SPOILERS Encore

[Ali]

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--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., kelly broughton <kellybroughton at y...> wrote:
> I readily forgive you, bc that is a good question! I would love to 
know  the answer myself. 
> 
> I also have another one, and anyone who actually knows can answer 
it: Does Peeves appear in this movie? Since no one has mentioned that 
he will be, I  am in doubt.
> -kel

The answer to both questions is a big fat no. There are no singing 
dwarves, obviously no Death Day Scene, and the Dursley and Weasley 
home beginning is very much shortened.

READ BELOW ONLY IF YPU WANT MORE OF THE PLOT REVEALED:-

If you've read any of the reviews, believe them. It really is much 
funnier and darker. The cinema was filled with loud raucous laughter 
for much of the first 10 minutes or so, and spasmodically throughout 
the film. The spider scene is not for arachnaphobes - the bloke next 
to me had his face in his hands and looked quite white knuckled. I 
don't mind spiders, but did find myself a bit grossed out.

IMO Kenneth Branagh, Jason Issacs and Christian Coulson were all 
brilliant, and I find myself wishing they were in it more. I felt 
that Richard Harris did actually look really quite ill and didn't 
notice much in the way of twinkling eyes.

As much as I liked Dan Radcliffe in PS, sometimes I did wonder about 
his acting. This time I thought he was great, he has really matured 
alot. All my husband could criticise was the way that his makeup 
hadn't quite managed to hide that teenage disease - spots! Rupert 
Grint was again very funny, to the extent that I begin to wonder if 
he can play straight. He was very enjoyable to watch though. 

Emma Watson annoyed me. It wasn't anything the actress did, but she 
said several lines I knew weren't hers in the book, and then...

When Harry says "Voldemort" to Mr Malfoy in Flourish & Blotts, 
Hermione pipes up saying something like fear of the name increases 
fear of the thing itself. As the book Hermione just won't say 
Voldemort that annoyed me. It also annoyed me when she cried after 
being called a "Mudblood". I supposse they were trying to convey how 
bad this name was, but the LOON in me couldn't accept it.

The scene in the Chamber of Secrets is excellent, and in a way I wish 
the film had ended there. The final scene in the Great Hall to borrow 
the words of one critic was "Cheesey". The infamous Harry/Hermione 
hug was followed by Hermione and Ron shaking hands - clearly setting 
themselves up for "something" later. Harry saying that there could be 
no Hogwarts without Hagrid IMO kissed good bye to Hagrid in Book 5 - 
but then I thought that anyway. 

I don't know whether the wording will be changed at all for the US 
audience, but it did amuse me when Ginny asked where her jumper was, 
and also when Prof McGonagall used "Sherbet Lemon" for Dumbledore's 
password.

Very minor nitpick: I can't imagine any British schoolkid calling a 
teacher "Maam" or calling their uncle "sir", but that is only a tiny 
nitpick.

I really enjoyed the film - and was quite stressed out before hand. 
We got there 40 minutes early, but only managed to get seats 5 rows 
from the front because the queues were so big. There was cheering at 
the end of the film, and I heard several people planning to see it 
again. Clearly, Pottermania is alive and well in Reading. I felt 
myself being pulled through many of the scenes. As I was still 
thinking "but what about the...", we had moved on. The pace is fast, 
and I really didn't notice the time.

If you loved PS/SS you'll really love CoS. If you didn't love PS, 
then this might just win you over.

Ali

Thinking that having to wait a whole week before seeing it again is 
too long.

(Hubby's verdict: excellent, and big stupid grin, but unsure whether 
I should take our 5 year old to see it).