Harry Potter.
So I line up in Westwood for a couple of hours on Friday night, but not without filling myself to a happy thought with sake and beer… and later a Diddy Reese cookie. Or two.
The crowd was what I wanted, and I got it in spades. I could have done without the people dressing up… I kind of expected that to happen for the sequel, but for the first one, well, that was extreme.
The movie was fun. Very straightforward, nothing at all to make you gaze in wonder. It is definitely the kind of story that would have made me all excited and jumpy in the theaters were I a wee lad, and there have been movies that did just that. The Neverending Story, for one. But even with that movie, which has quite a number of faults, there is something more that makes me think I would prefer that tale to Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone. The boy discovering his importance and rising up to the occassion story is certainly nothing new. But I like a little bit more “”oomph”" to it. Bastian took virtually the entire Neverending Story movie before he realized and afterwards act on his ability to save Fantasia. Harry Potter waltzes through the movie and pretty much wows everyone from the get go. True, he has his flaws. His wanting of his family and his less than stellar scholastic performance, for instance. But instead of being utilized to their full potential as ways to develop him, they’re left to be solved rather quickly, and make them not so much a life-turning decision but something he just happens upon.
I’ve already mentioned this to some of you after reading the book, so this isn’t new. The movie didn’t change that, as it was virtually scene for scene ripped right out of the book. Actually a bit of a mistake, as it ran longer than it should have, and left too many things in that could have been left out.
I am, of course, being very particular. Perhaps because people make it out to be soooooo wonderful, I feel the need to take an extreme position just to play devil’s advocate. I did enjoy myself, and I was delighted with the characters played rather well by all involved. Robbie Coltrane did well in From Hell, and he certainly entertained as Hagrid. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were excellent as Ron and Hermione. And Daniel Radcliffe did a fine job as Harry, even if his voice cracks two-thirds of the way into the movie and all of a sudden he sounds like he’s twelve going on twenty.
So yes, it was good fun. And of course you must all see it.
But I don’t see it having a place in my heart as a classic. It’s just not, in my opinion.
As for the other movie I saw, which was Shallow Hal on Sunday (we will only go so far as to mention that Saturday sucked), boy, did all the teenagers get suckered into this film. They expected fat jokes, but they didn’t expect the movie to come out swinging at our perceptions of people. Points to the Farrelly brothers, for being, as always, direct and to the point. Not as funny as any of the other outings, but instead rather sweet and well-meaning. Which is hard to swallow with Jack Black, but still, he did all right. I didn’t mind Gwyneth either, who did a decent job of trying to move as if she were actually that large and heavy.
It is, absolutely without a doubt, a total date movie. The kind that makes you feel that we are capable of not being so superficial and that we’re glad that when we do find someone it’s usually for the right reasons. Usually. This is so not because of Gwyneth and Jack having a romance, mind. Their story is an obvious point, sure. But the best part was how we as an audience watching the movie see it mostly through Jack Black’s eyes when he’s “”entranced”". So you watch the film and devleop impressions of the characters you see on the screen based on the way they looked. Then the Farrellys stick it to you later on by showing you what reality is like, and suddenly your Johnny on the spot for having such “”shallow”" thoughts, yourself.
I’m sure the teenage boys sitting in the front row didn’t get that. And they probably felt like they wasted their money. After all, they came for the fat jokes. And folks, all the fat jokes were done in the trailer. So if that’s all you want, there ya go.
But if you want to see a movie that is nice and sweet and has a bit of a message, particularly if you have a someone else to hook your arm with, then by all means take them and have fun.
Damn. I got kinda wordy this time around.
Just wait till December. You’ll be needing a scrollwheel on that there mouse.
