 Here is my review of the 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' DVD. (a.k.a. DVD 2) Well, for starters I can say that this was a MUCH better DVD than the first. Unlike the first, however, the DVD seems to be loaded with material for older, more serious fans. Gone are the classrooms and such. So yes, over all this disc has much less content, but it more than makes up for that in quality. The deleted scenes are nice because... well... you can find them in this disc. Rather easily, actually. There are 19 total, but only about 10 of them were really from the book and only about 6 would have really made a difference in the movie. There's one that's beautifully shot with Harry sitting on a cliff, overlooking the Hogwarts Lake, but it's a little confusing and sort of misinterprets the geography J.K. Rowling so vividly describes. It sort of compares with that stupid scene in the first film with Harry and Hedwig in the snow. Next up on your disc are game previews. They look cool and make the game seem better than it, but I think EA had to pay to get those on there, so nothing of importance here. There were several scrolls you could click on. Each had 3 or more options that were almost all great. My favorite was the interview with J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves. Jo oozes charisma, like always, and fun details are revealed about the books and the screenplay. This is definately worth a watch. Another favorite thing to watch of mine was the footage of Dumbledore's office. The "Build a Scene" feature, while it takes long, is great to watch for those who love Harry Potter or those who just love movies. Screenplay writing, acting, cinematography, art direction, film editing, and loads of other over-looked parts of making a movie are discussed. By the time you've watched all this, Dumbldore's office (and the all of the sets) have been put into pure movie-magic. You can also take a self-guided tour of Dumbledore's office which, thankfully, is a lot clearer, a lot more interesting, and a lot more self-guided than the tours on the last disc. Other things to do include hearing the students and professors (well, the actors) talk about different subjects. These take a while to watch as well, but fans of both Harry Potter and the actors will find it worth-while. You can play a game called "Spell Knowledge," but the questions are so easy and ridiculous, you won't want to waste your time on this. For those of us who don't have a DVD-ROM, we can watch a preview of the materials available to those who do have one. Lastly- Disc 1. I covered Disc 2 first. Anyways, all that's on here are the language tracks and the film, with some special features. The special features hardly qualify as special, but for those who are forgetful, there is a decent flashback that will remind you (somewhat) of what happened, but they seemed to be oddly concerned with spoilers. There is also a theatrical trailer which brings back the magic of having anxiety waiting for the film. (Okay, I'm weird!) All in all, the best part of the DVD is the movie, which you will once again thoroughly enjoy.  |
|
