Potter: Film is flawed by childish acting
Continued from page 5
Hogwarts, has been chosen to host the
Triwizard tournament a competition in
which one champion from three wizard
schools competes in a series of wiz
arding tasks. Because of an unexpect
ed magical mishap, Harry becomes a
fourth competitor in the tournament
This turn of events leads to jealousy,
confusion and even fearforthe young
wizard's life.
The plot involving Harry's trials and
tribulations within the tournament is
crafted alongside the overarching plot
of the series: The Dark Lord Voldemort,
murderer of Harry's parents and myriad
other wizards, is slowly regaining pow
er. Because Harry is the only person to
have ever survived an attack against
Voldemort—Voldemort almost died
while trying to kill infant Harry—all
fearthatthe Dark Lord will again come
after "the boy who lived."
Even before the opening credits
begin to roll, the dark lighting and
scary imagery let the audience know
that this tale of a boy wizard will not
be for the faint of heart. The book
might have been written for children,
but the movie is targeted to an older,
broaderaudience.
Although "Harry Potter" is getting
more mature in terms of theme and
content, there is one aspect of the film
which is clearly childish: The acting.
The unfortunate truth is that Daniel
Radcliffe (portraying Harry Potter) and
Emma Watson (portraying Hermione
Granger) are not good actors, at least
in this film.
Radcliffe spends the majority of the
film gritting his teeth, breathing heavily
and looking off to the side in angst The
hardest part a bout this film is trying to
ignore Harry's one-dimensional, some
what-off nature. It also doesn't help
that Radcliffe, when not speaking, is
usually standing perfectly still, with his
arms hanging, fists slightly clenched, at
his side. The movements and body of
the character just look awkward at
these moments; you feel like you're
watching actors rehearsing lines on a
stage before the director has given
them guidance.
It should be noted that Watson may
very well be a terrific actress suffering
from the influence of bad lines and ap
parently bad direction. In the books,
Hermione is as smart as they come and
a slight show-off, someone who likes to
give advice and make her opinion
heard. In this film, however, Hermione
takes on the role of weepy cheer
leader. She rah-rahs Harry throughout
the film and is given a lot of one-liner,
"Come on Harry, we're going to be
late," kind of dialogue. Watson often
looks as though she is moments away
from bursting into tears. As a result, the
story suffers a lack of intellectual, com
ic energy, which the novel so well in
duced through Hermione.
The nice thing about sub-par child
actors isthattheirflaws are easy
enough to overlook in context with
the fact that no one really expects
dynamic child characters anyway.
Radcliffe and Watson's shortcom
ings are not so extreme thatthe
movie is rendered completely
unenjoyable. Indeed, the fourth in
stallment of the series had many pos
itive traits, the first of which is that
director Mike Newell's interpretation
of the Triwizard camping grounds
looks like a scene taken from the
Oregon Country Fair.
The fourth movie finds the bulk of its
cinematic strength in the fact that it is a
nice stylistic balance of the first two
movies and the third. In movies one and
two, Christopher Columbus worked al
most too hard to include every detail
from the book; in the third movie, audi
ences complained that Alfonso Cuaron
strayed far away from the plot while
adding his artistic touch (though I
would still personally contend that this
was an apt directorial decision).
Newell, however, smoothly lays out the
key action of the book, while still main
taining an artistic and entertaining film.
Adapting a book onto the big screen
is never an easy task, especially when
said book spans more than 700 pages.
Newell does a fabulous job of staying
close to the original storyline while
avoiding an overload of semi-important
subplots. It was only after leaving the
theaterthat I realized Newell had di
verted from the custom of beginning
every Harry Potter film the way the
books begin: At the home of Harry's
muggle (non-wizard) aunt and uncle.
All in all, "Harry Potter and the Gob
let of Fire" is a good adaptation.
Though it lacks some subtle humor
and rounded, lovable characters eas
ily found in Rowling's novel, the film
does exactly what any good adapta
tion should: It sticks to the plot and is
entertaining whether you've read the
books or not.
aslater@dailyemerald.com
Lichty: Asians lack recognition in media
Continued from page 5
"Even though to me, a Japanese
schoolgirl uniform is kind of like
blackface, I am just in acceptance
over it, because something is better
than nothing," Cho wrote. "An ugly
picture is betterthan a blank space,
and it means that one day, we will
have another display atthe Museum
of Asian Invisibility that groups of chil
dren will crowd around in disbelief,
because once upon a time, we
weren’t there."
Asian-Americans are the third
largest minority in the United States be
hind Hispanics and African-Ameri
cans. There are Asian influences
everywhere in this country, from Tai Chi
to feng shui to the sushi bar down the
street But when it comes to Asian
Americans actually being noticed,
that's anotherthing entirely.
In 2000, the nation's largesttoy mak
er, Mattel, came out with "President
Barbie." This iconic figure stood as a
role model to little girls everywhere
who wanted to rule the most powerful
country in the world. Except for little
Asian girls.
There was an African-American
President Barbie, an Hispanic Presi
dent Barbie and of course the natu
ral blond President Barbie, all in pro
fessional pantsuits ready to declare
war, sign treaties or have the vice
president overfora cupoftea inthe
Oval Office. But Mattel somehow
overlooked the Asian-American
President Barbie, who must have
lost in the primaries. Maybe she
wasn't even nominated.
This obvious snub outraged the
Asian-American community, members
of which demanded to know why Asian
girls couldn't play with a doll that
looked like them and held the most
powerful position inthe United States.
"That particular community has not
expressed interest in a doll that reflects
their ethnicity," Mattel spokeswoman,
Julia Jensen told The Boston Globe in
May 2000.
Pardon me while I punch you in the
face, Ms. Jensen.
Growing up, I longed for dolls that
looked like me. My baby dolls were al
ways "adopted" because I putto
gether that there was no way some
blond baby could have any scrap of
my DNA whatsoever. But, unsurpris
ingly, there were no Asian dolls for me
to buy because toy companies like
Mattel had already made the decision
that I really didn't want one anyway.
What a load of crap.
For all of the Lucy Lius out there,
there will be three Jessica Simpsons
— talentless blondes with big boobs
and a southern twang. But hey,
isn'tthat what Americans really
want anyway?
Now please excuse me while I fade
into the background.
amylichty@dailyemerald.com
GameTap: A wide array of games is available
Continued from page 6
meaning players should be able to surf
the Web while GameTap downloads a
large game.
GameTap has a lot of potential; it is
an interesting and effective take on
syndication and distribution.
Nintendo has announced that its up
coming console, currently dubbed
Revolution, will offer a similar service
that will provide access to on-de
mand Nintendo classics. If GameTap
keeps growing, it will be an invaluable
service forthe casual or hard-core
gamer who wants to take a trip down
gaming's memory lane.
amccollum@dailyemerald.com
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