SPOILER; CoS review, the good and the bad

[GulPlum]

Nicholas wrote, further to what I said before:

> >the last scene in the Great Hall. 
> 
> I concluded that Columbus had had his way on that, over Heyman's
> advice. I cannot *ever* imagine British teenagers acting like that. 
> Utterly wrong.
> How do you think they should have ended the movie?

I suspect that the scene was written that way in the screenplay. On 
paper, it might even have worked, but on screen it just comes across 
as gooey and disjointed.

As for what I would have done with it, well - what's wrong with the 
way it was in the book (with one or two amendments):

The feast follows on from the scene in Dumbledore's office 
(established by the same expedient as the book; Dumbledore tells 
Harry to clean up for it). 

McGonagall says it's a special celebration and announces that 
Dumbledore's back. Amid applause, he enters and takes his seat at the 
head table, announces the cancellation of exams, and in due course 
asks for a round of applause for Madam Pomfrey and Prof. Sprout, 
prompted by their coming in, leading the de-petrified students (while 
Sir Nick floats by). 

Cut to outside the (open) doors of the Great Hall and Dumbledore's 
voice announcing Hagrid's reinstatement, while we see (cleaned up) 
Harry and Ron running down the stairs to encounter a haggard but 
brightening Hagrid coming in from outside. Hermione, about to enter 
the Hall herself, notices them and turns back, shouts "you solved 
it!" ("we couldn't have done it without you!"). The quartet walk in, 
to rapturous applause from all (except the Slyths, of course) and 
apologies to Harry from Justin (we don't need to hear it; a smile 
with a proferred handshake is enough). Colin takes a picture of the 
quartet's beaming faces and the flash fades to reveal ... END TITLES.

<snip>

> I don't really agree about DR's acting; I think that he has it in
> him, but I also think that Columbus doesn't manage to bring it out. 
> I noticed in PS/SS that it's always worth watching DR's eyes; he 
> manages to convey emotion very well with them, but his body-
> language is not as eloquent. 

<snip>

I've said much the same before. :-) On the evidence to date, I do 
think that Columbus's directorial style has a large part to play in 
all this, and I welcome the chance to see Cuaron's hopefully positive 
influence on D.R.'s acting development.

> What I noticed was that the snake did not visibly back off when
> Harry spoke to it, as it should have done. Also; why did the other 
> kids keep hanging around the stage area when the snake appeared? 
> Surely the natural reaction would be to retreat as fast as 
> possible, with the snake pursuing if necessary.

I can perhaps understand the kids being frozen from fear, but I 
cannot understand Snape not taking action sooner. 

> No big deal was made about Justin anyway; only that he was the one
> threatened by the snake; no mention that he was Muggle-born and had 
> told Harry about being down for Eton. Neither did we know that 
> Colin was Muggle-born; those scenelets were omitted. 

Whilst not establishing it for a fact, the script seriously implied 
that Justin and Colin were Muggle-born (by dint of stating that 
the "monster" was going after mudbloods). I would have preferred the 
script to have established that they were from opposite ends of the 
Muggle social structure, though. 

> I also thought that Harry was too nice to Colin; in the book, the 
> younger boy was driving him crazy with the camera.

Indeed. The film was so rushed and anxious to move from set-piece to 
set-piece that it neglected any kind of characterisation for the new 
kids at all. 

<snip - Flourish & Blotts>

> Yes; and why did Lockhart not announce then that he would be the
> new DADA teacher?

To be perfectly honest, I rather liked the fact that he didn't. It 
made the Lockhart-Harry relationship the centre of the scene, rather 
than his teaching appointment.

> I would have liked to see more of The Burrow, and I really missed
> the de-gnoming scene.

I managed to live without it, and indeed never expected it to be 
included in the first place. The script was rushed enough as it was. 
As for The Burrow, what struck me was the hulabaloo several months 
ago about the set of the whole house being built (at huge expense), 
yet the only shot we got of it was a distant view of it as the car 
landed (all of which wasn't the real set, I suspect). Incidentally, 
the boys entering the kitchen acted like they were breaking into a 
stranger's house, not creeping into their own. 

> Overall, I wasn't exactly spellbound by CoS; however, I seem to
> remember feeling the same about PS/SS, and that one definitely grew 
> on me. 

I saw PS/SS before reading the books, and was enchanted by it (with a 
few minor reservations). My experience of CoS has, by necessity, been 
clouded by my knowledge of the source material (which I've 
deliberately not touched for several months), and overall I was 
equally impressed by it, except for that damp squib of an ending.

> I'll probably see CoS again next weekend. I've only managed 
> to see it three times already.

"*Only* three times"! If you were to say that anywhere else, people 
would think you were crazy. :-)