Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets SPOILERS

Cafe Society
1

Wow. Wow. Wow. Much better than the first one…the pace was faster, didn’t get bogged down, and the child actors seemed more comfortable in their roles, less stiff than TSS.

I liked TSS, but I liked COS better. It followed the book very well. There was no Death Day Party, but as I explained to my kids, although in the book the Death Day Party was a nice insight into life at Hogwarts, it didn’t further the story, so they could leave it out.

Very long movie, though. Almost three hours, but they did justice to the book so I won’t complain.

The spiders didn’t bother me, but Ron vomiting huge slugs did. Gross. Poor Ron…he was quite the comic relief, but the actor did a great job.

The theatre was packed, and the audience enjoyed the movie. There were claps and cheers when Dobby blasted Lucius Malfoy.

I felt pity and impatience with Dobby…just what I was supposed to feel, I think.

My ten year old daughter had her face buried in my lap during the fight with the basilik. It was a very good scene, but it might be too scary for younger kids.

I was reminded again of how good a writer JK Rowling is. Everything, from Ron’s broken wand to replanting mandrakes, was tied up very nicely at the end.

The movie was not dedicated to Richard Harris. I’m wondering if they didn’t have a chance to re-edit that? Harris is frailer in this movie, you can tell by his voice, it’s softer and weaker. Still, he gets a couple of good digs in and does very well for a farewell performance.

Four stars.

2

I saw it last night - I thought it did an excellent job of following the book, and I didn’t even miss the death day party.

I wish there had been more scenes with Lockhart, although I don’t know how much it would have added, or a little more interaction with Ginny.

The slugs scene about got me - I actually had to cover my eyes before I started gagging. The spiders also got me, but I have a deep and abiding hatred of spiders.

Moaning Myrtle? Delightful character. And Fawkes…well, not how I ever pictured a phoenix, but still well done.

I definitely enjoyed it - In theory, I’d see it again to find what I missed.

3

When reading the books I pictured Eric Idle and Jennifer Saunders (“Edina” from AB-FAB) as the Weasleys, so I couldn’t quite get over the ones who were cast. I LOVED Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, though- he’s the most suave and dastardly movie villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter.
Was it just me, or could you tell that Richard Harris was sick throughout?

I’d love to see Martin Short get the role of Lupin in the next movie, with perhaps Daniel Day Lewis as Sirius.

BTW- There is a 30 second or so final blip at the end of the credits. If somebody would tell me how to write a black covered SPOILER, I’ll give it (of course, you’re probably credits watches yourselves so it’d be redundant).

4

Actually, I missed the blurb so someone explain the spoiler code so I can know!

5

SPOILER
SPOILER
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SPOILER
If you wait through the credits (which last for about 2 hours of John Williams music playing to “third assistant to the best boy of the second unit key grip” listings), there is a very brief scene in Diagon Alley. In it
SPOILER

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SPOILER
The window of the book shop has a book with a moving photo of Branagh in a straight jacket. The title of the book is “Who Am I?” by Gilderoy Lockhart.

SPOILER

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[/Spoiler]

6

Last time i run from a Harry Potter movie during the credits to go pee…
And did anyone else think the kid that played Colin Creevy looked like the boy from Troll 2 but with freaky eyes?

7

Did anyone notice Moaning Myrtle could be Harry’s sister? Same face, same glasses, same dark hair.

I’d heard the directors had some insight into future books, so they included things they wanted to cut because it was important to Rowling’s story line. I don’t have a book handy, but was there a description of Moaning Myrtle? Could she be a relative of Harry’s…maybe a great aunt?

Oh, and did Draco ever open that green box? Ron and Harry ran off because the Polyjuice potion was wearing off…I don’t know if the box was important or just a plot device to distract Draco so he wouldn’t notice Crabbe and Goyle weren’t Crabbe and Goyle.

8

Rowling says that there are “bad deaths” coming in the series. I don’t think she’d kill off one of the big three (Harry, Ron, Hermione), or at least not until the last book, but I’m guessing Dumbledore, Sirius, McGonagall, Snape, etc., are all fair game.

My guess (based on absolutely no insight other than having read the books):
Dumbledore will die-
Snape will replace Dumbledore (and do a great job against Voldemort)
Draco Malfoy and Harry will become friends
It will be learned that Harry is Voldemort’s grandson

9

My theories…

Dumbledore is dead (obi Wan style death)
Sirus and Lupine also die
McGonagal becomes new headmaster
Crabbe and Goyle are dead
Lucius Malfoy kills/deposes Fudge, and becomes new evil MoM. Then is killed
Draco may live, but Harry will save his life at one point.
Snape will die, but helps save the day
Charlie Weasley dies
Possibly Papa Weasley also
Ron and Hermione get married
Harry becomes pro quidditch player
Longbottom and Ginny marry, Longbottom is also instrumental in saving the day

Or…Harry knocks up Cho Chang in book 6, baby Harry Potter Jr. is born in end of book 7, when Voldemort is wasting heroes left and right. Voldemort tries to kill Potter Jr, but the same thing happens again (loses powers, baby survives), and the book series starts over, earning JK Rowling billions more.

10

Sorry, but that would make him (Voldemort) Lily and Petunia’s father, or James Potter’s father.

I did accidentally see a reference to a “doomed” character in The Order of the Phoenix, but it was on a linked review outside the SDMB. I was quite upset about it, but I hope I have the courage to bear it when it comes. And I’m not going to post the name here.

[spoiler]But speaking of Moaning Myrtle, why don’t Voldemort’s other victims ever hang around as ghosts? Does it have something to do with the “Abracadabra curse?”*

*[sub]Yes I KNOW I spelled it wrong; I just didn’t want to take the trouble to learn how to do spoiler tags, in case this didn’t work.[/spoiler]

11

God, I hope nobody sees that…

12

It’s never come out why in Rowling’s world some dead folks become ghosts and others don’t. It might have something to do with self-confidence, or something. The two ghosts the readers know very well (Myrtle and Nick) are rather pitiful.

As for the movie, as a huge fan of the books, I give it 2 stars (of four). Decent, fun enough, but rather soulless and automatic. Harry still seems to be on autopilot, and I felt sorry for Ron at a few points. It pulled off a marvelous feat, however, managing to be simulataneously rushed and plodding.

Lucius Malfoy and Lockheart were both brilliant, howeveras was the peek at the Weasly house. Also, I’m glad to see the movies at least hint at the Muggles vs wizards themes of the novels. The movies have done a kick ass job of following the plot faithfully, but they lose the themes, I think.

13

I thought the same thing! I also thought Myrtle was dead sexy, which really never crossed my mind in the book. Of course, the actor that played her is 36. Interesting that in the last movie I saw her in she also had a big bathroom scene.

Anyway, a big improvement over the last movie… a much lighter touch overall (first movie was gasping under the weight of its own importance as Harry Potter THE MOVIE) and Harry actually seemed to have some motivations in this one besides it’s my fate as Harry Potter… witness the lovely confrontation with Lucius Malfoy in Flourish and Blott’s, and attention to his self-doubt regarding which house he ended up in. They really dropped the ball in the first movie by omitting the scene where Ron and Hermione try and stop him from going for the Stone and he lashes out at them about Voldemort.

Lockhart was played so well that I actually liked him much more than I did in the book! Surprised me, he just stole every scene he was in, even the one where Ron brains him with a rock. I had a similar experience with Oliver Wood in the first movie. The Weasley parents were great as well. The actors are really carrying these films, which storywise are kind of gormless… Hermione came to the fore in this one (the whole scene with Malfoy on the quidditch pitch and then at Hagrid’s), while Ron (who made the first movie) seems to be relegated to making funny faces for comic relief.

Of course a couple scenes were hilariously bad… such as Harry’s recovering from the Basilisk bite thanks to Fawkes. “I’m dying… must be brave for Ginny… oh, nevermind! Let’s go!” I don’t think we were supposed to burst out laughing at that point, but everyone around me did.

As a big fan of the books the movie didn’t really have to do anything besides not screw up horribly for me to love it, and so there isn’t much to say about how good it was… mainly I look forward to hearing other fanatics so I can join in on endless speculation about the future and comparisons with the book and people’s personal images of what the characters were like.

-fh

14

Myrtle came back to torture Olivia Hornby, just FTR.

15

I have a feeling Hagrid’s going to die, simply because Robbie Coltrane’s only been signed to do the first five movies.

16

Ok, here’s what I didn’t like = the ending. Harry’s fighting this evil basilisk-snake that he can’t even LOOK at without dying…oh no! How will our hero survive? But wait!! That freaky flaming parrot swoops down, and PECKS ITS EYES OUT, so now it can’t paralyze! And, what’s this? A musty old hat! With a sword in it!!! WHERE THE HELL DID THE SWORD COME FROM??? And then the phoenix heals Harry’s death-wound with his tears, which at least was alluded to in prior scenes. (Mumbledore’s long-winded explanation after the fact DOES NOT COUNT!! You gotta do it before!!!)

I took Creative Writing 101 in college, and this is what’s called a classic deus ex machina, a plot device that ever writer’s taught to avoid like the plague, unless you’re remaking one of Sophocles’s plays. Or should that be deus ex phoenixa? Whatever, it bugged me in the book and it’s a shame C.Columbus didn’t bother to fix it. (Why not have Harry carry Hermione’s mirror as a keepsake, and reflect the basilik’s own gaze? Change it so the reflection blinds the snake instead of freezing it, if ya really gotta have the end battle. And since when is a basilik a snake? My AD&D Monster Manual shows it as more of a lizard…)

That’s not to say it was a bad movie, overall. There were many great scenes, some approaching brilliance. The duel between Snape & Lockhart. The hilarious Crabbe/Goyle sequence (“I didn’t know you could read!”) Kenneth Branaugh’s entire performance, wonderfully hammed up to the max. Draco Malfoy finally turning into a real nemesis. The Quidditch scenes were much better, at least until that rogue bludger started doing major damage to the stadium’s structural integrity without the ref bothering to blow a whistle. (Haven’t wizards heard of lawsuits??) And while I’ve heard much grousing about Ron being turned into more of a comic-relief sidekick, I think it fits, really.

(And I was wondering how old the actress who played Moaning Myrtle was. She looked about 11 or 12, and I was thinking, that would be a VERY bad character to get hit with the puberty stick, being that she’s dead and everything.)

17

Err…basilisk. Sorry, that’s not a word I type very often. :slight_smile:

18

I thought a basilisk was the same thing as a cockatrice; that is, a sort of reptilian rooster.

19

Nope, check your AD&D Monster Manual

20

I found the movie dreadfully boring. They did in two and a half hours what could easily have been edited down to two hours or a bit less without losing an ounce of relevant content. It was horribly paced.