Friday, November 29, 2002
After making arrangements earlier in the week to get a baby-sitter for the evening, I took Erika out for dinner at the local pub, and then we walked across the street to see the latest Harry Potter film.
It was lots of fun, and at least this time we were all familiar with the characters, so not much time was spent going over background we all already knew anyways. It was a fun romp, relatively well-paced given it's length. The special effects were much improved over the last one -- I gather that the previous firm was dropped (fired?) in favour of Industrial Light and Magic, and certainly the effects are virtually seamless, particularly the character of Dobby the House Elf, who look and acts believable, and the basilisk certainly is credible (though I'd say less so for Fawkes the Phoenix, though it may have been puppetry rather than computer animation I was viewing when I thought that).
Still, as I remarked to Erika afterwards, the movie really seemed to lack "spark". Erika thought that the director wasn't pulling stellar performances from the cast, and I had to agree -- though we both agreed that Brannaugh did a great over-the-top performance as Gilderoy, and the actor who plays Malfoy's father does so with a perfectly controlled, menace. Unfortunately Ron Weasely comes across more as comic relief than the strong, ballsy character as written the stories, perennially sounding and acting scared, timidly following his friend Harry.
Fun, though we both agreed that the impending switch in directors is probably a good thing for this movie series.
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