What is your favorite Harry Potter movie?

[Drizzle]

who woulda thought we woulda made it through all seven books with the same cast?

Well, not all of the cast.

Still, I couldn't see Richard Harris tackling the more physical aspects of the role in the later books. Gambon has been a worthy Dumbledore and in some ways he improved the role, but Harris's Dumbledore practically walked out of the books.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Oh, no. Hermione and Ron bickering over something as small as a cat and a rat. It was touched upon enough. 15 - 20 minutes of them bickering about that? That's just a waste of time. It gets the point across in the film fine. And we'll get tired of it. And I'm glad they reduce the bickering between them like in the books. It gets too damn repetetive. Their relationship is fine so far. It was major in the book but did it have to be major in the film? No. There are more important things to be touched upon instead of a cat and a rat.

I didn't mean 15-20 minutes just on that, I meant overall. The cat and rat part was big, Crookshanks near something was wrong with Scabbers, they had maybe two very brief throw away lines about it. Also there was the communication between Crookshanks and Sirius. The trial of Buckbeak was another thing, towards the begining of the Hogwarts scenes Draco gets attacked, then it isn't touched upon again until the end of the book, both these plot points had a great deal to do with the ending.

The shack scene was fine. You can't go on too long with the past in one single scene. It gets drawn out and the pacing slows down. They got the basics. They all went to school together and made the map, their relationship, how Lupin was with his father and mother, Pettigrew, Sirius. You got all of that. It was enough. Though I do agree in OOTP the flashback Snape sequence in the film could of been alot better.

They didn't explain the origins of the map to Harry in the movie, they left out so much of the scene and in a great director's hand that scene would've been paced out fine and I do think Cuaron could've done it. It would've been so easy, don't make it all dialouge, make it a flashback montage sequences so it's not just a bunch of people talking in a room together. We weren't even told what Harry's father turned into or about thier nicknames.

Aparation is apparation. Big deal about a cloud of smoke. Do I care? Not with something like that.

Apparation is supposed to be people just appearing, clouds of smoke gives you warning. It actually should be like Fred and George do at the beginning of the movie, why the inconsistency within the same movie? Why do Fred and George want to suddenly appear, but the Death Eaters and Order semm to want to "announce" that their coming.

Psst. You haven't seen the movie yet. You're only going by your opinion of him. Wait until the film though I doubt you'll keep an open mind at this point.

Enjoy a movie for what it is. Disregard what they took out and focus on what they kept in. And look at the film on its own. What had to be told to get the point across for a single film? Why did you think they left it out? And be more opened minded about it.

You're focusing too much on faithfullness and not what can make a good film. I think in a couple aspects they messed up, (like with Neville and what he'll do later on) but other than that it's fine. You're smoking over what they didn't put in instead of why they took it out to put on film.

Yeah I haven't seen the movie and I hope I'm wrong, but nothing tells me I will be, in the last two movies the most important parts were cut for either action or teen romance. I focus on the important parts that were cut. I've never complained about the lack of Dobby or SPEW, I just said I'd have been fine with the Lavender and Ron or Ginny and Harry subplots cut. What I want is a scene discussing what happened when Harry and Voldemort's wands met, which was cut and plays an huge role in Deathly Hallows or Harry's discussion with Dumbledore at the end of Order of the Phoenix, again cut down to a few seconds or what we already know, the full origins of Voldemort, which are only given two scenes in this movie. How about showing the trial for Neville's parents or the condition of Neville's parents in one of the last two movies, which tells you why he wants to fight so much. Cut SPEW, cut the Yule Ball, cut Quittich, cut Grawp, keep what's important, which started slightly with Cuaron and has gotten a lot worse in the last two movies.

 

[redhawk23]

i really wish alfonzo had stayed on to directed at least goblet of fire. Also i would have killed to see what Guillermo Del Toro could have done with the series. But alas, i still love hellboy and pans labrynth

 

[luke1234]

I really dont really get the complaint about the black smoke and white smoke. I think they are cool as hell. Its a lot more visually interesting then just appearing and reappearing. I think itll definitely pay off for Half Blood Prince's opening sequence as well as other Battles in the future.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I didn't mean 15-20 minutes just on that, I meant overall. The cat and rat part was big, Crookshanks near something was wrong with Scabbers, they had maybe two very brief throw away lines about it. Also there was the communication between Crookshanks and Sirius. The trial of Buckbeak was another thing, towards the begining of the Hogwarts scenes Draco gets attacked, then it isn't touched upon again until the end of the book, both these plot points had a great deal to do with the ending.



They didn't explain the origins of the map to Harry in the movie, they left out so much of the scene and in a great director's hand that scene would've been paced out fine and I do think Cuaron could've done it. It would've been so easy, don't make it all dialouge, make it a flashback montage sequences so it's not just a bunch of people talking in a room together. We weren't even told what Harry's father turned into or about thier nicknames.



Apparation is supposed to be people just appearing, clouds of smoke gives you warning. It actually should be like Fred and George do at the beginning of the movie, why the inconsistency within the same movie? Why do Fred and George want to suddenly appear, but the Death Eaters and Order semm to want to "announce" that their coming.



Yeah I haven't seen the movie and I hope I'm wrong, but nothing tells me I will be, in the last two movies the most important parts were cut for either action or teen romance. I focus on the important parts that were cut. I've never complained about the lack of Dobby or SPEW, I just said I'd have been fine with the Lavender and Ron or Ginny and Harry subplots cut. What I want is a scene discussing what happened when Harry and Voldemort's wands met, which was cut and plays an huge role in Deathly Hallows or Harry's discussion with Dumbledore at the end of Order of the Phoenix, again cut down to a few seconds or what we already know, the full origins of Voldemort, which are only given two scenes in this movie. How about showing the trial for Neville's parents or the condition of Neville's parents in one of the last two movies, which tells you why he wants to fight so much. Cut SPEW, cut the Yule Ball, cut Quittich, cut Grawp, keep what's important, which started slightly with Cuaron and has gotten a lot worse in the last two movies.

We don't need everything spoonfed to us. We know that Buckbeak will be sentenced to death, Hagrid told the whole story. That's it. That'sa ll we need to know There are more important things to focus on. Remeber that these movies are focused on Harry. You leave in what's important in his aspects and then go from there. Buckbeak's trial wasn't even in the book.

Again, there were lines about it. We get it. Then it just becomes a needless subplot that doesn't need to be explained. We can leave it up to ourselves to figure it out and the lines were enough.

They say in the movie they all m ade the map together at school, so I think the audience can figure that out. Another thing a filmmaker shouldn't do is disrespect the audience and spoon feed them everything. That insults our intelligence. We can figure it out for ourselves. If you can't you're stupid. Or we can just ask people who have read the books. And we have the books, the fans (which are millions of people) know!

We saw the stag, Harry said confidently it was his dad. There you go.

Luke is right. It's is visually more interesting. Plus, I think the Deatheaters want to know that they have returned. They want to see people run in fear of them, They get a kick out of the terror that they bring.

That's your problem. You focus on what is cut out. And what they cut out wasn't very important. You have so much time to tell in a film. You know about pacing right?

You complain about those subplots being cut? They are a central to HBP. It's about growing up and it's something we can all identify with. It lends to Harry's confusion with the world around him. He's just a teenager. YOu can't go on with these movies and show that they're not human.

We'll see it in DH. We'll see it right there when it happens. It actually makes it more interesting to not reveal it yet. We don't need to be explained in the past films. And they mentioned some of the wand stuff in SS, something the audience can connect easily. It will click like that.

Two is just neough. Three becomes too much in a film. You can only do so much until it becomes too much and repetetive. We'll see what they do. They just kept the ones we NEED to know and are essential to the story.

Neville's character and the thing with his parents have been mentioned already. It's enough, plus his characterization it makes us want to root for him to come through in the end, he's been this bafoon and this happens. Once you see the actor do it, it will be fulfilling.

 

[hpwiz89]

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban...I was hoping that they would have brought Alfonso Cuaron back but unfortunately that didn't happen.

 

[flickchick85]

To me, faithfulness of a movie to its literary source doesn't mean making a cookie-cutter copy - it's a different (read: visual) medium, and therefore every aspect is different: pacing, dialogue...everything. What reads well on the page doesn't always work or feel necessary on screen. Writing for the page is about details; on the screen, the details are just there, and don't need to be "explained."

To me, faithfulness in a translation is much more about capturing the spirit of a book, and in that sense, I find PoA and OotP to be far more "faithful" than anything Columbus did. They captured the darkness (yeah, I said it, but I'm not just talking visual darkness, people!), true/less-manufactured angst and emotion, humor, and mischievous nature of Harry and his world far more successfully, imo.

Columbus's idea of directing was literally telling these kids what facial expressions to make. Cuaron had them write essays from their character's perspectives on their 13-year-old feelings/outlooks/goals - in other words, he made them find the souls of their characters. I think that says it all.

And of course OotP was talky - that's how the book was. Well, that, and hundreds of pages of Harry being "misunderstood" and angry. I thought they condensed that very impressively for the movie. At its heart, OotP was the "political intrigue" installment of the series with Harry entering his teenage rebellion years while trying to fight a crooked system, and I thought Yates captured that perfectly.

 

[TwoFace12]

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is now my favorite

 

[Drizzle]

Now that I've seen them all, I can honestly vote for "Half-Blood Prince". But I think that when all is said and done, "Deathly Hallows Part II" will be the best Potter film.

 

[mclay18]

I'd rather wait for all eight films to be released before making my decision. I'll see HP6 later on tonight if I can, I worked the midnight showings for that and it was INSANE. Thank god I didn't go to those.

 

[Kud-Dukan]

I'll be able to finally answer the poll in about four hours!

 

[Booznian]

After watching the sixth film, Half-Blood Prince is my favorite. It's begun, I can't wait for Deathly Hallows.

 

[Darthkush]

Goblet of fire because it represents a big tonal change in the series that I rather enjoyed. We had no villain and now we finally had Voldemort(who's awesome by the way). Mad Eye Moody is by far my favorite of the new teacher characters that they add every film.Plus I was very impressed with the tri wizard tournament stuff and this is coming from someone who got bored during the various quidditch matches in earlier films.

They break down like this for me...

1. Goblet of Fire-see above.

2. The Half Blood Prince-my review is somewhere in the review thread but summing up I think it's a bit long and slow but there are excellant advances in the storylines for Malfoy, Snape, and the other villains and I really like the romance stuff. It also is the ONLY Potter film where the ending didn't underwhelm me. I 've seen it twice already and I NEVER double dip on these flicks in the theatre so yeah, it was awesome.

3. Order of the Phoenix-I think it's as good as the others I listed so far at times but that ending..sucks. After Bellatrix...does what she does to Sirius it all goes downhill as Harry and Voldemort's mind battle(or whatever the heck they were doing) was lame beyond belief.

4. Prisoner of Azkaban-I admire the directing by Cuaron but it just plays like a "more adult" version of the first two. I liked it when I first saw it because it is a better film but repeat viewings have merely made it be okay.

5. Sorceror's Stone-Feels a little long at times but overall I like it. It has a nice reveal of Voldemort and the start of that whole storyline and it wonderfully establishes all of the lead Hogwarts characters.

6. Chamber of Secrets-By far the worst. Dobby is annoying, the plot is boring, and I didn't care about anything that was going on. Hard to sit through. The only thing I really love about it is Jason Isaacs as Lucious Malfoy.

 

[8wid]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I don't see why so many fans consider Prisoner of Azkaban to be their favorite, it is the weakest of the books to me.

 

[xwolverine2]

every movie gets better for me.. the first two i didnt like.. which is rare for a franchise.

there seems to be alot of alfonso cauron fans here.. lol
although it was the movie that finally went dark..its not the best, and far from it.
what annoyed me was the whole time machine thing, and the lack of close up's by the director(which i find to not be the best idea for the film). It was all just a series of wide shots with little magical things happening in the background. Yates seems to be the only one who ever brought the camera in on Alan rickmans face to showcase what an amazing actor he is..among others as well.

but thats me..lol

 

[The Chris]

Now having seen the new one

1. Half-Blood Prince-*****
2. Prisoner of Azkaban-****1/2
3. Order of the Phoenix-****
4. Goblet of Fire-****
5. Chamber of Secrets-***
6. Sorcerer's Stone-***

 

[chaseter]

I like how everybody voted before seeing the movie!

 

[Spider-Fan]

I held off voting til I saw the movie. My vote pre-HBP was Chamber of Secrets. Now that I saw the new film, Half Blood Prince I'd say right now is my favorite. I am going to see it again before I make my vote official though

 

[AlteredEgo]

i would have to say that Goblet of Fire would be my favorite, due in large part to it being my favorite book. Although Half-Blood Prince is definitely a close second, if not neck and neck with Goblet of Fire for me.

 

[Timstuff]

For me, it's kind of a tossup between POA and OOTP. I greatly enjoy POA, and truth be told it was the one that got me to take the franchise seriously, but it had a somewhat vague plot. Goblet of Fire and OOTP had much more structured stories which I felt was a big improvement, however between POA, GOF, and OOTP I'd say that GOF is my least favorite (not that there was anything wrong with it, I just enjoyed the other two more). I'm not seeing Half Blood Prince until Monday, so until then I won't know where it ranks.

As for the first two, I thought that they were decent, but in some ways their plots were even more vague than POA. They basically served as backstory and setup for the plot that begins in POA, which for me was where the real story started. When I introduced my older brother to the Potter films I started him off with POA and he had very little trouble getting up to speed with the story and characters. This week I showed him GOF and OOTP, and on Monday he's going with me to see HBP. We'll get around to watching TSS and COS at some point in the future (likely during the wait for Deathly Hollows), but for now he's greatly enjoying the series even without having seen them.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Half Blood Prince. It takes the book and adds a whole new dimension to it the way we never thought it could do. It just feels like art to me. It doesn't feel like it was adapted.

 

[GregComicFan]

I rewatched all the Harry Potter films this week... so they're fresh in my mind...

1. Azkaban
2. Goblet
3. Half-Blood Prince
4. Order
5. Sorcerer's Stone - Good intro, kinda kiddie, too long
6. Chamber of Secrets - so long and literal I almost fall asleep

 

[scifiwolf]

Azkaban has been my favorite by far, but Half Blood Prince is right up there. Azkaban has some really moving moments. One that stands out is Harry's first successful attempt to conjure the Petronus charm. The French horns in the score at that moment are just magical (no pun intended).

 

[Doctor Jones]

Plus I loved some of the alterations in POA from the book. Like the chorus of "Something wicked this way comes". That was a great touch. It really sets up the tone and hell, it's a good song. That with the imagery of the carriages in the night during the rain pulling up to Hogwarts is great.