"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" opened in Brazil on Friday. Belém has five movie theaters with a total of fifteen screens, and the film is playing at four of the theaters on eight screens. I saw the movie this afternoon. I made the trek via bus from my apartment in sort-of-central Belém to the Castanheira Shopping Mall on the (one) highway heading out of the city because the best theater and only one with stadium seating and decent sound, Moviecom, is located there. I usually go to the theater in my neighborhood or the one downtown since they are much closer and I can walk.
I had hoped to see the 5 PM show, but that sold out before I arrived and the 6:30 PM show sold out while I was waiting in line. I was not about to kill 4 hours in the crappy mall waiting for the 8:30 PM show, so I sacrificed my high cinematic standards and walked across the food plaza to the other movie theater chain and saw the 5 PM show. The sound and seats were fine, in case you were worried. The person sitting next to me answered his cell phone twice during the screening. The movie was good, too, although I think I liked the earlier installments better. And of course, the book is better.
Most movies here are shown in the original language with Portuguese subtitles. Some movies, particularly those aimed at children, are dubbed. Those with cross-generational appeal like "Harry Potter" can usually be seen either dubbed or with subtitles.
Going to a movie in Belém is extremely cheap by U.S. standards. I use my student ID card and get a meia, or half admission. Today I paid R$5 to see the movie, which is a little more than US$2. I also bought a Diet Coke for R$2.50, which was a nice contrast the the $4 bottles of water sold in U.S. theaters. Each theater usually has a discount day during the week where I can see a movie for R$3 with the meia.
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3 comments:
So tell me: Did you get a dubbed version or a subtitled one? And what do the voices sound like?
When I had cable (ah, the glory days) I liked watching the Iron Chef and hearing the food critics--and wanted to know if that's what they really said.
J and I also thought the books were a lot better--and that the movie jilled all the interesting sideplots. Still, what are you going to do--make two movies out of it?
Subtitled. I'm a purist. Dubbed versions sound like bad telenovelas.
I also wondered about the sideplots, but the book was 800 pages...
John is right, definitely stay away from anything dubbed in Brazil. Even more so if it is dubbed comedy. That can be disasterous.
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