Harry Potter series (movies) down the line- evolution or devolution

Harry Potter movie series down the line- evolution or devolution

Article by zulfi

            When Harry Potter sprung onto the scene of Hollywood in 2001, it was an age when there were a lot of possibilities for VFX movies. VFX was quickly evolving and in fact turning the corner. In fact the whole decade of 1990’s was influential in taking the next step in making movies concerned with graphics. Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park were path-breaking in this genre. The former still looks like a fresh piece of sci-fi movie. Its authentication was mostly relied on its originality and James Cameron’s visionary approach. Same was the case with Jurassic Park. Many such movies resulted in this epoch. Notable offshoots were ‘Independence day’, ‘Anaconda’, ‘Godzilla’, ‘Hollow Man’, ‘Species’ and what not. Kids and elders were especially entranced with this new slew of visual presentation. And when the decade ended and a new one started, there were many such movies in the pipeline. But when I could remember the first promos of ‘Harry Potter: sorcerer’s stone’, there was such a massive surge of interest in the population. That summer was filled up with the talk of this phenomenal movie. And when the books were known to be a great success, the interest doubled. The movie met with instant success in the subcontinent. It was a great summer for kids.

            The movie was considered a technical success and a case of phenomenal storytelling capabilities. It was even considered a strong contender for the academy awards in the technical department. But what it didn’t know was that LOTR was waiting in the corner and it went onto overshadow any past, great VFX movie with not even breaking a sweat. The academy didn’t think twice in voting for its visual feel. But then the magic of Harry Potter was such that Chamber of secrets went onto become a blockbuster in the summer of 2002. Now, here’s where we come to know the power of JK Rowling. No matter what Harry Potter’s competition was, JKR had such a great story in her hand and a wonderful way of telling it. The twists in her stories were just startling and unanticipated. She could easily make you gasp with disbelief at her clever climactic episodes.

It was such a treat for us, the audience, that we were living in an era where the greatest storytellers in modern mythological fiction were pitted against one another, JKR and JRR Tolkien. And added to that two of the best directors handled each of the series, Chris Columbus and lifelong Hobbit fan, Peter Jackson. Talking about the latter genius will only make me go for my point late. He is singularly stellar. On the other hand, Chris Columbus had this great penchant for children’s books and stories. By the way he made his movies, I could easily see that he read the books with the awe of a kid and he reconstructed the movies using that same awe. We could see in sorcerer’s stone, how he goes through with Harry’s first brush with the magic world. Starting from the Diagon Alley, we could share Harry’s wonderment when he sees flying brooms, goblins protecting the banks, three headed dogs, centaurs and a load of other things. This was all because Chris Columbus had an idea of how to impress the young and old alike. It was just the exact calculation of impact his vision would create, which is all he cared. The animated huge pawns on the giant chessboard pulled any head to look at the teaser, which was released in the summer of 2001. The similar path continued in ‘Chamber of secrets’, which was again helmed by Columbus. We could see new characters like Tom Riddle springing from old diaries, giant spiders, flying cars, mammoth dwarving serpents. Because the director knew the purpose of an element called surprise. But the scene changed with ‘prisoner of Azkaban.’

Granted that the third part of the series was a little lukewarm book compared to its predecessors, it was still a very engaging read. Alfonso Cuaron, who came on to the scene had a great vision of the magic world, but the thing which negated for me was the dark feel of the movie. I am not complaining that the dark feel didn’t look good. It was a very thrilling experience, but the biggest demerit, which it carried, was that Harry Potter moved into the dark and eerie genre. There was a lot of humor still left in the boy and his tale. Cuaron probably felt the darker element was needed when he had to explain Dementors. He tried to infuse humor, but it wasn’t on par with the previous two. But being a fan, another trepidation which bothered me (like any fan of Harry Potter) was Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore. Against a genial Richard Harris’s representation, he was a stale and grave Headmaster. These both adjectives didn’t reflect in the book’s former Hogwarts transfiguration professor. Either Cuaron or Gambon lost this thread, wasn’t clear at that time. It was a dread we all lived in, the dread that Gambon won’t be like Dumbledore. And our fears came true in ‘Goblet of Fire’, which by the way derailed the whole franchise out of its original flavor. There was hardly a moment of humor in the movie. Mike Newell, who is credited with ‘Donnie Brasco’, ‘Man in the iron mask’ and the great ‘four weddings and a funeral’ probably didn’t get the spirit of the boy wizard. The dimensions of the three friends had started to change at that time. Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), best humorist of the trio, was left in the dark and when he got the chance to show his work, he was reduced to sulking with his adolescent pangs. Hermione’s (Emma Watson) intelligence was overly done and pitifully it continued till the end of the series. The director left many juicy scenes out, which would have helped in making one of the memorable twists of the whole series. Reading the 4^th book was one of the best experiences I had, but sadly not so while I watched the movie. Adding to the woes, there was a Quidditch world cup with no Quidditch. This putting of Quidditch in the back burner continued till the end of deathly hallows. But again the nagging worry of miscasting of Dumbledore nudged at the back every fan’s brain. Gambon, a very great theater artist and one of the best voices, said in an interview that he never read the books and he just tells the lines JK Rowling had written. The fans started to acclimatize to understand what to expect from him. When he throws himself on harry potter in an utter frustrated fashion during the tri-wizard tournament’s controversial selection of one of the champions, one can understand how true his words really are.

The downhill proceeded with ‘Order of the Phoenix’. David Yates though tried to remain faithful to the book as much as he could, there are some things that he undermined. Quidditch was pushed under the shelves. Humor wasn’t the mainstay. The three friends started becoming less like the characters in the books. My biggest worry was that of Ron, who started to appeal very less. He was detached of his humor and was almost underwritten. Hermione continued to be ‘know it all’ and she was exaggerated in that sense. There was less of a spark between her and Ron. But the fifth was a long book and Yates succeeded to write it well for the screen adaptation, though missing many vital points (Kreacher and proper geography of House of Black). The main concentration of the production team continued to be in VFX, which continued to evolve in the best of fashions. It was however devoid of the spirit, which the fans expected. Half Blood Prince suffered from the same demerits. The scenes of Voldemort’s childhood and his forefathers were given less screen time. The book had such great one-on-one’s of Voldemort and Dumbledore, detours into Voldemort’s past, description of House of Gaunt, which were many of the ones missed. Visually the movie was very appealing. There was even 3D format for the select few earlier minutes of the movie. But characterization wasn’t getting better. Snape continued to be devoid of his important scenes since the last 3 movies. His importance wasn’t shown as was displayed in the books. JKR had even handpicked Rickman for the role along with Robbie Coltrane. There was misplacing of humor in the scene where Snape holds Ron and Harry with their scruffs. The only good thing with HBP was that we had to say goodbye to Gambon’s Dumbledore. At last we had one reason to rein in our lamenting on the decreasing quality of Potter filmography.

‘Deathly Hallows’ in two parts was clearly aimed for better Box Office returns. It had the best visual effects of the series and for the first time remained faithful to the very important scenes. There was rarely anything missing from the book. But how are you gonna repair the damage you had done by not explaining Bill, Fleur, Kreacher, and load of other characters. Daniel Radcliffe, though remained as the lovable Harry Potter since the start of the franchise, the underplaying of Ron and exaggeration of Hermione, continued, which clearly wasn’t with the taste of the fandom. The last three movies of the franchise were more like a dramatic tale of Dickensian sad tragedies rather than that of JKR’s peppy writing. There were many depressing episodes of deathly hallows, which make you want to curse the makers for being so sardonic in their tone. There wasn’t a refreshing chase for the sequence of the line of elder wand. There is no clear cut representation of the owner of all the deathly hallows. There is no much dilatation of the character of Grindelwald. I really feel admiration for Peter Jackson for his not even missing a single detail in the LOTR trilogy as compared to the books. He covers almost many of the things, which JRR Tolkien elaborates regarding middle earth. Sadly that is not the case here. Whatever details were given, they stopped when Columbus went into production rather than continuing with the direction. Harry potter though did a lot of business and was a visual spectacle for people who didn’t read books, for the avid bookworm of JKR’s writings, it was a work half done. Other than the first two parts of the series, the rest didn’t have the magic of the potter world.

David Yates will again be back with ‘fantastic beasts and where to find them’, by Newt Scamander aka JKR. The best thing with this movie would probably that we don’t have any defined source material of Newt’s story to compare. And so, probably will be having fewer reasons to criticize it. However if I ever felt the need for a movie to be remade it would be starting from Goblet of fire till the deathly hallows. Let there be more berth for proper storytelling rather than unnecessary melodrama and only VFX. Probably there is a lot of nay-saying from me, but wasn’t it said, ‘it takes a lot to deal to stand up to your friends’ or here for that matter standing up to something I love.