First day of school: was feeling vaguely tired, but did not fall asleep at all during any of the lessons, which is something to be glad about. ^^;;

And before it all goes utterly out-of-date, shall have my little rant about Harry Potter PoA, which I have long since promised...

1. Was quite disappointed with the choice of a few characters... felt that Lupin did not seem very right. I had thought that, with him being a werewolf he should be more of the pale, lanky sort of guy. Found the guy they got for the role a bit... unexpected. ~_^

Also, the part where he covered for Harry in the case of the Marauding Map was slightly unexpected too. I didn't really think Lupin would be one to yell at Harry. I had imagined that scene to be just Lupin speaking to Harry, which inflicted much more a sense of guilt in Harry than yelling would have.

2. Oh... was slightly disappointed with Sirius ^^;; Yes, I expected him to be kind of shaggy and all that because of his experience in Azkaban, but underneath the long mane and all that was a somewhat handsome, or "had-been-handsome" man. Did not find the movie Sirius very good looking, thus was mildly upset. Also, felt that Sirius in the movie was being a bit too much of a lunatic, and his spirit and all that was not quite shown. Maybe I'm a bit influenced by the later books.

3. It was sad that the friendship linked to the map was quite undermentioned. The "Moony Padfoot Wormtail Prongs" thing was totally ignored and left unexplained. This made certain other parts a little strange -- why did Lupin know all about the map while Snape didn't? [the brief "area of expertise" seemed quite lame]

Also, without prior understanding of the relationship between Sirius and James, Harry ended up seeming very gullible. In the shrieking shack scene, Harry, after having been firmly convinced for quite a long time that Sirius wanted to kill him [all the crying and "I'll kill him!"], speedily believed Sirius that Pettigrew was the one who betrayed his parents. He took so little persuasion that I found it slightly weird.

4. Harry was slightly angsty for my taste. Crying and all that... Haha maybe I'm a little biased against angstiness but ah well, that's what I think.

And now for the good things!

1. I thought the time travelling part was very well explained. The repetition of events [going through the whole Buckbeak and werewolf in the time travel] may have seemed draggy to some but I found it made sense. Every little detail -- from the black stones, the chopping of the *pumpkin* to the werewolf call, and of course, Harry-whom-Harry-thought-was-James -- was accounted for. Of course, there was the problem of "if you have already done it, you don't need to re-do it", because technically when Hermione was crying onto Ron/Harry, Buckbeak had already escaped; yet if you don't go back in time to "re-do" it, it wouldn't have been done. But this problem had previously existed in the book for the dementors bit... so overall I found the time travelling part a good blend of predestination and reality. *thumbs up*

Basically it was quite a good watch, although the movie was a little rushed in the beginning, touching on a lot but lacking a bit of a build up. Trelawney's real prediction and the stag shaped patronus were utterly left for the audience to comprehend on their own, and sending the Firebolt after the whole Sirius issue was quite... not as nice as before everything... otherwise... yes the movie was very nice ^^ it's just my itty bit of fussiness here and there... oh, wish Malfoy had more scenes, there was very little about him and Harry, a bit too little, to account for Hermione slapping him so hard... ~_^ Looking forward for the sixth book and fourth movie!!!