Blogcritics Comments on Harry, Azkaban, and a Prince Down a Few Quarts

Comment by DrPat

Fri, 24 Dec 2004 15:35:51 EST

Jim, you've got your finger on it. Like the Simpsons or Rocky and Bullwinkle, Rowling's books appeal to kids with magic and monsters (cartoons), and to adults with insight and perspective on the real world.

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Fri, 24 Dec 2004 15:25:40 EST

What makes the "Harry Potter" books distinctive is they are books about children, not children's books, which makes them accessible to everybody. For example, compare J.G. Ballard's "Empire of the Sun" (the novel, not the movie which sanitized the youngster) and Russell Banks "Rule of the Bone". Both books share a similar point of view as the Harry Potter books without the magic and wonder. The Harry Potter books defy marketing slots. There are many details which can only be appreciated by adults, such as the bureaucracy in keeping magic hidden from the mugworts.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Fri, 24 Dec 2004 12:32:20 EST

I am happy to be one of the freaks who has remained untainted by the Harry book experience, then I can appreciate the movies as movies rather than derivations - I am certain that at some point I will catch up with the books. Meanwhile, I take perverse pleasure in being told what an idiot I am for not reading them. EL, the reason the books and movies are such a phenomenon is becaue they do appealequally to adults and to kids: you may become a millionaire, but you don't become a billionaire without transcending the generations

Comment by DrPat

Fri, 24 Dec 2004 02:37:08 EST

I liked one thing about Azkaban - the constant time-clues. You would see the giant pendulum swing by at the end of the corridor, or off to the edge of the screen, an orery marking sidereal time. The "silver" feel to the colors seems to have been due to filming in Scotland during a continuous "mist-storm".

Comment by The Theory

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 21:44:27 EST

just to throw in my few thoughts... in book five a semi-steady character died... but the announcement makes it sound like it'll be more major than that. So I wouldn't bet on Cho... that may distress Harry to an extent, but the readers as a whole won't care so much as if it is someone like Hagrid. I don't like film three as much as the first two mainly because of the continutity issues. I loved how the school appeared outside in the first two films, but then film three goes and mucks with everything and makes the outlay different... what's up with all the open space and fancy bridges and Hagrid living a half mile away!? Can't wait for book six.

Comment by Big Time Patriot

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 19:16:07 EST

I've got to say that only watching the movies and not reading the books is a sorry statement to make. The movies are okay, but none of them are as good as the books. Similar to the Lord of The Rings trilogy, great movies, but the books are better. Give yourself a treat and start reading them. I've been re-reading the series in reverse order and it makes me see so much foreshadowing that went completely past me the first time. Rowlings is the master of foreshadowing. As far as her "tarting up" (it is funny to see her change) at least she has gotten better hair advice than Donald Trump (or Prince Charles for that matter)...

Comment by E L Eversman

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:04:34 EST

Eric -- I know that kids are the target audience and that they are wild about Harry (and he's just wild about me, oops, segue city). It's just that I have never actually seen anyone under the age of thirty with a Potter book in hand. The readers are invariably the business man next to me on the plane, the older lady at the coffee shop, the round man on the beach . . .

Comment by Eric Berlin

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 01:45:58 EST

EL -- You're right -- I too have seen many adults with the Potter books. From what I've read though, they seem to be the rage with the little ones, used as a talisman to get them interested in reading, etc. I'm cool with Eric B., Eric II, ebrage (my sometimes moniker), whatever works... Eric Berlin Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com

Comment by E L Eversman

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:10:44 EST

Interestingly, Eric Berlin, the only people I have ever seen reading Harry Potter books, are, well, adults. I think the most notable one was: Last year, while on vacation in the caribbean, I saw a very well nourished fifty something man on the beach reading Order of the Phoenix -- in french. Hm. I will probably have to list you fellows as Eric I, Eric II, and I will likely end up as Eric III.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 15:45:06 EST

books typically do a much better job of backstory telling as movies mostly happen in the "now" - and I agree the look and feel of the first two films was magical

Comment by Distorted Angel

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 14:15:29 EST

It's been interesting reading the opinions about the first two versus the third. As a fan of both the books and the films, I was astonished when I saw the first film because everything looked almost exactly as I had pictured it in my mind when I read the books -- it was as if my own vision of Hogwarts had been used to make the film. Having said that, the third one was a more satisfying experience on a lot of levels. People who only see the movies without reading the books are missing out on a huge amount of backstory, and that was far more apparent to me in the third movie than in the first two.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:13:22 EST

interesting color characterization Deano, thanks - and as I said, you really couldn't have the third one without the first two setting things up

Comment by Deano

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 11:50:03 EST

I liked all three movies but actually liked the look of the Azkhaban film the least. It was moody and atmospheric and I liked the naturalistic feel of the magic but...at then end I thought the first two films captured the essential feel of Hogwarts better. It's most noticably in the use of color in the films and the overall look. Hogwarts in the first two movies is brighter, more vivid and populous, rather then the greyer, drizzly, silvery sheen that Cuaron seems to have favored. At its most basic, the first two movies are "gold" and the third "silver". now this transition may be a necessary part of the overall series arc, as it does become noticably darker as you progress through the books,. Overall all of the Potter films are excellent screen adaptations and well worth repeated viewings.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 09:02:57 EST

viewed purely from the filmic viewpoint, characters have been coming and going on a regular basis - particularly teachers - which in some ways is the equivalent of "death," so whoever it is, it maight not have quite the impact on film that it does on the page

Comment by DrPat

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 04:07:22 EST

Oh, no! Maybe Rowling was upset about the substitution for the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore... You may be right.

Comment by Eric Berlin

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 02:33:33 EST

That's a good guess -- the on-and-off love interest (Cho Chang her name is, my wife informs me, she being the true Potterologist in the family). My bet's on Hagrid or Dumbledore come to think of it. An authority figure close to Harry who has been a prominent character throughout would give him the oomph to "get medieval" on he-who-must-not-be-named's ass. Eric Berlin Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com

Comment by DrPat

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 01:43:53 EST

Eric, I will be willing to bet that the three friends are not up for the authorial chopping block - and I will be very surprised if even Neville Longbottom is in danger. Perhaps Lucius Malfoy will go buh-bye. If Rowling means to kill off one of the "good" characters, it may be someone from another house - what was the name of that girl Harry had his eye on?

Comment by greeneyeshade

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 01:28:25 EST

emma watson's adorable, all right, maybe too much for the part. rowling said she based hermione's best-known characteristic, her comic drivenness, on rowling's own need to compensate for not feeling pretty; a woman i used to work with identified w/hermione for the same reason. (me, i love hermione for her understated but unfailing loyalty and kindness ... for myself, i identify with, alas, neville). thewlis did a fine acting job as lupin, but i just don't think he looked right. alan rickman looked more like snape, so to speak, than the illustrations in the u.s. scholastic editions did, but i can't say the same for thewlis.

Comment by Eric Berlin

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:24:36 EST

Damn DrPat, I didn't know that. I'm still getting over Book VII of The Dark Tower series... I don't know if I can handle all of this in one year.

Comment by DrPat

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:14:47 EST

I'm more exercised over the recent announcement by J.K. Rowling that "one of my characters will die" in "Half-Blood Prince". I may have to break my firm, break only in case of emergency, rule about not buying hardbound books. Inquiring minds want to know!

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:28:09 EST

I suspect you are correct DrPat

Comment by DrPat

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 19:54:54 EST

"Half-Blood Prince" - loved the ambiguity you so deftly pointed out, but with the emphasis on blood in the previous -4- books, I suspect the half-blood prince is, well, half Mud-Blood.

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:46:47 EST

Yes, it is really sad Russ Meyer is dead. But, seriously folks, I nominate Steven Soderbergh since he has proven himself to bring to video Elmore Leonard's books, who could be called the J.K. Rowland for adults. Really dissolute adults with bad habits.

Comment by Eric Berlin

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:34:25 EST

Azkaban was no light weight, though you're right on the increasing heft as the series moves forward. I think that fact calls ever more strongly for a director with the vision of a Cuaron or Jackson who can transform hundreds of thousands of words into a compelling visual story.

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 18:30:04 EST

One increasing discrepancy with the books vs the movies, is the books are getting bigger, which creates a problem for 4 and 5 since the books are about 700 pages each. So unless they are getting Peter Jackson to direct the rest of the series, they are going to have a problem.