Friday, December 13, 2002
Thursday
Welcome Back Potter
Overall I thought Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was good, but it didn't knock my socks off like Philosophers Stone did.
On one hand...
The spells are more potent, the creatures look better and parseltongue is very cool. Slug-spewing Ron is apparently causing the kids in Europe to imitate him, which is always good for a laugh.
On the other...
Sure the effects were improved but the story suffered this time around. Yeah yeah here comes the "book better than the movie" part.
Gone was the ever-present annoyance of Colin Creevy (two or three appearances) and Kenneth Branagh's Lockhart was quite full of himself, but the depths of his ineptitude aren't explained until the end of the film. The books exploration of the nature of celebrity through these two characters is brushed over, so the audience doesn't get as much out of Harry's reaction when the rest of the school turns on him.
The quidditch match, while cool, could've been cut back a bit to give more time to another part of the story. Where did Nearly-headless Nick's Death Day party go?
Is it just me or does the cast just need to loosen up? The producers might not have to worry about the main cast aging; they could just be replaced with animatronic versions.
Hopefully the DVD release will have a commentary track explaining why it went for so long, yet felt so rushed.
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