Ok so a couple of coworkers and myself snuck out for an 'extended lunch' and saw the film.
First the good:
The story moves at a much faster pace than the previous two films. This is a good thing. The first two felt strung out in several scenes. The style of film is very much different than the previous two as well. Cauron uses wide angle shots much more than close ups, which if you ask me is better suited for these movies. I personally like seeing the vast amount of details the wide shots show. Close ups might be good on great actors, but these kids are still learning so close ups don't work well on them anyway.
And yes the kids are much better actors. I actually think Danielle Radcliffe (Harry) is the worst actor of the three. Rupert Grint (Ron) only seems to get comic relief lines, so he doesn't have to do much other than look goofy. Emma Watson (Hermoine) I think is the best actor amongst them, and she's got a much bigger role in this one than in the previous film.
All of the new actors are superb in their roles. Lupin comes across very warm and fatherly. Oldman doesn't have much screen time, and frankly I didn't gather from the books that Sirius was as wild as Oldman portrays him, but it felt perfect on screen. I guess I never really thought about how crazy one might act after being in solitary for 12 years. Gambon plays a really good Dumbledore, and though he doesn't have the persona of Richard Harris, he definitely has more of that power-behind-the-man feel than Harris ever did as Dumbledore. Emma Thompson was even battier than I expected Trelawny to be. In fact there were only two cast replacements that I thought were horrible, Tom the inkeeper (who now has a hump on his back and looks like Uncle Fester) and the new Fat Lady who overacted.
The bad (minor spoilers, read at own risk):
Overall I thought it was a great adaptation. Definitely the best of the 3 movies so far. I'll probably go see it again. John Williams did a much better scoring the film too. It's no longer Disneyworld music aside from the opening theme, which remains the same. Otherwise, the score feels much more magical and less themepark like.
The visuals are also incredible. They show much more of the landscape surrounding the school, and they picked some great locations in Scotland. The CG is fairly low key and hard to spot aside from the obvious "That can't really be real" stuff.
8.5/10
First the good:
The story moves at a much faster pace than the previous two films. This is a good thing. The first two felt strung out in several scenes. The style of film is very much different than the previous two as well. Cauron uses wide angle shots much more than close ups, which if you ask me is better suited for these movies. I personally like seeing the vast amount of details the wide shots show. Close ups might be good on great actors, but these kids are still learning so close ups don't work well on them anyway.
And yes the kids are much better actors. I actually think Danielle Radcliffe (Harry) is the worst actor of the three. Rupert Grint (Ron) only seems to get comic relief lines, so he doesn't have to do much other than look goofy. Emma Watson (Hermoine) I think is the best actor amongst them, and she's got a much bigger role in this one than in the previous film.
All of the new actors are superb in their roles. Lupin comes across very warm and fatherly. Oldman doesn't have much screen time, and frankly I didn't gather from the books that Sirius was as wild as Oldman portrays him, but it felt perfect on screen. I guess I never really thought about how crazy one might act after being in solitary for 12 years. Gambon plays a really good Dumbledore, and though he doesn't have the persona of Richard Harris, he definitely has more of that power-behind-the-man feel than Harris ever did as Dumbledore. Emma Thompson was even battier than I expected Trelawny to be. In fact there were only two cast replacements that I thought were horrible, Tom the inkeeper (who now has a hump on his back and looks like Uncle Fester) and the new Fat Lady who overacted.
The bad (minor spoilers, read at own risk):
Spoiler
Overall I thought it was a great adaptation. Definitely the best of the 3 movies so far. I'll probably go see it again. John Williams did a much better scoring the film too. It's no longer Disneyworld music aside from the opening theme, which remains the same. Otherwise, the score feels much more magical and less themepark like.
The visuals are also incredible. They show much more of the landscape surrounding the school, and they picked some great locations in Scotland. The CG is fairly low key and hard to spot aside from the obvious "That can't really be real" stuff.
8.5/10
