The best Harry Potter movie to date!

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2007)

*** The review assumes familiarity with the Harry Potter canon *** This isn't the perfect movie by any means. I'll grant that. For one, I'd definitely have liked more about Marauders and a much better clarification of how they were all related to Harry, especially Lupin. (This would've explained so much, like how Lupin could read the map while Snape couldn't and the significance of the stag patronus.) This is also the movie that deviates significantly (for the first time; the earlier two were rather slavish adaptations) from the book. But the differences are what I cherished the most. The whole time turner sequence is quite brilliant IMHO, cheesy but brilliant. There's absolutely no way Rowling could have written in all the visual flourishes and Kloves and Cuaron take full advantage of the possibilities presented with the whole time turner sequence. Sure it's sort of deus ex machina but that's the way it was written in the book and they couldn't possibly alter it entirely. For one, Harry, Ron and Hermoine aren't nearly quite magically or emotionally ready to do the whole thing right in the first go. So, while the deus ex machina weakens the whole plot a bit, this is about the best movie one can come up with, within the plot. Another small distraction is the very first scene when Harry obviously performs magic during summer, which he's not allowed to do. (And it gets stated explicitly multiple times in the movie!) That was a fairly major goof.
Now about the rest of the movie. It's the most visually sumptuous HP movie I've seen so far, even narrowly better than Goblet of Fire. The only sequence I can think of where special effects were below par was the knight bus sequence. I also like this movie's score more than the rest so far. Some of the sets could be better but overall they're great. Cinematography is easily the best I've seen in HP movies so far. Darkening of the visual palette was done brilliantly and set the stage for the rest of the movies.
Performances wise, the three leads are still finding their way. They each had good moments and clunkers - Harry when he cries at Hogsmeade, Hermoine when she greets Harry at Leaky Cauldron, and Ron when he freaks out in many scenes, for instance. Gambon was good as Dumbledore but there are portents of the disaster that came in Goblet of Fire. (IMHO, Gambon's performance was the single most disappointing feature of GoF. He just shrieks and shrieks some more. Whereas Richard Harris was delightfully understated, bringing out Dumbledore's experience, maturity, wisdom and humor, I don't even know who the guy Gambon plays is in GoF! Read the book and watch the movie - what a contrast!) Gambon was already showing a few signs of 'panic' in this movie. Then there are the three best perfs of the movie and how brilliant they are - Thewlis as Lupin, Oldman as Black and Rickman as Snape! They outdo each other and act circles around the rest of the cast each time. Alan Rickman, in particular, deserved some sort of nomination for his perf. Watch the scene when he finally asks Harry to turn to page 394 in the book. Years after watching the movie, I still remember the way his nose twitches then. I doubt he will ever play a role better than Snape's. William Hurt was given a supporting actor Oscar nomination in "A History of Violence" for a travesty (over-over-over-over-the-toooop) much shorter than the brilliance of Rickman in this movie. While I don't claim Alan Rickman was robbed of a nomination, I definitely would not have complained one bit if he'd gotten one.
Alfonso Cuaron has made absolutely fascinating movies, and in particular, movies with tremendous repeat value. He's someone to watch out for. I wish he'd come back and direct another HP movie.
All in all, a good and worthy addition to the HP sequence. 8.5 out of 10.