Magic with less Novelty

There are two movie realeses end of this year that I look forward to watch. I just watched one of them - I was at the premier of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at Mid Valley. The other is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I guess it is mainly because I have enjoyed reading the books tremendously.

Since I normally review Chinese and not English movies, I had to pester my film-review colleague who was invited to HP and fortunately he had two tickets. And even more fortunately for me, I got to sit right in the centre of the cinema hall although my original ticket was F1 (another colleague has an extra seat in the centre and invited me to join her!)

Anyway, since the movie will only open on Thursday, I shall not do a full-blown review in case inadvertantly give away spoilers and get murdered from all theHP fans who happen to be reading this.

I shall just say because TGOF is such a thick book, the film-maker has to condense it quite a bit to fit it into a two-an-a-half-hour movie. But while certain parts are cut short, the important stuff are still in. However, I was quite surprise how short in the movie is the Quidditch World-Cup bit as it takes up a big chunk in the begining of the book.

Also, since there are many more characters introduced, even all the ho-has on the American-Chinese girl who plays Cho Chang turns out having such a tiny part with one or two lines of dialogue!

Well, if you think the JK Rowling's fourth book is more suited for adults, so definitely is the movie. In fact, I think it shoudl have a PG12 warning for it is very dark and is scary/ violent/gory at parts.

Overall, I think it is good but perhaps not great. Perhaps by this fourth sequel, the novelty has waned a little. And you can't help but compare it to the original writings of the book. If my memory serves me right, I actually enjoyed Prisoner of Azkarban more when I first watched it last November. Still, this HP outing has not lost its magic. The cinematography and the sceneries are breath-taking and probably has outdone the previous HP films. Besides the fast-pace and heart-pounding adventure, there are some heartwarming and light moments and I especially love the ball and the dancing scene.

Acting wise, the adults no doubt outshine the teenagers. But Daniel Racliff and gang maintain their standards, the only problem is, even in this film, they all look much older than the supposed 14 and 15 years of age! Which makes me wonder how the next three movies will turn out...

Hmm..somehow I think I would enjoy Corpse Bride more (will be watching it tomorrow evening) as I don't have preconceived knowledge of what to expect. But again, I have read lots of good reviews so maybe I will have certain expectations..

Oh well, there is still Narnia to look foward to...