The newest Harry Potter movie had a few hitches as it was being made, not least of which was the unhappy death of the actor playing Professor Albus Dumbledore. Richard Harris truly brought this character to life; his portrayal was accurate to the last gesture — as most of Richard Harris’s portrayals were. The world of acting has lost a great man.
In addition to having to replace an important main character, the movie changed directors and, apparently, screenwriters. A very unfortunate change. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are back, and it is delightful to see the actors growing into these roles and into their acting ability. Daniel Radcliffe, especially, has relaxed in front of the camera, and appears more confident in his role as Harry Potter. I have nothing but praise for these three.
The new Dumbledore, however, is too flippant and jocular to be true to Rowlings’s conception of the character. He does not have the same fatherly love and care that Harris brought to life, and his personal appearance is less fastidious than it ought to have been. (I must ask, what is the deal with the little band around the middle of his beard? It looks utterly goofy — not at all in line with the manifest character of Dumbledore — and should be eliminated forthwith.)
The new screenplay is a ghastly adaptation. While a great deal has been omitted from each book to render it suitable for the big screen, none of them has been so poorly done as this one. The on-screen story is choppy and hard to follow. Important details are left out, details so crucial that, if one did not already know the story from multiple readings of the book, one might find it impossible to follow the plot at all. Several times I had to stop and think, “Now, wait a minute. Where was that in the book? What made that happen? Why are they doing that?” For a screenplay to have such lapses is unforgivable when such a wealth of material is available to the writer.
Then there is the structure of the movie and the treatment of certain important elements. First, Hogwarts Castle. In previous movies, the castle has been clean, light, and well-managed. In this movie, however, the castle is dark and dingy, and the tapestries and hangings are tattered and worn. Even the teachers are tatty and sloppy. One of the great contrasts in Book III was that between poor, shabby Professor Lupin and the well-provided for, well-treated professors at Hogwarts. Lupin actually looks fairly nice, while Professor McGonagall, who has, up to now, been resplendent in her deep green velevet robes, looks as if she bought her last set of robes at the Salvation Army store half a century ago. And the kids, instead of being in their school uniforms, are primarily running around in sloppy Muggle-style clothes — a costume change which diminishes the line between the Magical world and the Muggle world.
Next, consider the Dementors. In the book, these beings are horrifying fiends who palpably suck the happiness and light from all around them. In the movie, they are reduced to Hallowe’en caricatures, vaguely reminiscent of the ghosts we used to hang in trees to spook the kiddies. Not scary at all. In fact, they were somewhat risible. The mummy in The Mummy was scarier.
Finally, the movie’s structure. There are frequent interludes, presumably to indicate the passage of time, in which Dementors drift across the screen and obscure the scenery. From a viewer’s perspective, these elements are pointless and distracting. They disrupt what little continuity the movie might have had. The scenes do not intertwine smoothly, but jump from incident to incident — it’s rather like flipping through a photograph album rather than watching a movie. This jumpiness interferes with the continuity of the story, and causes a great deal of crucial information and connective material to be omitted. Key questions are left unanswered while the movie dwells on relatively unimportant information.
In sum, the third Harry Potter movie is inferior to the first two, despite the advances made in film-making technology and the more intriguing story-line of the book on which the movie was based, and despite the increasing maturity and ability of the principal actors and actresses.