Harry Potter! Woo hoo! After months of waiting, I finally got to see it today with my friends. Those that have not seen the movie yet had best skip this entry, and read it when they've got some sense knocked into them. I'm editing and expanding this tomorrow, because I'm sleepy.
People:
Daniel Radcliffe: overall, he was a pretty good actor, but there were certain aspects about him that bothered me. For instance, during most of the scenes, it was obvious that his glasses had no lenses. Also, whenever his scar was supposed to be hurting, he would just touch his forehead and frown. It would have been a lot more believeable if he winced or grimaced, at least.
Emma Watson: she had me *seriously* hating Hermione early in the movie. I just wanted to smack her. This is quite an achievement, because I love Hermione. She got better, though, and by the end, I was ready to forgive her. I just wish she wouldn't over-enunciate so much. That got *really* obnoxious.
Rupert Grint: If you ignore the fact that this boy does not look like book!Ron in the slightest, Rupert made a fantastic Ron. In my mind, he's the best actor of the trio.
Chris Rankin: Percy needed glasses. No excuses accepted. Give the boy a pair of horn-rims and a bigger, more noticeable prefect badge. Despite this irritations, though, I still squealed whenever I saw Percy. He needed more scenes, other than just a bunch of shots of him telling people to move faster.
Tom Felton: Shockingly, I found Tom's Malfoy reasonably tolerable. He actually felt more like a kid in the movie than the one-dimensional, evil little prat he is in the books. Kudos to you, Tom.
Sean Biggerstaff: oh, nelly. Hold me back. Any female who did not dissolve into a puddle of goo at the sight of this boy (and the sound of his accent!) needs to have her pulse checked. Ye gods this boy is cute. I'm so fortunate to have him as my husband in law-in law-in law (Oliver is married to Cairnsy, who is married to Percy, who is married to Tanja, who is married to me). ::glomps Oliver::
James and Oliver Phelps: I was wary before, and I was pleasantly surprised. I adore James and Oliver as the twins. Like Ron, they don't look at all how I imagined them, but they were still fabulous.
The Dursleys: Love/Hate here. I didn't have as much a problem with the acting as with the script. The whole beginning of the movie felt rather weak script-wise, in my opinion.
Minor points:
The invisibility cloak effect was so cool. I could never get tired of that.
Quidditch. Oh. My. God. I will see this movie again and again just to see this scene. ::dies happy::
What was up with the sorting ceremony? That was messed up. And I'm rather disappointed about Dumbledore's "Nitwit, Oddment, Blubber, Tweak" speech, the Sorting Hat Song, and the school song getting cut. I rather liked those bits.
James was a Chaser, not a Seeker. How many times must Jo reiterate this in chats?
Pronunciation! Gads! What is up with their pronunciation of "Diagon Alley" (supposed to be die-AAH-gun AAh-ley) and "Firenze" (Fee-(uh)-REHN-z(ah)), to name a few. You'd think they'd consult Jo on matters like these.
Do they ever use Hedwig's name? I can't remember a single instance.
John Williams' music was groovy, but not memorably groovy. I'm still getting the sountrack, though.
Would it kill Chris Columbus to just *mention* Sirius in the first scene? ::frowls::
