| My Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Review |
| I can not think of enough word to describe how much better than Scorcerer's Stone, Chamber is. Everything has been kicked up several notches. I'll start with the acting. The kids(Dan,Rupert,and Emma) are excelent. WB, if you recast theese kids I WILL HURT YOU!!!! Not really, but I won't see the films.They have really become confident in their characters, and don't have the "Wow! I'm actualy in a movie!" look on their faces. I haven't read the script, but from an audience standpoint I thought they were ad-libbing quite a bit. I think that ad-libbing is great, it shows that an actor knows their character well enough to know what they would say in a certain situation. Which is always great. However, there were times what Hermione or Hagrid would say something that Ron said in the book. For example, in the Mudblood scene, Hermione explains to Harry what a Mudblood is when in the book she doesn't have a clue. Also, the Hermione-Ron relationship is developed more. If you have read all 4 books and/or want to know more, highlight the following text. |
| When Hermione is petrified, they try to make you think Harry likes her by having him hold her hand and looking at her thoughtfully. But if you look at Ron, he looks like his heart has been put through a blender. Also at the end when she hug Harry, Ron just stutters and mumbles incoherently, and they just shake hands. |
| There are also new characters this tome around, Gilderoy Lockhart, Lucius Malfoy, and Dobby the house elf. Gilderoy Lockhart is played magnificently by Kenneth Branagh. I had never heard of him before this film, but now want top see more of his films. Lucius Malfoy was evily played by Jason Issacs who seemed really familiar to me, but I couldn't think of what other films I had seen him in. Dobby, of course, is a computer generated creature, but still you want to just hug him you feel so bad for him. Danny did a great job focusing of the orange ball on a stick which was used for Dobby. The reviewers who seem to think the movie is "too scarry for children" need to get a pulse. It wasn't scarry at all. The only places that could be a potential scare hazard would be the Spider's Hollow and Basalisk scene's. Let's break theese down. Ok, spiders are generally scarry. So giant ones are really icky grody scarry. This isn't a special scare for kids, it's perfectl;y normal. The Basalisk may scare kids because they aren't used to seeing giant 84-foot snakes. And there is a part which startled everyone in the theater. In short, Chamber is a major step up from the first film. At the end when Hagrid comesback, I was clapping along with all the other Harry-obbsessed people in the theater. The funniest part of the film is when Malfoy finds Crabbe and Goyle and Goyle is wearing glasses. Malfoy asks why,and Goyle says he was reading. The Malfoy says, "I didn't know you could read." Extremely hillarious in my opinion. A major blow to the film franchise came when Chris Columbus decided to step down and not diorect the next film,Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is due out in the summer of 2004. Alfonse' Curon who diescted The Little Princess has been choosen to replace him. I don't know what Curon will bring to theese films, but I don't think he will do as well of a job as Columbus has. The movie may not be as big as the first, granting that many people have lost intrest in Harry Potter due to the fifth book not bieng released yet. However, overall it might gross more in it's entire theatrical run than Scorcerer's Stone did. I highly recomed it to all who have read the books, and thoes who have seen the first film. If you have doen niether, read the books, see the first movie, then go see this one. It is a magical film for all ages, and will become a favorite in the hearts of millions. |