Anyone reading this journal over the last week know I'd been having a terrible time with Famous Players Theatres planning a Harry Potter movie trip for our Gr. 5 classes. I vowed to never never do it again. You can imagine how horrified I was then, when I found myself wondering halfway through the movie today if we -should- do this for "The Prisoner of Azkaban" next year, maybe organize things a little differently... What was I thinking?? My thought processes were a tribute, though, to the richness of the movie and the professionalism of the Colossus Theatre staff.
For all the hassles that I've gone through to make sure this field trip happened and all the potential disasters I was imagining for today's excursion, things today went smooth as silk. We learned yesterday afternoon the movie was three hours (!), which almost killed the trip again since we'd get out of the 11:30 showing we were booked for at 2:30, way too late to get back to school for 3:00 dismissal. Miraculously, our Vice-Principal, Kathy Mannion, discovered the theatre had an 11:00 show, ending at 2:00, and she was able to arrange to have our tickets transferred to that showing. Whew. The theatre still wasn't promising to seat us together and the kids ended up losing their consession stand lunch, but we were still going and that's all that counted by 3:00 yesterday.
The kids arrived wildly excited today and we bundled them onto a bus at 9:00 and headed off to the theatre. Arrived at 9:45 which was 45 minutes before the doors were opening. We had gone so early anticipating opening day might have a crowd, but there couldn't have been more than half-a-dozen people milling around the doors. We let the kids have a snack on the bus and then took them in small groups to walk around the theatre and the parking lot to stretch their legs. I also got some digital photos which I'm going to add to a Gr. 5 display in our hallway of events the kids are involved in during the year. The theatre doors opened early at 10:15 and we trooped the kids inside.
As they lined up the classes, I went off to do finacial arranging with the theatre manager only to discover we had all paid too much for our tickets. The manager took our school check, quoted us the matinee prices and gave me over a hundred dollars back in refund! Another woman graciously tore all 68 of our tickets so we could get into the theatre with little hassle. By the time I got back to the students with the tickets they were all holding Harry Potter posters, given to them compliments of the theatre. They moved right into their seats and we were settled and ready to watch with twenty minutes to spare. I was astonished and realized where I had made my big mistake in planning this trip. I should -never- have gone through the educational department or the group bookings department, which handled group movie trips for theatres all over Ontario. They didn't keep their promises, they didn't understand our needs and they often would just pass me off to another representative. When I prepare for this trip next year (Lord help me...) I will cut out the middle-man and go straight to the source. I will go directly to the manager of the Colossus Theatre and book the trip with her.
*mild spoiler warnings*
As for the movie itself?? The kids loved it (which was the ultimate pay-off for me) and so did I. I found with the set-up of the first movie, they were able to jump into action and plot more quickly in this movie. The three main kids are still dead-on in their parts as Harry, Ron and Hermione (and watch for the dynamic between Ron and Hermione, it's one of my favorite parts of the movie- there's a scene at the end when the three of them reunite that's just perfect). Prof. Lockhart is just great and Lucius Malfoy is wonderfully evil. I felt a pang watching Richard Harris' Dumbledore, it's hard to escape that this is his last major movie. Also have to say I love Filch- such a Dickensian disturbing character, he's terrific.
This movie is a lot scarier than the last movie. The spiders in the Forbidden Forest are extremely creepy and there's a couple of moments to make you jump, too. The sets are wonderful. There are sweeping shots around and above Hogwarts that are a marvel to see. The Quidditch game is more intense and the special effects are more believable this time out. The Weasleys' home was a total delight.
And for all the Jar Jar Binks warnings, I didn't mind Dobby the House Elf at all. His character worked, the CGI worked. Like Yoda in SW2 he continues to give me faith that by the time we get to Gollum on December 18th he's going to be totally believable. In general all the CGI characters in HP2 are better than in HP1.
*mild spoilers off*
Overall, I found myself surprised that what I consider the weakest of the HP books has become a better movie than the first one. It makes me truly look forward to "Prisoner of Azkaban", which I think is the best of the HP books (bring on Lupin and Black). And it makes me realize that, yeah, I want to share that book and movie experience with a Gr. 5 class next year, too. The awe of the kids today was worth all the hassle I've gone through for the last ten days. And there were times during the movie this morning when I felt ten myself.
For all the hassles that I've gone through to make sure this field trip happened and all the potential disasters I was imagining for today's excursion, things today went smooth as silk. We learned yesterday afternoon the movie was three hours (!), which almost killed the trip again since we'd get out of the 11:30 showing we were booked for at 2:30, way too late to get back to school for 3:00 dismissal. Miraculously, our Vice-Principal, Kathy Mannion, discovered the theatre had an 11:00 show, ending at 2:00, and she was able to arrange to have our tickets transferred to that showing. Whew. The theatre still wasn't promising to seat us together and the kids ended up losing their consession stand lunch, but we were still going and that's all that counted by 3:00 yesterday.
The kids arrived wildly excited today and we bundled them onto a bus at 9:00 and headed off to the theatre. Arrived at 9:45 which was 45 minutes before the doors were opening. We had gone so early anticipating opening day might have a crowd, but there couldn't have been more than half-a-dozen people milling around the doors. We let the kids have a snack on the bus and then took them in small groups to walk around the theatre and the parking lot to stretch their legs. I also got some digital photos which I'm going to add to a Gr. 5 display in our hallway of events the kids are involved in during the year. The theatre doors opened early at 10:15 and we trooped the kids inside.
As they lined up the classes, I went off to do finacial arranging with the theatre manager only to discover we had all paid too much for our tickets. The manager took our school check, quoted us the matinee prices and gave me over a hundred dollars back in refund! Another woman graciously tore all 68 of our tickets so we could get into the theatre with little hassle. By the time I got back to the students with the tickets they were all holding Harry Potter posters, given to them compliments of the theatre. They moved right into their seats and we were settled and ready to watch with twenty minutes to spare. I was astonished and realized where I had made my big mistake in planning this trip. I should -never- have gone through the educational department or the group bookings department, which handled group movie trips for theatres all over Ontario. They didn't keep their promises, they didn't understand our needs and they often would just pass me off to another representative. When I prepare for this trip next year (Lord help me...) I will cut out the middle-man and go straight to the source. I will go directly to the manager of the Colossus Theatre and book the trip with her.
*mild spoiler warnings*
As for the movie itself?? The kids loved it (which was the ultimate pay-off for me) and so did I. I found with the set-up of the first movie, they were able to jump into action and plot more quickly in this movie. The three main kids are still dead-on in their parts as Harry, Ron and Hermione (and watch for the dynamic between Ron and Hermione, it's one of my favorite parts of the movie- there's a scene at the end when the three of them reunite that's just perfect). Prof. Lockhart is just great and Lucius Malfoy is wonderfully evil. I felt a pang watching Richard Harris' Dumbledore, it's hard to escape that this is his last major movie. Also have to say I love Filch- such a Dickensian disturbing character, he's terrific.
This movie is a lot scarier than the last movie. The spiders in the Forbidden Forest are extremely creepy and there's a couple of moments to make you jump, too. The sets are wonderful. There are sweeping shots around and above Hogwarts that are a marvel to see. The Quidditch game is more intense and the special effects are more believable this time out. The Weasleys' home was a total delight.
And for all the Jar Jar Binks warnings, I didn't mind Dobby the House Elf at all. His character worked, the CGI worked. Like Yoda in SW2 he continues to give me faith that by the time we get to Gollum on December 18th he's going to be totally believable. In general all the CGI characters in HP2 are better than in HP1.
*mild spoilers off*
Overall, I found myself surprised that what I consider the weakest of the HP books has become a better movie than the first one. It makes me truly look forward to "Prisoner of Azkaban", which I think is the best of the HP books (bring on Lupin and Black). And it makes me realize that, yeah, I want to share that book and movie experience with a Gr. 5 class next year, too. The awe of the kids today was worth all the hassle I've gone through for the last ten days. And there were times during the movie this morning when I felt ten myself.