as to say PoA is JKR's favorite movie by far.

As for Hermione's slap, I was kind of uneasy about it at first. But with a punch rather than a slap, the significance is increased. Not only does Hermione have the power, she does not follow the stereotypical 'girly slap', but a 'manly' punch: a punch that shows that females too, have the power to do just as good as males.

Ok as most of youse know, I am away for the summer so I can't devote as much time here in the forums as I'd like to, which sucks especially with the PoA DVD out and this section active once more!!

joe as always, EXCELLENT points there!! I totally agree with everything you've said, you're spot-on matey!! I actually did have a whole thesis-long post prepared to reply Cajunfry's but I was incredibly busy at the time he/she posted so looks like you've beat me to it. No matter, we are on the same wavelength when it comes to PoA anyway!!

I actually do wanna post more and elaborate further on what you've said but it'll have to be another time. Anyway like I said, I really agree with all you've said thus far and I don't wanna come out sounding like a broken record.

Just thought I'd leave a short one here to let y'all know that Ashleigh the self-proclaimed unofficial PoA advocate/defender is still in the house mwahahaha....!! LOL.

PoA is still VERY much my passion...and will prolly always will be!!

Right, I know I'm double posting, so sorry about that. I've just remembered this thread and I figured I should just close this topic since it's very similar to the "Was it good or bad?" thread which is way more popular/active. So I'm gonna just lock this one now and pin the other one...