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Watching the same movie twice in one day can be fun.
A mixed bag, kids. I'm gonna keep this to bullet points, divided by the Good and the Bad, because I'm dangerously close to discussing this to death with everyone I can get my claws into already.
The Bad first, so as to end on a high note
* And so I can express immediately the thing I will be harping on in conversation for a while: Hate Movie!Lupin. HATE. I'm not sure if it's because of the sloppy, rushed screenplay (more on that next), or Thewlis's acting, of Cuaron's directing, or a combination, but Movie!Lupin is, well, awful. Rikki put it best when she said that he reminded her of Gilderoy. That was exactly it. Rather than showing warmth, compassion, understanding, and concern for his students' emotional well-being, he came off as pompous, abrasive, and uninterested in much of anything other than getting alone time with Harry in the woods. (Which was not only icky, but unmoving, because there was just no connection between the two. I don't know if it was the aforementioned sloppy screenplay or a lack of actor chemistry or what, but there just wasn't anything there.) He's useless and unpleasant, and was such a bitter disappointment - especially after such a flawless track record for HP casting - that it'll be a while before I get over it. And I never even cared about Lupin all that much.
* The screenplay was just a mess. By now I of course understand the need to cut tons of things so that the movie is not a squillion hours long, so this is not about me complaining that my favourite bits were missing. (Except to say that I wish they'd kept Sirius breaking into the Gryffindor common room. There, that's all.) Cutting for time is all well and good. Cutting things that make the story make sense is not. When Rikki and I were discussing the movie after our first viewing, we realized that so many things were missing that anyone who had never read the book would be hopelessly confused. Here are a few examples of things that we as rabid fans know, but that the movie never explained, thus tearing many holes in itself: How did Sirius know where to find Pettigrew? Why was Harry's Patronus a stag? Why did Pettigrew and Sirius become Animagi? What does James have to do with anything? Exactly how did Sirius escape from Azkaban (this question is asked, but never answered)? And that's all off the top of my head, regarding just one subject. The movie is easy enough to follow for us because we can fill in the holes with our knowledge of the books, but that doesn't excuse the irresponsibly slapdash, confusing screenplay.
* And on the Marauders' Map? Yeah, they misspelled Moony. No, let me repeat that for you, so it can sink in: THEY MISSPELLED MOONY. I don't even wanna know how this happened. Sure, it seems like a tiny detail after that last two, but, dude, come on. Again with the sloppy.
The Good, because three bad bullets is enough, thanks
* Two words: New direction. I was mostly excited for this movie because I wanted to see how it would look with a new director. Columbus did, y'know, a decent job and all, but damn if his two movies aren't pretty uniformly bland. With unnecessarily long action sequences. They just sort of lie there on your screen. But Alfonso Cuaron gave PoA life. This movie has energy and sparkle and is fun to watch as a movie, as opposed to just as a Harry Potter movie. This is another reason why the screenplay doesn't bug like it could; Cuaron isn't afraid to take things in new directions and add in sweet little details and give it a verve that distracts from the poorly done screenplay like nothing else could.
* The hideousness of Movie!Lupin is damn near made up for by Gary Oldman. I now understand the meaning over the phrase "chewing the scenery," but I mean that in a good way. Oldman's, uh, enthusiasm is exactly right for unbalanced Sirius. I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of him. (I especially enjoyed the bit where he fondled Harry whilst blissfully comparing him to James. Make that unbalanced and confused.)
* Buckbeak. I am so, so glad I never saw footage of any kind of Buckbeak, in a trailer or anything else, because that would have spoiled everything. When he first appeared, I was stunned. He is so beautiful. The Care of Magical Creatures scene is my favourite just because he's there. He's stunningly designed and his movements are very convincing and the overall grace and it just blew my mind. There are no words to capture it accurately.
* Loads of little character moments and casual little details. My very favourite: Ron's tap dancing spider dream, and Harry's advice. The dialogue and delivery are just too funny. And so damn cute.
* The kids' acting gets better with each movie. In this one, Daniel Radcliffe's emoting was clearer; Emma Watson had a stronger presence; Rupert Grint's comedic acting was much more subtle; and Tom Felton's days of dramaqueen!Draco overacting appear to be over. Okay, yeah, I'll miss dramaqueen!Draco, but I much prefer the lower key performance.
* I've been wondering for the past year and a half if the Sirius/Remus vibes would be as strong in the movie as they are in the book. The answer: An unqualified yes. Even more so, actually, 'cos you can see it as it happens. Also, they set it up to look for all the world like the boys are making out offscreen as they hug.
Not that there isn't tons more - there is - but that's the stuff that stuck out the most for me.
A mixed bag, kids. I'm gonna keep this to bullet points, divided by the Good and the Bad, because I'm dangerously close to discussing this to death with everyone I can get my claws into already.
The Bad first, so as to end on a high note
* And so I can express immediately the thing I will be harping on in conversation for a while: Hate Movie!Lupin. HATE. I'm not sure if it's because of the sloppy, rushed screenplay (more on that next), or Thewlis's acting, of Cuaron's directing, or a combination, but Movie!Lupin is, well, awful. Rikki put it best when she said that he reminded her of Gilderoy. That was exactly it. Rather than showing warmth, compassion, understanding, and concern for his students' emotional well-being, he came off as pompous, abrasive, and uninterested in much of anything other than getting alone time with Harry in the woods. (Which was not only icky, but unmoving, because there was just no connection between the two. I don't know if it was the aforementioned sloppy screenplay or a lack of actor chemistry or what, but there just wasn't anything there.) He's useless and unpleasant, and was such a bitter disappointment - especially after such a flawless track record for HP casting - that it'll be a while before I get over it. And I never even cared about Lupin all that much.
* The screenplay was just a mess. By now I of course understand the need to cut tons of things so that the movie is not a squillion hours long, so this is not about me complaining that my favourite bits were missing. (Except to say that I wish they'd kept Sirius breaking into the Gryffindor common room. There, that's all.) Cutting for time is all well and good. Cutting things that make the story make sense is not. When Rikki and I were discussing the movie after our first viewing, we realized that so many things were missing that anyone who had never read the book would be hopelessly confused. Here are a few examples of things that we as rabid fans know, but that the movie never explained, thus tearing many holes in itself: How did Sirius know where to find Pettigrew? Why was Harry's Patronus a stag? Why did Pettigrew and Sirius become Animagi? What does James have to do with anything? Exactly how did Sirius escape from Azkaban (this question is asked, but never answered)? And that's all off the top of my head, regarding just one subject. The movie is easy enough to follow for us because we can fill in the holes with our knowledge of the books, but that doesn't excuse the irresponsibly slapdash, confusing screenplay.
* And on the Marauders' Map? Yeah, they misspelled Moony. No, let me repeat that for you, so it can sink in: THEY MISSPELLED MOONY. I don't even wanna know how this happened. Sure, it seems like a tiny detail after that last two, but, dude, come on. Again with the sloppy.
The Good, because three bad bullets is enough, thanks
* Two words: New direction. I was mostly excited for this movie because I wanted to see how it would look with a new director. Columbus did, y'know, a decent job and all, but damn if his two movies aren't pretty uniformly bland. With unnecessarily long action sequences. They just sort of lie there on your screen. But Alfonso Cuaron gave PoA life. This movie has energy and sparkle and is fun to watch as a movie, as opposed to just as a Harry Potter movie. This is another reason why the screenplay doesn't bug like it could; Cuaron isn't afraid to take things in new directions and add in sweet little details and give it a verve that distracts from the poorly done screenplay like nothing else could.
* The hideousness of Movie!Lupin is damn near made up for by Gary Oldman. I now understand the meaning over the phrase "chewing the scenery," but I mean that in a good way. Oldman's, uh, enthusiasm is exactly right for unbalanced Sirius. I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of him. (I especially enjoyed the bit where he fondled Harry whilst blissfully comparing him to James. Make that unbalanced and confused.)
* Buckbeak. I am so, so glad I never saw footage of any kind of Buckbeak, in a trailer or anything else, because that would have spoiled everything. When he first appeared, I was stunned. He is so beautiful. The Care of Magical Creatures scene is my favourite just because he's there. He's stunningly designed and his movements are very convincing and the overall grace and it just blew my mind. There are no words to capture it accurately.
* Loads of little character moments and casual little details. My very favourite: Ron's tap dancing spider dream, and Harry's advice. The dialogue and delivery are just too funny. And so damn cute.
* The kids' acting gets better with each movie. In this one, Daniel Radcliffe's emoting was clearer; Emma Watson had a stronger presence; Rupert Grint's comedic acting was much more subtle; and Tom Felton's days of dramaqueen!Draco overacting appear to be over. Okay, yeah, I'll miss dramaqueen!Draco, but I much prefer the lower key performance.
* I've been wondering for the past year and a half if the Sirius/Remus vibes would be as strong in the movie as they are in the book. The answer: An unqualified yes. Even more so, actually, 'cos you can see it as it happens. Also, they set it up to look for all the world like the boys are making out offscreen as they hug.
Not that there isn't tons more - there is - but that's the stuff that stuck out the most for me.