Random thoughts on the first Harry Potter Movie

[author_by_night]

 I was rewatching the first Harry Potter movie last night. Or part of it, I was too tired to finish. :P (I only got to King's Cross.) Despite not really watching it properly, a few things struck me:

Dan Radcliffe's acting was at its worst. When your eyes widen that much, you're faking it. A snake is talking to you, you shouldn't look like you were expecting it and are just happy it finally happened.

I also felt like they tried too hard to make Harry the world's cute-and-suffering orphan child; I half expected him to start singing about glorious food or castles on clouds or how he'd love Ginny tomorrow, which was only six books a day away. To be fair, it's pretty much like that in canon.

This is definitely canon, but it amuses me to no end how not subtle Hagrid is about the stone. "The you know what! in the you know where! Oh, um, Harry, in case I wasn't subtle enough, I'll be even less subtle by telling you not to mention it to anyone." He's an eleven year old kid, Hagrid, he would've forgotten about it had you not told him it was a secret.

That said, I still think Robbie Coltrane was the perfect Hagrid, and he was written very well too. He's somehow both amazing and ridiculous. (I've said it before, and I will say it again - I like Hagrid, and don't care that most of fandom doesn't.)

I'll write a proper review once I actually finish it. It's weird, I originally loved it but something about it just annoys me now, though it may simply be that I've seen it 87 times.

Comments

[fluffernutter8.livejournal.com]

Dan Radcliffe's acting was at its worst.
For the first few movies, it was forgivable. He was really little when they started. But when he can't cry properly or when him in Deathly Hallows 1 still made me roll my eyes, it's just distressing.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's totally forgivable - and I think a lot of people like kids FOR their obvious but adorable acting, and it was admittedly pretty darn cute. But obvious is obvious and can be a bit grating.

I didn't think he was too bad in DH... but he should never be given roles where he is crying again. I wonder how his acting is on stage -it wouldn't surprise me to find out it's actually better, because there's such a huge difference between stage and movie acting anyway. I know some actors and actresses can do both equally well, but perhaps Dan Radcliffe is not one of them. I don't think he's that bad though - then again, I'm not good at detecting bad acting for some reason.

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

I half expected him to start singing about glorious food

Well to be fair, one of his previous acting jobs was this (with Maggie Smith, no less!). David Copperfield was never known for singing about food, glorious food, though. ;)

I don't think much of the kid-acting in the first film except for Rupert Grint, and even he has his moments of staring wide-eyed at whatever will be CGIed in later. In fact, few adults I've seen are all that good at acting with CGI material they can't really see. Take a look at Elijah Wood in the LotR films sometime--Sean Astin is only a little cringe-worthy, but Wood is absolutely ridiculous.

[beckalex.livejournal.com]

I find it funny that you say that Astin is only a little cringe-worthy with the CGI acting stuff in LOTR because he actually had the worst time filming with CGI and had to do a TON of takes to get the Shelob scene right.

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

You can tell that he had a hard time, too! But he wasn't so bad with other CGI things, like trolls and various other monsters, perhaps because there was more action in those sequences rather than just an opportunity to stare at the empty space where the giant spider should be and "react". ;)

[sea_thoughts]

I feel like Kloves made Harry way too sweet. He said in that big interview that he found Harry the hardest character to write and it really shows. He also said it was hard 'to find a character for him' or some such! I find this utterly bizarre because book!Harry is already such a character: secretive, that sarcastic edge lurking below his surface (one of the reasons he and Ron bond so quickly), but also eager and amazed at this new world and wanting to discover everything for himself because you can't trust grown ups (especially in THIS universe).

However, that doesn't change the fact that Rupert was (and remains to some extent) the best actor out of the trio, who truly embodies his character. Alfonso Cuaron tells a story about the trio which I find both hilarious and very illustrative of their characters.

[kennytrent.livejournal.com]

*gasp* people who read your LJ haven't seen Harry Potter yet? My mind...it is blown.

[padrejose.livejournal.com]

I love going back and watching the early HP movies. they are so freaking adorable and hilarious to watch!!