IMHO, if you haven’t read the book, you’ll probably enjoy it more. I really liked it, it was more intense than the first one, but there were parts that I just kept waiting for, that didn’t happen. The movie itself is over 2 1/2 hours long, so I can’t be too upset, but I wouldn’t have minded if it went over three hours! It was that enjoyable. But, I guess most people who are watching the movie have already read the book, so it’s not like they truly felt something was missing.
The part that I really wanted to see, but didn’t, was Ron Weasley’s father getting into the fistfight with Lucius Malfoy. Also, Hermione seemed a lot more weepy in the movie than she was in the book. That was kind of annoying. Understandable, in context, but annoying.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I’ll definitely see it again. And again. And probably eventually own it.
I was wondering where the Chamber of Secrets thread was yesterday . . . . have you 'merkins not got a preview weekend (Apart from Heloise anyway)?
I saw the Chamber of Secrets yesterday; most UK cinemas are having a preview weekend showing the film, before the official release date.
Much better than the first film. The pace was much faster, this film assumes has seen the previous one, so there is no need to explain why Harry’s a wizard, or his scar etc.
The visual effects are much better overall, although in some places the CGI is obvious . . .Fawks for instance sometimes seemed to be too much in focus, compared to the live action.
The Quidditch match was a visual spectacle, it differed slightly from the book, but was a joy to see.
The film is darker than the previous one, many people found the spiders in the Forbidden Forest unnerving, but the worst part for me is when we learn Ginny has been taken captive and may die (even though I have read the book).
Overall much better, a good film, although with a hint of cheese in places.
I did notice that Harry Potter fever seems to have died down, weather this is because people have already seen one film, so the novelty has worn off, or because they have become bored waiting for the Order of the Phoenix and moved on to something else, I can’t say.
I rather liked it - I guess I might as well post up here my review (crossposted from a few Yahoo groups, 'cause I;m lazy and can’t be bothered to write a new one):
Okay, those thoughts are going to be completely random, and just be written down as they come out of my head.
I liked the cloud motif they used at the beginning and at two later places to cut between scenes. Nice way to use the flying car thing.
They really used a lot of John Williams music again, didn’t they? The only new theme I remember is Fawke’s. OTOH I think the score was probably better arranged overall due to the lack of Hedwig’s Theme being repeated again and again and …
I can’t really complain about much in the film up till they get to Hogwarts. I especially liked can’t-remember-his-name as Arthur Wealey, and Jason Isaacs just managed to get away with that ridiculous sceptre contraption
Except, of course, for Daniel Radcliffe’s acting. The more I watch the original (which admittedly is only three times overall), the less I’m impressed. He just doesn’t have sufficient timing or emotion and I’m very worried about how he’s gonna handle stuff in POA. I hate it when not so good main actors ruin good writing (see “Angel”). I guess it’s not quite up (or rather down) to that level, amd he’s good enough to be watchable. He’s certainlly better than he was in the last one, and if you were happy with that, you shouldn’t have any problems here.
Rupert Grint is still very good at what he does, although I felt they traded in a bit too much on things from the first film. And he only really has one comedic expression which can get tired after too many repeats. When he is given something different, he’s good enough though, although I’m not sure what he’s like with serious stuff. I wouldn’t want to change him, anyhow, and I think he has a bright future ahead of him.
I’m trying to remember if I had problems with Emma Watson in the first movie or that was just someone brainwashing me. Whatever, she was pretty much perfect in this one, although she has hardly any screen time. However, the writing for her wasn’t particularly that sharp. Quite a few times they made her use too many long words just for the sake of it. Oh, and not particularly interesting fact - I have a friend who has a friend who is her cousin. Apparently they get lots of sneak showings and general free goodies.
Steve Kloves shows absolutely no sign of relenting from the main flaws of the first movie - the complete lack of the school element of the story and his eradication of much of the books’ humour. Split into two:-
a)It amazes me that whenever a JKR line is left in it always provokes more of a laugh, yet many are changed for no good reason (… “Or maybe he’s waiting to hear why two didn’t arrive on the school train”, “Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words” etc.)
b) Dumbledore still keenly misses his humourous side. Even worse, Fred and George just don’t appear, which IMO unbalances the story rather a lot. It annoys me that there’s only left a rather weak homage to perhaps my favourite moment in the series (“Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through…”)
c) Related to the above, Kloves really, really needs to discover the power of the MONTAGE. Or just a short inbetween scene. In this movie its all EVENT EVENT EVENT, basically the chapter titles from the book are taken and shown. But this is not really what has created the richest fandom I know - it is the world. We need small scenes of them in the corridors - Fred & George’s random comments, Peeves to a lesser extent, Percy and Penelope, Ginny and her crush, and so on. The last is especially important, as without it the end of the movie may seem an unfair twist to the audience.
Kenneth Branagh rocks too, come to think of it. Not quite how I’d have intepreted the character, but good enough. What I was going on about above does mean he’s entirely missing from the middle of the film, which doesn’t work structure-wise. Similarly Draco appears loads in the first two-thirds and then hardly again. And of course there’s even less Snape, Hagrid and so on.
There’s a rather silly moment in the Polyjuice scene where Harry stays in sight while Ron and Hermione run away, just because they can’t afford the budget of having them all change. They could have tried to put a slight better reason in for them to suddenly disappear than “I suddenly feel sick and must run off screen” The morphing shot itself was very nice.
The special effects are very much improved. Even Dobby’s CGI isn’t that bad, and I liked the monster at the end. According to interviews I had the impression that they had changed more in this one for the action sequences, whereas I actually felt that they were much more in the spirit of the book this time rather than the complete changes to the finale we had last one round. Then again, I did miss “Do you see what he’s doing, Potter? He’s crying.”
I love long movies but I think the end was a bit too slow in this one, so that the structure felt unbalanced. By the end, I mean the time after they’ve left the Chamber. I’m glad that they at least didn’t go through the house points scene again. I think they really shouldn’t have written in such a long Lucius scene to finish with - the time could have been used better earlier on.
The hug … Or lack of a hug. (For spoiler people (who, uh… aren’t spoiled), Hermione runs in at the end and hugs Harry. She turns to Ron, thinks better of it and they end up shaking hands. Very awkwardly). When I first heard about this, it was talked up as a H/H moment. As it is, presuming Steve Kloves has talked to JKR, it’s a pretty clear confirmation that in GOF Hermione returns Ron’s feelings (insert the word ‘crush’, if your bias goes the other way). I think. Of course that’s a shipping comment, so I’m sure someone can probably argue it down.
In fact, shortly after I posted that to HP4GU-Movies I read a Times article, which seems to think it was a great H/H moment. To me it fitted in well with the GOF kiss tradition, but to a greater extent. Hermione is embarrassed of physical contact with Ron, and not Harry because she is attracted to the former.
Having Hagrid returning as the end I don’t think really worked - we just hadn’t seen enough of him in this one. It wasn’t like PS where he was appearing every five seconds, and I don’t really see the rest of the school being that affectionate to him, anyway. I’m also very worried, after someone pointed it out, that he’s now doomed in Book 5.
Overall, I thought that it was very enjoyable and taken as a sequel and not a standalone probably a better experience than the first. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do with POA. OTOH I don’t think they’ll ever replace the books (which I’m currently very tempted to read again, come to think of it). These thoughts may look negative, but that’s because there’s a lot more to say about stuff that went wrong. If I haven’t complained about it, that’s because I think it was perfect, and there was a lot of stuff I didn’t complain about.
I’m terribly jealous too. There are no preview weekends here at least, and I won’t be seeing the movie until Saturday…at least, I hope so. My friends and I are still trying to arrange that trip. (Don’t want to go by myself…how fun is it to nitpick if you’re the only one there?)
One of my freinds and I clapped at one point in the movie, and booed and hissed Malfoy snr. I don’t think this went down too well in the cinema, oh well.
Also sitting behind us was a young child, who when seeing Ginny in the chamber, commented, ‘she’s dead’. It was funny at the time
Also I remeber him saying, ‘be brave mummy and watch’!
In the U.S., HBO has been running a 15 minute preview. I caught it this morning and am really looking forward to the movie’s opening this weekend. The Mrs. is looking forward to it as well since it opens on her birthday.
Anyway, one thing that I caught from the preview that is that Ron said he has Erol, his clumsy owl. In the books he did not get Erol until the end of Prisoner of Azkaban. Is this true? What happened to Scabbers and doesn’t that really screw-up the plot for the movie version of POA?
If it’s not too much of a spoiler, how does Kenneth Branagh’s portrayal of Prof. Lockhart vary from how he’s shown in the book?
ANY change would be good, as far as I’m concerned. Lockhart was one of the worst examples of Rowling’s 2-dimensional characterization. And I love Branagh, so I’m glad he took liberties.
“Good morning, kiddies! Welcome to magic class! Well hello, young Hermione! Am I pleased to see you, or did I just put a canoe in my pocket? Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Woof!”
I don’t think he’d be teaching long…
Actually, I can see that actor in the role – he would have the right look for it.
Lockhart actually features in the film very little, we don’t really get to know the characters at all, and in fact the same can be said of any character who is not one of ‘the three’.
Is Film Gildroy any more three dimensional than book Gildroy, barely if at all IMHO.
Rik Mayal is playing Peeves, or at least he did in the first movie. Unfortunately, he ended up on the cutting room floor. Apparently the scenes didn’t look very good. I was kinda hoping he’d be in this one.
Sorry it took so long to respond! A friend of mine works for the L.A. Times and invited me to the press premiere.
I enjoyed it, but there were so many details missing. And considering the amount of time it took up, I can kind of see why. But I really would have liked to see what kind of deathday party they put on for Nearly Headless Nick, of whom we saw very little, and we missed the part about Finch being a “squab.” Also, I think there wasn’t enough of Professor Snape.
Kenneth Branagh was great, but I would have liked to see more of him. He did a good job at being shallow, even though someone had mentioned that Hugh Grant would have been perfect in the role. It was sad to see Richard Harris, because I kept wanting to shout at him to please live! Very melancholy. I think Patrick Steward might make a good replacement, IMHO.
Too much Draco. It got annoying. There were plenty of more interesting people to see, and he was everywhere! Not enough of the twins, not enough Hagrid, or the rest of the professors. And I still want the fistfight between Lucius and Mr. Weasley, darn it!
It would have been interesting to see the degnoming of the garden, too. There were just lots of small things that made the book fun that didn’t even get mentioned in the movie. No time, I guess.
