The Midnight Train Crossing

Random thoughts about the movie, which I just saw. This contains SPOILERS and I shall be doing a lot of comparing book to movie. So if you're reading I hope that you've at least read the book, cuz I'm not gonna try to hide any of the plot.

I'm not going to look up the actors names because I can't be bothered to :) Overall, I liked the movie. The book series gets progressively darker, and I think that the movies are doing a good job of doing the same.
I liked the cinematography, there was a lot of smoke and shadows throughout most of the movie. It seemed like it was perpetually gloomy or night time.

The kids are getting older though. It's hard to remember that they're fourteen. They all look older. (Yes I know that they are). Still, I'd think that it would look odd if they recast it. After all, the actors that play Harry, Ron and Hermione have definitely taken over the characters.
I know that the changing of Dumbledore actors can't really be helped, but honestly, I've never really liked how they portrayed Dumbledore in the movies. He just doesn't fit how I saw Dumbledore in the fourth book. He's a little more... aggressive I guess.

Draco Malfoy, who's always been brilliant played, didn't have a huge role in this movie. He did have a good entrance though, perched in a tree. And his claim to fame? He got turned into a ferret by Mad-Eye, for attempting to curse Harry. Otherwise he skulked (Isn't that an awesome word?) around, occasionally taunting Harry as he walked past.

And, as usual, the twins, Fred and George stole the show. They had quite a few excellent lines. One of the best was when Professor McGonagol was giving directions about the Yule Ball, and trying to teach everyone how to dance. She said something... I can't remember quite what it was but it was quite a tounge twister, and all the worlds began with B... I know "bumbling baboons" was part of it.
One of them looked to the other and said "Say that five times fast." And then, they proceeded to DO it. It was great.
And of course, before each event, they were right there taking bets.
I didn't notice this til I re-skimmed the book to look something up, but they didn't refer to their joke shop at all, and they didn't pull any pranks.

Ron and Harry get into a fight about the tournament, and refuse to talk to each other. This leads to an amusing scene, where Ron sends Hermione over to Harry to say that "Dean said that Shamus said that Pavaritti said that Hagrid said..."
To which Harry replies, "What?" Logically. :)
That was pretty amusing.

The first task, with the dragons, was pretty awesome. Dragons are important to me, and they didn't disappoint. Usually I don't think of dragons as vicious animals, but I didn't mind it so much, because it was so well done. They only showed the full sized Horntail though, I would have liked to see at least just a little glimpse of the others, other then the little ones that the people drew out.

Along the line of cool effects, the arrival of the students from Beuxbottom (Or whatever) was way spiffy, with the flying horses pulling the carriage.

I'm kinda picky about my flying creatures, because I love wings. I'm pleased to report that both the winged horses and the dragons passed my approval.

Obviously, since Harry Potter 4 is a pretty long book, they had to cut things out. There were two main things that I noticed were missing. (Other stuff too I'm sure, but the other things I thought of I thought of after skimming the book quickly). Don't get me wrong, it didn't spoil the movie for me at all, but I'm one of those people that enjoys nitpicking.

For one, there were no house elves at all. So, they skipped the whole thing with Winky, the Crouch's house elf, and all the plot exposition that goes there. Dobby didn't put in an appearance either. They had Neville give Harry the Gillyweed. It didn't come out of nowhere, because I think that somebody said that they were trying to get Neville to give the hint. I suppose I should look it up in the book :)
Likewise, since there were no house elves, they skipped the whole S.P.E.W. plotline.
I suppose that since they did have to cut something, I should understand why they cut that. It doesn't have *that* much to do with the tournament.

The other thing that was missing was the Rita Skeeter bit. She was there, and they started it. She did interview Harry, and got things pretty well wrong. She also invented the romance between Harry and Hermione, but then she kinda faded out. They skipped the beetle thing. That was sad, because I loved the pun on "bugging".

It one way though, it was a bit sad to know the ending, especially because Cedric Diggory was rather cute. And, I'll admit it, I got a little teary when he died, especially when he came back and told Harry to take his body back. And then, Cedric's father was there when they came out of the maze...
It was sad. I knew it was coming, but it was still sad.

Harry discovered the secret of the egg in the bathroom, accompanied by Moaning Myrtle. That... was interesting, and a little creepy. She was definitely attempting to cozy up to Harry. Even if she is dead, she still shouldn't be doing that.

I already mentioned the funny bit when McGonagal was telling them about the Yule Ball. This led to other funny scenes, particularly in study hall. One of the twins (sorry can't tell them apart) asked out a girl to the dance, by means of throwing a paper ball at her and whispering "Oy Angelina - want to go to the dance with me?"
However, Harry and Ron aren't nearly as lucky to get away with talking, for Professor Snape was trying to keep them quiet, by means of smacking them in the back of the head. It was pretty funny. Funnier to see then to read about, especially the way I wrote it.

The Yule ball was pretty cool, to see all of them dressed up. The twins that Ron and Harry go with, the Pavil sisters, look way pretty in what I think are Saris. Still, they looked very pretty and I felt bad for them, what with Ron and Harry sulking about.
Hermione cleans up pretty.

I'm sure that there's lots more that I could write about, but I don't want to describe the whole entire movie - especially since I don't usually do movie reviews.