Today I was listening to the daily podcast with Simon Mayo, and Julie Walters was on (well, she was really on yesterday, but I didn’t get around to listening to it then). I have long been a huge fan of Mrs Walters, ever since I saw Calendar Girls and Billy Elliot. She’s an absolute darling and so sweet! She was great in the recent Mamma Mia too, and plays the wonderful Mrs Weasley, everyone’s favorite movie-mom, in all the Harry Potter movies.

Well, while I was in the shower (yeah, really) I started to think of all the actors and actresses in HP and my opinions of them. So here, here is some of the things I think.

Daniel Radcliffe, while he might be a fab actor, is not Harry. He never was for me. He tries, and doesn’t quite get it. Emma Watson was Hermione, for the first move, maybe the second as well. But from then on, she’s just not Hermione enough for me. Then the hair is very annoying, you know, the blondish perfectness. I ABSOLUTELY love Emma, don’t get me wrong, she was great in Ballet Shoes, but she’s not Hermione. Rupert does a okay job as Ron, he really does. Could be better, but he is more his character than the other two.

Then there’s Albus Dumbledore. Now, for me, it will always be Richard Harris. He was perfect, the essence of Albus. So I’m sorry Mr Gambon, while you might do an okay job (though you did screw it up majorly in GoF… sorry, but you really did), you can’t replace the late Harris. I know he died, and I know we can’t really go through the movies without a Dumbledore, but you’re just not it, and never will be. Maggie Smith’s McGonagall I am positively thrilled with. Great job! Alan Rickman is Snape, he just is. Then he’s a fab actor too, and I can’t wait to see him do all the stuff in the end of DH.

I had great hopes for Tom Felton, very great hopes, in the first movie. He seemed a perfect Draco (and looked to maybe become very hot too….) unfortunately he grew out if it. Now, he mainly annoys me. Ginny is played by Bonnie Wright, who hasn’t really done a lot in the movies, but be there in the background and maybe say a couple of lines. I’m looking forward to see what they do with her in the future. Matthew Lewis is my perfect Neville, great job there Matt. Gary Oldman did a good job with Sirius, unfortunately we only had him in for a short while and now he (Sirius) is dead. Not quite as happy with David Thewlis as Remus, but we can’t have everything can we? There’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just not my Remus.

A lot of minor character has been cast excellently. Fiona Shaw does Petunia perfectly. Kenneth Branagh does a SPLENDID Lockhart (he is also amazing in “How to kill your neighbour’s dog”, if you haven’t seen it, you really should), John Hurt’s Ollivander is erie, Sean Biggerstaff was great as Oliver Wood (can be mistaken about it, but he sure was cute! And that accent *drool*), Jason Isaacs IS Malfoy Sr. Stanislav Ianevski, though he didn’t say much, was a great Krum, the Phelps twins do the Weasley twins very nicely. Shirley Henderson is hilarious as Moaning Myrtle, Chris Rankin does a perfect Percy and Brendan Gleeson is grumpy enough as Moody.

There are some characters I’m not sure about. Natalia Tena does a questionable Tonks, but she might improve over the next two movies, hopefully someone gives her a slightly better hair color. Moldy purple doesn’t suit her at all. Ralph Fiennes’ Voldy is okay, I guess, since it’s a very hard part. While I LOVE Emma Thompson, I am not quite sure what to think about her Trelawney. I guess she’s batty enough.

Then there are the ones that are AMAZING. Imelda Staunton does a deliciously evil Dolores Umbridge and Miranda Richardson as delicious as Rita Skeeter. And then there’s Evanna Lynch. She is the one person in the movie who it seems like JK Rowling actually met and said “Look, I like you, I think I’m going to put you in my book.” She is Luna, just like that. She doesn’t need to act. Luna Lovegood, just like that. Amazing, just plain amazing.

And that’s it for now. Top Model comes on in like 5 minutes, so I’ve got to log off. I’m such a Potter-nerd.