We went to see Harry Potter friday afternoon. It was kinda fun to be there at that time of the day. The theater was mostly full of kids who were obviously on a Harry Potter field trip from school. They laughed and cheered and applauded at all the right places! And were on their best behavior I might add.
Though here and there in the audience I noticed married couples just like us. Along with more than a few grandpas. Just goes to show the book's wide ranging readership.
I am going on record as officially missing Chris Columbus' more "golden" vision of the Harry Potter world. I think he most closely captured what my own feelings were about the place. I liked the fact that the kids wore their robes most of the time in the first two movies. It added an element of dignity to them. And the place itself looked welcoming, if huge and cavernous.
I find that when they are running around in "modern" clothes, it takes me out of the magical. And I thought that's what this story was all about.
I agree with Allimom about the very choppy nature of the flow of the movie. I had whiplash a couple of times from it. Hub Man and I agreed that they did a very poor job of demonstrating the flow of time. You were left to catch up as best you could. Very sloppy in my opinion.
The digital magic that can be wrought in today's movies is almost beyond belief. At a certain point, I think it was when the ship came up out of the water, I had the oddest feeling come over me. It was at once awed and angry.
I didn't have time to think much about it during the movie, but having given it some mulling over since then, I realized that in some ways the ability to impress us with digitally created "wow" factors, has a down side. When the moviemaker relies too heavily on that "cookie" he or she can forget the basic intent of movies, and that is to tell a story.
If I want an amusement ride, I'll go to Space Mountain or something. But what I want at the theater is a good story, told well.
All in all it was pretty darn good. But in my perfect world, Chris Columbus would be in full charge of ALL the Harry Potter movies. It should be a rule. A Hogwart's rule. And breaking it should get everyone expelled!