ROTTEN TOMATOES: Critical Consensus: "Harry Potter" Is Certified Fresh; "Captivity" Fails To Capture Critics' Hearts Comments

Critical Consensus: "Harry Potter" Is Certified Fresh; "Captivity" Fails To Capture Critics' Hearts

by Tim Ryan | July 12, 2007

Summary

This week at the movies, we've got the latest in the "Harry Potter" series ("Order of the Phoenix," starring Daniel Radcliffe), and a tale of kidnapping and torture ("Captivity," starring Elisha Cuthbert). What do the critics have to say? Back to Article

(1-15 of 15 posts) | Reply

edgeoforever writes:
on Jul 12 2007 06:46 PM

[b]Harry Potter and TOOP is the best in the series![/b]
It boggles the mind to see that the previous installment got such high critical praise - it was a mess, best left forgotten. David Yates proved he knows, understands and loves the book - and preserved their spirit. His storytelling was flawless (not choppy and incomprehensible like Goblet of Fire).

(Reply to this)

TeeHeeBitch writes:
on Jul 12 2007 09:23 PM

This harry potter was more of a mess than the other ones. But it will probably make more sense after the next movie. Am I alone in thinking Prisoner of Azkaban was the best one?

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 01:40 AM

No Prisoner sucked because it was nothing like the book, they ruined that movie. THis was the best second was Goblet of Fire.

(Reply to this)

edgeoforever writes:
on Jul 13 2007 04:43 AM

[b]While the movies are a different medium [/b]
than the book, they are a derivative product - i. e - they are an [b]adaptation[/b]. No one expects everything in the book to be in a movie - but keep the spirit of it!
Only someone who never touched any of the books can give Goblet of Fire any credence at all. they went for flashy images at the expense of story telling, making sense.
The Prisoner of Azkaban - made after one of the best books - was my favorite movie - until The Order of Phoenix. Yates uses some of the Cuaron's visual whimsy and expands on it. The creativity in providing narration (via newspaper headlines, nailed edicts to the wall) was appreciated by this moviegoer. The Order of Phoenix is a very long story - almost impossible to cram in a regular length movie. yet, I feel this movie managed to keep all the relevant stuff - and at least give the fans a nod for the plotlines that couldn't be included (i.e: Percy's betrayal - by having him present at Dumbledore's arrest). There were epic visual scenes here too, but unlike in the previous movie, they were in relevant parts of the story (Dumbledore vs Voldemort fight) rather than random ones.
I am delighted that the producers got rid of what's his name who did Goblet of Fire. He wasn't adapting JK Rowlings book, he was making some silly personal statement about how "adults sometimes let you down" - and had the audacity of making the most formidable wizard in the story appear senile!!! Had he continued, I would have shunned the movies altogether.
P.S. is it still possible to cast Peter O Toole as Dumbledore instead of Gambon? Yates got the best performance out of him, but he still lacks presence and is simply ruining the scenes he is in (love him in other stuff - he is miscast here)

(Reply to this)

Gimy writes:
on Jul 13 2007 05:58 AM

listening to harry potter geeks is worse than comic book nerds and trekkies combined...jesus christ.

Captivity is horror...would you REALLY be SO much more into a horror flick if the critics said they loved it? too gorey, tasteless...nasty is being used to describe the marketing and the movie? dude...sounds good to me. already started off well with casting a hot lead chic. next step...losing that shirt she's wearing...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand AAAACTION! only thing i wanna see anyway is Rescue Dawn(bale is the sh3t), which of course isn't showing yet(if ever) in theaters near me

(Reply to this)

TeeHeeBitch writes:
on Jul 13 2007 08:08 AM

Haha yeah. I don't go so far as to read the books. Harry Potter is a bag o' fag anyways. Gary Oldman is the best part of the movie. Who's with me in saying Transformers will kick the wizard kid's ass in the long run?

(Reply to this)

Wooby writes:
on Jul 13 2007 09:09 AM

[b]One large vanilla shake, please...[/b]
This movie was just like the rest...

Bland by itself. Vapid and very pedestrian unless you've read the books. Then it's basically the perfect companion piece. I find it amusing that these movies would probably garner only modest success (and there certainly wouldn't be 7 of them) if the books didn't exist. Thank god LOTR didn't fall into this funk.

Sheep.

(Reply to this)

adml_shake writes:
on Jul 13 2007 10:16 AM

In reply to this comment (#920007)
[b]You have got to be kidding.[/b]
This was one of the worst adaptations I've seen to date. In a adaptation the "spirit" of the book should have at least been kept. In this mess they seemed to feel the need to rewrite how everyone acted and felt. Where was Harrys out rage at the beginning? Why make harrys girl the bad person when it would have taken all of 3 minutes to put her friend in it? Why water down what the Weasley twins did? Nobody I know of who hasn't read the book yet had a single clue what was going on and why people were doing what they were doing. At least with the other movies, ALL the other movies, you could watch it and still have a general understanding what was going on. However this movie was so screwed up that you would have had to read the book to have any idea what the hell was going on. My hope is that some day in the future these movies are made in CG or something and the writers don't feel the need to butch the book or the over all story so much.

(Reply to this)

dastly75 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 10:16 AM

In reply to this comment (#920010)
*sheep noises*

(Reply to this)

The Witless Wonder writes:
on Jul 13 2007 10:57 AM

Loved the movie and felt it was a pretty faithful adaptation to the book. OOTP is my favorite book and now my favorite of the movies. My friends who did not read any of the books, but have kept up with the movies understood the movie fine. There were a couple parts where they were confused ((PERCY)) but he didn't have a big role in the movie.

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 10:58 AM

In reply to this comment (#920007)
What are you talking about? Goblet of Fire was more like the book than Prisoner. The only people who like that movie are the ones who never read the book.

(Reply to this)

TeeHeeBitch writes:
on Jul 13 2007 02:54 PM

I read the book. And I liked the movie. And no one fucking had a big role in the movie besides Harry. Even the new people were pointless to the plot of the movie. And Ron and Hermoine had like 5 lines each. Its not hard to understand the movie, but, its VERY hard to like it. Maybe when the sixth one comes out, I will look back and say I needed it, but as of right now, it was one of the most pointless installments of any continuing saga...since The Godfather Part III. And seriously, Wooby is right, is it really the right choice to put this story into seven books? Its ridiculous. It always ends up in a fight with Voldemort at the end anyways. It would be like having seven original Star Wars movies and Luke fights Darth Vader everytime. It is getting really repetative and I REALLY hope they kill Harry Potter off the the last book just so it will put an end to my ongoing frustration with the Harry Potter franchise.

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 05:18 PM

Wow teeheebitch, all you just said made you sound like a little *****.

(Reply to this)

Bigbrother writes:
on Jul 16 2007 10:30 AM

In reply to this comment (#920011)
How is making it entirely CG going to improve the movies again? I for one was glad the movie wasn't 5 hours long(what it would have had to have been to incorporate everything). The rest is your opinion and you're entitled to it.

(Reply to this)

Bigbrother writes:
on Jul 16 2007 10:32 AM

In reply to this comment (#920014)
Please stop speaking in such absolutes. It makes you sound retarded. Everybody hasn't agreed on one thing ever in history. Heck there are people who still believe the Earth is flat.

(Reply to this)

Related Links

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Related Articles

Most Discussed

Latest News

Latest Interviews

Latest Features

Sponsored Links