Darn it, killed a thread again!
So, what did everyone think of the movie?
Saw it Saturday, liked it quite a bit. The cast was close to perfect once again. The special effects were outstanding. I especially liked the snake, the spiders, and the Quidditch match. My biggest problem: not enough Gildroy Lockhart!
Moaning Myrtle was annoying.
The welcome for Hagrid at the end was… overdone.
I did enjoy it quite a bit, though.
I assume you are referring to the lack of anything except the main plotline?
Simply put, there’s so much material there its too much to ge through it all. If you doubled the length of the film you could have probably given a more balanced interpretation.
I didn’t think they brought across Ron and Harry’s loathing for Lockhart enough. They barely said a word about him. I was disappointed with the dueling scene. I was really looking forward to see Gildroy attempt to show Harry how to block a curse and drop his wand.
Also, they keep changing little things that IMHO don’t need to be changed. Fawkes crying on his arm AFTER he killed Riddle for instance. They couldn’t spare the extra 20 seconds of dialog it would have took to make that accurate?
I second or third what someone said about too many small scenes missing.
Me and the Mrs. saw it yesterday and rather liked it. My only problem was that we really didn’t get enough og Jinny before the end.
In the credit-where-it’s-due department, I thought that the kids who play Grabbe and Goyle did quite a good job.
I agree. One of my favorite moments was after Harry knocked Malfoy on his ass during the duel, when Snape grabbed him by the nape of the neck and threw him back into the fight. I hate mollycoddlers.
. . . I just think it’s funny that they used the words “Chamber” and “Potter” in the title . . . But then, I have a foul little mind . . .
And we love you for it.
I’d forgotten that, but you’re right - it was weird! A) Hagrid didn’t really do much to warrant the welcome home - all he did was tell them to follow the spiders and get arrested, and B) Most of the students wouldn’t have had any idea that he did what little he did do. Very odd.
Agree about Hagrid’s welcome and agree as well that they need more Snape! But then I love Alan Rickman and always want more of him in every movie he’s in.
Other than that, I really liked it. I thought it was funnier than the first one, and the main characters were more interesting to me, maybe because they’re all a little older. I liked it a lot.
Didn’t I hear somewhere that the actor who plays Hagrid is rather short?
You never see Hagrid’s face from afar…you only see his back. They do an up camera angle so it looks like he’s taller, but you never see his face in a wide angle shot.
I’m not sure I explained that correctly.
Robbie Coltrane’s 6’1". That makes him quite tall by Hollywood standards.
There’s apparently a special scene during or after the final credits, which I didn’t know or I would have stayed :mad:
Would someone be kind enough to spoil it for me? Thanks in advance-
Sorry, I’m not sure how to create the ‘Spoiler Space’. Spoiler below…
After all the credit have gone by we see a row of familar shops on Diagon Alley. The camera moves down to the window display at Flourish & Blott’s Bookstore. When the kids were there early in the movie it held Gilderoy’s book “Magical Me”, complete with a grinning and winking Lockhart on the cover. Now at the end of the movie it holds Gilderoy’s newest book, entitled “Who am I?”. This time he’s in a straightjacket still grinning with a more vacant look on his face. Cute. Maybe thirty seconds of extra film.
Thanks!
I saw it on Saturday. So much better than the first one…I was even willing to forgive most of the problems, with the exception of the ending, which I cringed through, and some bits of dialogue that really would’ve been nice to include.
Plus, I don’t think Neville should’ve fainted in the greenhouse scene. After all, he’s good enough at Herbology for Professor Sprout to make a point of mentioning it to Mad-Eye Moody in the 4th book.
And my friends and I all agree that they were verging onto an overload of really cute guys in this film. I spent the first thirty minutes melting into a hormonal puddle on the theater floor. (Not that this was a problem, mind you…)
I thought it was better than the first as well, especially effects wise. Although I’m not suprised as Indusltrial Light and Magic was called in for this one (IIRC).
I thought the child actors were much better this time around, not so rigid and they delivered their lines better.
I was really hoping to see the Lawn Gnome tossing in the beginning.
I thought the Mandrake scene was great, and they sure found the right sound for those, I almost covered my ears from their shrieking.
I am torn on Moaning Myrtle. I did find her kind of annoying, but I’m guessing she was supposed to be.
The movie wasn’t for kids under 12. I know a lot of reviewers commented on how much “darker” it is than the first one. If they thought this was dark, I wonder what they’ll thing of the next. The Dementors are going to have to be creepy as all get out in order to be true to the book.
My kids are 9, 7, and 2. They were all there with us, and they loved it completely. Some of what others have called the scariest scenes (basilisk and spiders) were some of their favorite parts. The seven-year-old wanted to go and see it again, right away. So, age appropriateness varies, depending on the kid. Parents should use their best judgment, I think.
I’m glad someone else (MrThompson) mentioned the music. I was a bit annoyed that they used many of the same cues from the music for Sorcerer’s Stone in Chamber of Secrets. It seemed to me that it wasn’t just that they used music composed along the same themes or on the same basis… in many scenes, it seemed like it was exactly the same score. For example, when Harry first enters the Chamber, we hear the opening music for the chessboard scene from Sorcerer’s Stone. As Harry is first opening and writing in the diary, we hear the same theme as when Harry was exploring the Restricted section under the Invisibility Cloak in the first movie. It sets up associations (for me, anyway) that really didn’t work, and made me think of events in the first film when I should have been focusing on the current one. My wife noticed the same thing, and commented on it afterwartds. The score, or the use of it, was perhaps one of the biggest mistakes in the movie. It’s the largest nitpick I have with it, anyway. Big disappointment here, especially considering I wasn’t all that happy with Williams’ score from the first film either. Didn’t need to hear it recycled for this one.
More minor nitpicks:
It should have had more of some of the really great characters – Snape, the Weasley twins, Colin Creavey, Nearly Headless Nick, and Peeves (who is still completely absent).
There was no mention of the Deathday party, nor was there any mention of Filch’s use of the Kwikspell course, nor that Ron was using Spellotape to fix his wand (mostly a Brit joke, I know). History of Magic apparently isn’t taught at movie-Hogwart’s, as McGonagall revealed the history of the Chamber in her Transfiguration class.
Many of my favorite parts of the book were left out (some mentioned above).
The Whomping Willow didn’t look at all like I imagined it (that’s a pretty nitpicky one, I know).
Aragog looked a bit fake. The spider scene as a whole reminded me of some fifties science fiction movie, but my daughters were suitably impressed, so I guess it’s all good.
They really didn’t need to use black-and-white for the scene in the past… I think everyone would have “gotten it” anyway, and it was a cliched hack to use that device.
And now that I’ve gotten all of that off my chest, would you believe that I really enjoyed the movie anyway?
Kenneth Branagh was pretty much the ideal Lockhart, as I expected he would be. He played up the foppish character even better than I’ve ever seen him do before, and really brought some fun into it. I find it hard to imagine anyone doing it much better.
Lucius Malfoy was a nice surprise. Not the way I imagined him, really, but very effective. He has the “sexy-but-evil” look down pat, and he had a great sneer.
The acting in general showed a definite improvement, on all counts. Radcliffe is still shaky as Harry, but he’s improving too. Not bad for an amateur, and his smile is still just as brilliant as it was last year, and really sells the part for him. He’s got Harry’s smile, that’s for sure. It’s fun to see the kids growing, with Harry’s deeper voice, Ron’s cracking voice, and Draco about a foot taller than he was last year (or so it seemed). Rickman was excellent as always. His duel with Lockhart was a lot of fun; I just wish we could have seen more of him!
The effects were far improved too. The Quidditch scenes were very convincing, the basilisk is frighteningly real-looking, and even Dobby was a significant step up from oh, say, Jar-jar Binks. The flying car effects were a lot of fun.
Overall, I thought they did a great job, and as much as I liked the first Harry Potter movie, this one showed improvements in almost every department (music being the one exception). For a film that lasts almost three hours, it held my attention for all of that time, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Despite my nitpicky objections to some of the details, even. 
Well, since somebody’s already brought up cute guys . . .
I know I’ve got probably 20 years on the boy, but that Scottish kid who plays the leader of the Gryffindor Quiddich team is adorable! Cute as a button, great eyes, and an accent to die for. My housemate was laughing at me:
“I’d love to go out with a guy like that.”
“Yeah, if it wasn’t a felony.”
“I’d love to go out with that guy’s older brother.”
“His brother’d be, what?, eighteen?”
“I’d love to go out with that guy’s father.”
“There ya go.”