Pros and cons

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 2005)

A review for harry potter
Mike Newell is a talented director. I have seen Donnie Brasco and I just loved the way he handled characterizations of all the characters irrespective of their length of roles. So when I heard he was to direct the fourth movie I was delighted at the prospect. The only thing which worried me was - would he be able to capture the essence of the novels? Because as the series progresses, it becomes more and more difficult for each director to get all the background knowledge about the characters and the plot. I mean, how many 40 year olds would take the pain to read Sorcerer's stone - which is essentially a children's book? So when I saw this movie I was pleasantly surprised with a heartfelt rendition of the novel which was anything but amateurish. But again, as I watched the movie I couldn't shrug aside the nagging feeling that the movie was leaving out a lot of things to explain. For example, those who haven't read the books will be very confused by the arrival of the ship and the flying carriage as it is not mentioned until ten minutes later that two new schools have arrived in the hogwarts castle. And even then it is not mentioned which school arrived in which vehicle. Also I was all geared up for the quidditch world cup when all of a sudden it was over. I think a decent quidditch match is long overdue since the third movie cut it out too. The movie feels as if it is rushing along to its end, which really can't be helped given the book's size. The key scenes though, including the last one could have been elongated to give a better effect. Voldemort was not given enough time to scare, neither enough lines. But Ralph Fiennes does a good job portraying a difficult character in his own way which is bound to attract some brickbats. The movie's plus points are its characterizations, which are far more intimate than in any of the other movies. So Ron gets to be funny but not not foolish, Hermione gets to be smart but not powerful and Harry gets to be everything he is in the book - brave, flustered, angry, scared and finally broken. Dumbledore was a bit too flashy. Another actor might have carried it off but Gambon simply doesn't look or move like Dumbledore. Its the right time to replace him as Order of Phoenix demands much more attention on Dumbledore's character. The comic scenes were simply delightful, I really laughed. The CGI were brilliant and the movies sets were exactly the way they should have been, a nice combination of colours and darkness. Another word of caution. It is time for the directors to start putting in little tidbits of important information that is to be used later on in the series. Snape should be given wider berth. The conflict between Snape and Sirius should have been shown. But most importantly, the film skipped out the 'parting of the ways', where Harry's claim that Voldemort has returned is pooh-poohed by Fudge and the ministry. This was too big a plotpoint to miss, since the fifth book is based on it. I think the filmmakers should take a cue from the matrix trilogy where putting maximum story into a few dialogues is concerned. And lastly I hated it when Ron said that thing about the end of 'another eventful year' at hogwarts. It sounded like some cheesy comic book end line. But all these are the flaws which you'll notice only when you see it twice. I had a blast watching this film and I may add it is the best one of the lot.