Last Saturday night, I got a sudden phone call from G asking me if I was coming to HP and the DH part 2. Why not, I asked myself. I was not a huge fan of the movie franchise, with its inexplicable deviations from the books, wooden acting by most and the utterly horrible Dumbledore. But the movie was a good way to meet Achu, Papps and BleeJ and hey a movie at 100 bucks in Bangalore, I was game. So I dragged myself there, and sat down to watch the movie, with all the paraphernalia needed for the 3-D effects.
A slight background is needed for this. The first 3-D movie that I saw was My Dear Kuttichathan when I was very small. It was a wonderful experience, with flaming arrows coming at the audience, ice cream which almost seemed to be at touching distance and so on. I remember thoroughly enjoying it and therefore went and saw Chhota Chetan when it released. By then, the kiddish charm was missing and the fun was far less. Then recently I saw How to Train Your Dragon from Chennai and again really enjoyed it, though I suspect that it was more due to the animation factor, the witty dialogues, the splendid Nightfury and the majestic voice of Gerard Butler. And HP was the next in line.
A review of the movie is quite redundant methinks. Except for a few who managed to live in a well for the last few years, everyone knows the story of the boy wonder who is fighting an evil wizard. And I had very little expectations about the movie. I expected Harry to act as badly, Ron to look as stupid and Hermione to look as gorgeous respectively as they usually do. I knew that the story will be good and expected a few deviations here and there. And yes, my My Dear Kuttichathan memories wanted me to dodge a few Avada Kedavras as they flew thick and fast out of the screen. I wanted to become the next Boy Who Lived. But I just became the Boy Who Got Disappointed. Not a single spell came out. Not even a teensy Expelliarmus, Harry’s wonder solution to all evils. I consoled myself saying that maybe I can dodge a few Death Eaters or maybe have Hermione within touching distance. But no. Nothing doing. The only thing that I got from the movie was a splitting headache. The movie was surprisingly good. And the few deviations there were were not as bad as before. But I am flummoxed by the decision to make it 3-D.
I wonder why it was made in 3-D. Yes, there was the depth effect but Hollywood has survived close to a century or maybe more without that. There is the moving with the times thing and yes there is the money thing. My knowledge of the technicalities of cinema like the screenplay, camerawork, and such is quite limited. Show me a movie with a decent story, camera not shaking too much and decent actors and I am happy. I am not the one to judge the shadow effects or the amount of detail. The absolute layman that I am, can someone please tell me what is so special about 3-D. I mean what is the target audience, what is needed to appreciate a 3-D movie and such. I for one feel that this movie would have been much better without the 3-D effect. Till I understand that no more 3-D movies for me.
Who Am I Kidding 