Harry Potter 5: the movie

I know, I know...more Harry Potter??? yes, more Harry Potter.

My son asked if he could have a date with his babysitter (he doesn't understand the whole concept-- he just wanted to spend time playing with Carly), so my husband and I obliged by going on a date to (finally) see the fifth Harry Potter movie.

I must say my enjoyment of the movies would vastly improve if they were able to bring the first Dumbledore actor back from the dead. As this is impossible, would it be too much to ask that the current actor not wear pajamas and a bizarre beard tassle with a flat nightcap??? Kevin and I spent a portion of the movie bellyaching about how wrong Dumbledore's portrayal was. Another portion of the movie was spent watching the girls in the row next to us. They had not read the books and were gasping and shrieking at any appearance of Voldemort (who is just not very scary to me compared to my mental image when I read the book).

While writing this, it has occured to me that most of my HP thoughts are directly impacted by the first HP movie. I love the Dumbledore in that movie. The Voldemort that comes out of Quirrell's head is also how I picture Voldemort most of the time. Creepy. Flat-faced. Red-eyed. Somehow when an actual man is playing him all I can think is, "Wow. Being bald and pale really makes Ralph Fiennes' ears stick out. I can't believe this is the man who looks so good in The Avengers. Is it just me or does Harry look unbelievably short when next to Ron and Hermione?" See, these are not thoughts that occur to me when I read the book. Ah, but you don't want to read a post on how the movie never lives up to my mental image of the book, do you?

Long story short on the movie: cool fight scene at the end, Luna was fantastic!, Fred and George's moment could've been bigger, I miss Quiddich and Ron's big moment, Umbridge stole every scene she was in (some could've been shortened or eliminated to make room for some non-villainous character). All in all it was okay.

Oh, I just remembered something important to me about book 5. My favorite moment in the whole darn book (and it's a pretty long book) is when Dumbledore does his disappearing act from his office and Phineas Nigellus says something like, "Say what you will about Dumbledore, the man's got style" in his highly sarcastic Snapish voice (as I hear it anyway). This wonderful moment was ruined by having Kingsley Shacklebolt say it instead...a Kingsley who was horribly mis-cast. I've always pictured Kingsley to look like Samuel L. Jackson as Windoo from Star Wars. He's supposed to be cool, not remind me of my World Lit prof (Dr. Kashama).