Jean, I know you are an avid fan of Harry Potter. So am I. I've read all 7 novels. I have never watched any of the movies. Guess I'm afraid to because usually the movie never rates as high as the book to me. I know the movies have been extremely popular. What do you think of them? I have the DVD's that were given to me as gifts. Should I watch them?
Oh gosh. That's a tough question. I can say that I personally think the first two were the best of the movies. The casting was positively spot on and they are the two movies that follow the books most closely. I think you will enjoy them. The cast is perfect for the characters they play. The scenery is excellent. Hogwart's Castle is breathtaking.
Starting with Prisoner of Azkaban, WB starting playing musical directors and those directors began chopping up the movies to suit their own "visions". There will be things about these movies that will grate on your nerves, but there are a ton of HP fans out there that absolutely love them, so this may just be a personal problem of mine.
When a director says "we had to cut things out due to time constraints" I do not expect them to then turn around and add superfluous garbage of their own invention. I can understand time constraints but don't add junk that isn't in the books and take away things that are yanno?
Goblet of Fire was brilliant in a couple of areas and dismal in several others. Ralph Fiennes is brilliant as Voldemort and the graveyard scene with Cedric, is just as quick, cold and brutal as it was in the book. Again, many things were cut supposedly due to time constraints while they turned around and spent extra time showcasing special effects scenes that weren't in the books.
My problem with the later movies is mainly that over the course of time, so many story lines were cut out to make room for special effects scenes, that the final movies are going to have to cram in an awful lot to make the ending understandable. As you know, the background stories in the books are rich and are the reason for the way Harry's story ends. We don't get the background stories in the movies.
I have all of the movies. I watch them all. There are good parts in all of them that you'll enjoy, but you'll miss what isn't there.
I think the one that irritated me most was Prisoner of Azkaban. Richard Harris played Dumbledore in the first two movies and he was absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, he passed away and the actor cast in his place just doesn't come close to capturing the love, wisdom and compassion of the character. He's playing some Shakespearian King, not Dumbledore. Since he refuses to read the books, this outcome isn't surprising.
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