Welcome to the second day of my eight-day long Harry Potter marathon. This is purely because I have not seen any of the Harry Potter's and I promised a whole lot of people that I'd watch 'em all when the last DVD came out. That was just about a month ago, so I have to do it now. I will be blogging about my journey through Hogwarts...and such.
After being impressed by Philosopher's Stone, I was wondering how Chamber of Secrets would compare. It seems silly to compare the movies though, since this is shaping up to be a series of films that are better together than they are apart. Again, from an outsiders perspective:
-I have a feeling that this might be the worst of the series. It wasn't really that great.
-The film just lacked conviction. It was fun, but it wasn't fun enough. It was dark, but it wasn't dark enough. It was just a huge 'meh'. And if I'm being honest, I can remember Philosopher's Stone better than this one.
-And, again, 155 minutes is a little too long.
-Anyway, the movie was good enough entertainment. I think it was more of a bridge between the first and the third (which I've heard is where things get good)...not entirely unnecessary.
-I would like a flying car. Preferably without a mind of it's own. But when Ron said something about the 'flying gear' I was like, I MUST HAVE ONE OF THESE! Mainly because I can't drive a normal manual car at all.
-Dobby is SO CUTE! Just the way that he talks and stuff. Plus, one of the later scenes between he and Harry when Harry gives him a sock is the best.
-Kenneth Branagh was in this movie. It's a shame he couldn't stay longer, because I really enjoyed his performance/character. Sure, he was a bit of a wimp who disguised that with a lot of cockiness, but I like characters like that. Plus, Mr. Branagh is awesome!
-I've decided that Hagrid is my main man. He is so cool.
-Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that Shirley Henderson plays a school-kid (Moaning Myrtle) in this movie? I love Henderson, but she was 37 at the time. And she still looked like a kid. That is slightly scary.
-You know when Platform 9 & 3/4 won't let Harry and Ron in? Well, I've secretly been waiting for that moment. Okay, that sounds really horrible. But when I first saw them run into the platform, I remember thinking "what would happen if they ran straight into it?" I expected the wait to be quite long, but Chamber of Secrets granted me with my wish. Goodness, I sound like a terrible person.
-I'm sorry, but Tom Felton's hair scares me. It like, melts into his head.
-The kids sure did grow up a lot in the space of a year or so. Their acting improved, but they're still having teething problems.
-The letter that Molly Weasley sends Ron is hilarious. I would love to send letters like that to people.
-Those little plant things scared the crap out of me. They were like little Gollum's with forestation on their heads. And they sounded horrible. Remind me to invest in earmuffs next time.
-Snape still has the same hairstyle. SEXY. Nah, I quite like Snape. In that evil sort of way.
-Rupert Grint has some pretty interesting facials. For me, he is taking the longest to gel in the series. Or maybe it's just my intense dislike for his character at the moment.
-The CGI is quite bad. Well, it is quite good for 2002, but then again, it reminded me of a straight-to-DVD Z-grade horror.
-At least there were no flashback scenes.
Okay, so this movie wasn't exactly great in my books, but I liked it enough. I'm sure it is just a build up for good things with Prisoner of Azkaban. Speaking of which, I'm off to watch that now. I hope it is an improvement...
What I got:
"They were like little Gollum's with forestation on their heads" Hahahahaha! Good 'ol Mandrakes. And I'm glad to see you're getting to like Snape, he's my favourite. His hairstyle doesn't really change, but Tom Felton's does eventually stop melting into his head.
ReplyDeletePrisoner of Azkaban is a MASSIVE improvement. I really don't like the series but this one impressed me.
ReplyDeleteI love Ron's expressions in this film. This ties with Half Blood Prince for Ron's expressions. Speaking of, how can you not like Ron?! This is unheard of- J.K. Rowling will like you.
ReplyDeleteHowlers are epic, and so are flying cars and Dobby rules all. I remember watching Bridget Jones and being extremely disturbed by Shirley Henderson. But then putting things into perspective, Snape is like 20 years older than whoever plays Harry's mum, and they were classmates.
You will not be disappointed by Snape, I promise you. You will (okay I dunno, but most probably) fall in love with Malfoy's hair.
When I say Snape, I mean Alan Rickman.
ReplyDeleteI love this one, the flying car, Dobby, Snape yelling at them for destroying the tree and Ron hysterical screams in the forest :) It's just soooo cute <3
ReplyDeleteRuth - That's what they are called! And yes, I noticed that Tom Felton's hair stops melting into his head. Thank goodness.
ReplyDeletePete - It was. I really liked that one.
Nikhat - He's growing on me...but slower than all of the others.
Ha, I never thought of that. They're doing a lot of age-bending here!
Malfoy's hair is better, now. It's stopped melting!
Sati - It is cute :)
This is my least favorite of the series. Largely because I felt the direction of the film lacked any sense of flair. Plus, Chris Columbus did a nice job with the first film but he was absolutely wrong for the 2nd one. He's not the kind of filmmaker that wants to get his hands dirty. That was why I was happy that Alfonso Cuaron was chosen to do the third one and actually made it much more fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteAs everyone says about Prisoner of Azkaban being the best Potter, it is, but that - to me - isn't really saying much.
ReplyDeletePersonally I find the whole series (including the books) so, well, boring. There is nothing else to them but that, really. Definitely one of the most overrated things of perhaps all time (in my books anyway, and I know I will get an onslaught of hate for that!)
Impressed you're going to watch them all - I haven't ventured into the last Part 1/2 films, and don't intend to anytime soon.
Good luck!
Steven - It did lack a lot of things. And Cuaron definitely stepped things up!
ReplyDeleteCherokee - Ha, I find that they're okay, but I do admit that I don't love them as much as everyone else.
Thanks!
Yeah, Shirley Henderson's involvement as Moaning Myrtle also disturbed me. I mean huh?
ReplyDelete