Chamber of Secrets Review *SPOILERS*

[Lauren Healy]

Hi.

I haven't been around for a while.  I've had a virus/chest infection, so
haven't been able to reply to any mails.  I'm now going to do some
spoilering, and some comments on GulPlum's  bulletted review, cuz I have
some stuff to say!!!

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All the stuff that GulPlum is in <<  >>  Just so you know!!

GOOD POINTS:

<<First and foremost Lucius, Lucius and once again Lucius. Dispite
mispronouncing his name by my reckoning :-) Isaacs did his homework,
had some ideas and ran with them as far as he could. I liked every
one of them, even the flowing hair, which I know some peoole don't
like.>>

I loved Issacs as Lucius.  I heard that the first time he went into a
rehersal with Tom Felton (Draco) he clipped him around the back of the head
with his hand, just to show the relationship he felt they should have.  I
think he was excellent!

<<Arthur Weasley. Only a very short appearance and not quite like in
the book, but Mark Williams has made the character his own.>>

Again, I thought Mark Williams was great.  I've always liked him, most for
his comedic performances on 'The Fast Show' over here in England.  I think
he was a good Authur.  However, I feel that he lacked a little in enthusiasm
in seeing Harry for the first time, and his interest in Muggles wasn't shown
as passionatly as I thought it could have been.

<<Dobby. A week ago, I would have laughed if I'd thought I'd be
saying that. Both technically (ie the CG work) and the appearance/
voice, I was utterly gobsmacked. He is no PS/SS troll, and I found
the character quite endearing in a way I didn't when reading the
book.>>

Dobby was soooooo cute!  I know many people will disagree, but I thought he
was just adorable.  I pictured Dobby slightly different, maybe smaller, with
much bigger ears, bigger eyes and a different voice.  He's not as bad as
everyone thought he was going to be (and not an ounce of Jar-Jar Binks about
him!)  ;-)

<<Polyjuice sequence and Moaning Myrtle. The transformation itself is
a very cinematic moment in the book anyway, but I thought the few
changes they introduced were for the good. The Crabbe & Goyle actors
playing Ron & Harry playing themselves were terrific. Ron's
throwaway "how thick can you get?" line was priceless (in the book, I
found it a bit weird that C&G would go for it).>>

That line was fantastic!  I remember sitting in the film with my mates and
one of them said to me during that scene "Who would be stupid enough to eat
a floating cake?!" and then just after it, Ron said that line and we just
rolled on the floor with laughing!  Anyway, Jamie and Luke (I think it's
Luke, someone please correct me if I'm wrong) were amazing.  I thik they
were just great!

<<Having seen Shirley Henderson in "Once Upon a Time in the Midlands" just
recently, I
couldn't see her pulling off playing a teenager, but she got it down
excellently. In answer to a comment I saw somewhere, yes, that is her
*real* voice, squeakiness and fingernails-on-a-blackboard
scratchiness included. :-)>>

I have seen Shirley Henderson in a few things (Bridget Jones's Diary, in
which she plays Bridget's best friend, Jude) and in the Mike Leigh film
'Topsy Turvy' (about the English operetta writers Gilbert and Sullivan) and
she is just fabulous.  I wondered if she could successfully play a teenager,
but I wasn't disappointed.  I actually believed that she was a teen stuck as
a ghost!

<<The Chamber squence, with a couple of exceptions. However, having
heard all the hype about how wonderful it was and how they'd made it
look taller than it was, I was expecting it to be somewhat *more*
impressive. I'd got the impression from some of the publicity
material that at some stage Ron was in the Chamber itself; I was
relieved to find that this isn't the case.>>

I enjoyed the whole Chamber experience.  I thought it was sufficiently
scary, but not too much, and it was kind of how I imagined it.  It was dark
(sometimes maybe a little too dark) and the Basilisk was freaky!

<<Little touches in the script which, although departures from the
book, added a little something. A few examples: Hermione fixing
Harry's glasses in Diagon Alley ("Oculus Repairo") and
Harry's "Thanks, I definitely need to remember that one". Vernon's
reference to Hedwig as a "pigeon" (that one had me in stitches).
Lucius's lines in Flourish & Blotts and the fact that *he*
establishes that the Grangers are Muggles (the implication is that
for most wizards, the distinction is irrelevant so it's never been
brought up, but for him, it is). Unlike some, I'm glad that Arthur
didn't physically attack Lucius.>>

The script, on the whole, I felt, was slicker, better written, and just a
big improvement on the last one.  The one-liners that Ron has to say had me
in stitches, Draco had some good ones as well, and I liked how in some
places, it was practically word for word from the book (I think the Cornish
Pixie scene is one of these, and possibly Harrys' detention scene as well)
A very good script

BAD POINTS:

<<First and foremost, the last scene in the Great Hall. From
beginning to end. What the hell were they thinking? I honestly don't
have a single good thing to say about it: Badly written, poorly
acted, at odds with the book and so sugary that diabetics should stay
away. It was *so* bad that I walked out of the cinema after my first
viewing feeling the whole film was bad, as it had so coloured my
experience. For my second viewing, I left the cinema before the cut
to that scene and as a result, felt much better about the film
overall.>>

I agree with this on some levels, but in fairness, is it all too much the
same to have the near exact ebding as the last one?  If you remember the
book ending, it ends on the platform, saying goodbye, and the first one is
on the train platform, saying goodbye.  I can see how they may have wanted
to make a change.  I did think that it was cheesy Hollywood and since when
has Hagrid become the star of the school?  Who just saved a whole lot of
lives?  Not Hagrid, so why are they clapping him?!  I thought this a tad
over the top.  I didn't think that it was all poorly acted though.

<<Daniel's acting. I'm going to be tactless and say that I'm glad
that Daniel has interests outside acting on which he might build a
future career, because on the evidence of this film, without some
serious coaching he's not going to get anywhere. In his defence,
though, I suspect that his main failing isn't necessarily a lack of
talent, but that he seems too self-conscious. He doesn't appear to
abandon himself to the role and half of his dialogue was spoken as if
he didn't understand what he was saying. He did very well in the
action sequences, but in scenes which required a degree of subtlety,
he (or rather, Columbus) seemed to rely on his admittedly very sweet
smile. I am geatting heartily sick of getting ultra close-ups of his
face (a Columbus trademark). This was acceptable in the first film,
where the character was meant to be innocent and lost in this new
world, but CoS presents a much more complicated Harry, and this
simply didn't come across. As with most 10 or 11 years old, he got
the part because he looked it; that is no longer enough. Another
element is Columbus's direction, so I might change my mind about
Daniel after I've seen what Cuaron gets out of him.>>

I think Dan has improved tremendoulsy since the first film, and I couldn't
see anything majorly wring with him in this film.  I don't think that he's
bad.  I think he's fantastic!  *is staying shut, as likes Daniel a lot, and
doesn't want to over gush about him**

<<Rupert. This is more Columbus's fault than Rupert's. Many people
commented on Rupert's "rubber face" abilities in the first film, and
Columbus relied on that aspect far too much in this one. The problem
is that Rupert's facial mimickry isn't *that* good: in this film, he
had two basic facial expressions: gormless and terrified. There was
little in between and very little subtelty. I think Columbus should
have spent more effort on getting Rupert to deliver his lines
properly (which he didn't, most of the time) rather than close in on
his face over and over again.>>

Again, I like Rupert, I like his acting, I like his facial expressions, and
I like everything about Ron that he brings to this film.

<<Richard Harris. He was visibly ill and haggard, and should not have
agreed to do this film. He looked uncomfortable and was completely
unconvincing. He did himself a major disservice by this being his
last appearance on screen; otherwise his last film would have
been "The Field", in which he is reputed to have been on top form
(I've not seen it yet).>>

He does look ill in this one.  I jave to say, though, that I think he was
much more 'Dumbledore' in this film.  I the first one, I felt that he lacked
a certain twinkle that I thought Dumbledore should have, and he had it in
this film.  Shame that he is no longer with us.

<<Tom Felton. For starters, his accent was all over the place.
Sometimes quite upper class, sometimes straight out of the bottom of
the Thames. YUK.>>

:-)  Funny.  Tom is fab.

<<Everyone introducing themselves. I appreciate that the team needed
to make quick introductions to the characters for the benefit of
viewers who may not have seen the first film, but I thought the
introductions were a bit heavy-handed. Example: the flying car is
outside Harry's window. Harry: "Ron, Fred, George! What are you
doing?"; Diagon Alley: "Hello Hagrid", "Hello Hermione", with the
names audibly underlined. Colin Creevey gets a single line in the
whole movie: "Hello, I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Gryffindor too".>>

Yep, yep and yep.  Too 'first book'.  The Diagon Alley scene just made me
cringe because it just seemed so formal.  Hoping that they don't do it AGAIN
in the 3rd one.

<<Flying car sequence: too long. A more general comment: Columbus put
too much effort into making the set pieces the talk of the film and
some of them dragged on more than they should have. The car sequence
is one of these. The Whomping Willow didn;t convince me at all.>>

The Whomping Willow, I thought, was great.  I looked great, sounded great,
and I was convinced by it.  The tree was a little too high off the ground I
thought, but apart from that, I enjoyed that scene.

<<Hagrid being taken away and his return (see also above). Neither
scene had any emotional punch and we weren't made to feel that this
was a major bad experience.>>

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Azkaban meant to be the place most feared
by all wizards and magickind?  So why didn't people seemed to be too
concerned that Hagrid was going there, but made a HUGE deal out of him
coming back?

<<Parseltongue. I knew from the hype that Dan was going to be
speaking it rather than English on screen. I didn't like the idea
before seeing the film, and I still don't. The film's dialogue makes
a direct reference to the first film's snake scene, during which
Harry spoke (and heard) English, so I simply couldn't work out why
this should change. Too big a deal of it was made during the Duelling
Club scene, the reaction shots were limp and unconvincing, and
considering its length, it took Snape *far* too long to do anything
about it. The audience would have shared Harry's (and everyone
else's) astonishment if the on-screen snake dialogue had been in
English.>>

OK, this is going to take some explaining of my opinion.  In the first film
when Harry is talking to the python, it's only him around, we only see it
from Harry's PoV, so we only hear it in English, because this is what Harry
hears.  Now in the second film, Harry is in a room full of people, who when
Harry is talking to the snake, they hear the Parsletongue.  I think it would
have been wrong to put it in English because all of the other people don't
hear it in English, so why should we?  If it was being done from Harry's
point of view, then by all means, put it in English, but we were being a
viewer of what he was doing, so we hear the Parseltongue.  Does that make
sense?

<<A FEW OTHER COMMENTS>>  As well as a few of mine.

<<Harry's "Sir" to Vernon after Dobby's first appearance. Sorry, it
just wouldn't happoen in England. What happened to the first movie's
respectful "Uncle Vernon"?>>

I'm English, always have been, always will be, and never have I called my
dad 'Sir', unless I was REALLY trying to piss him off!!  I feel I have to
talk about this point for a while.  Let me tell you a bit about where I live
and stuff (don't worry, it all has a point)  I live in Newcastle upon Tyne,
which is in the North East of England.  I'm privatly educated, and middle
class.  I have always respected my elders.  When I go to school (yes, I'm
still in school, I'm 17!) I call the teachers Mr Whoever, Mrs Whoever, Miss
Whoever.  I always have done.  This year, however, 3 girls from state
schools (comprehensive schools) joined, and they call the teachers, Sir and
Miss, regardless of who they are.  We all find this rather weird, and I'm
sure if we went into their schools and started calling them Mr, Mrs, Miss,
we would be thought of as strange.  But, if one of ANY of us called our
fathers or uncles Sir, we would be thought of as rude.  Saying all of that,
however, the 'Sir' line didn't really bother me at all.  IN fact, I didn't
even notice it until I read some of the messages on here!

<<Despite my reservations above about Dan's acting, I thought his
delivery of the "I'll be in my room [...] pretenting I don't exist"
line was done to perfection. Just the right hint of sarcasm, a little
glint in his eye, but on the surface, very respectful.>>

I loved this line!!!  Perfecto!!

<<Ginny's reference to "jumper" at The Burrow. The tittering in the
various audiences with which I saw the movie indicated where the
online fans were sitting, anticipating the US audiences' reaction. :-)>>

I just figured out what this comment was referring to!  As I'm British, I
was totally not fussed by the use of the word jumper, as I use it all the
time.  But I'm sure if I'd gone to see the film with an American, they would
have been slightly clueless!

<<Lucius ends the F&B confrontation with "see you at work" to Arthur.
I don't like the idea of Malfoy "working" at the Ministry, nor do I
like the implication that he can consider Arthur a "colleague" in any
way. This was mirrored by Draco's "see you at school" to the Trio
immediately afterwards, of course.>>

Does Lucius work at the Ministry?  I don't know what he does!!

<<Lucius putting the diary into Ginny's cauldron is very, very
obvious if you're looking out for it. But for first-time viewers,
it's imperceptible. VERY well done.>>

You know, I didn't even notice him out it in there!  I'm seeing it again
tonight, so I'm going to have to look out for it!  Nope, didn't see it!

<<I suspect this is going to be controversial: I didn't like the way
THE anagram was done. Yes, it was done *exactly* the way it was in
the book, in which it worked fine. But after Riddle's speech, writing
his name in the air takes too long. This was meant to be a major
climax, but it was deflated by the delay in getting the letters up.
If it had been down to me, I'd have had him point at the diary (or
rather, his embossed name thereon), and have those letters rearrange
themselves.>>

I didn't like the way he wrote it in the air.  I would have preferred the
book to rearrange the letters.  Didn't like it in the air.

<<I did, however, like Hermione & Ron telling Harry that hearing
voices is a BAD thing even in the wizarding world (and having it
confirmed by a picture on the wall). This made Harry's reluctance to
say anything about it much more believable.>>

I thought the picture saying it as well was funny!

<<No Dippett in the diary flashback, with the plot elements provided
by Dumbledore istead. I liked this, and in particular his "do you
have something you want to tell me?" and his dismissal of Tom
mirroring his dismissal of Harry.>>

Some people that I've talked to are a buit angry that there is no Dippett,
but I liked the fact that there wasn't.  I liked the Dumbledore/Tom
confrontation!!

<<I'm not 100% certain, but I think the guard at King's Cross was the
same guy from the first movie. Nice touch. :-)>>

It was!  Oh yey, someone else saw this!  I wasn't totally sure, but now I
am!  :-)

<<Harry's request to Dumbledore at the end of the movie "Can I have
that?" rather than the book's "Can I give that diary back to Mr
Malfoy, please?" is *so* much weaker. I did, however, prefer putting
the sock inside the diary rather than the other way around. However,
the sock was a little too clean. :-) (incidentally, nice bit of
foreshadowing: Dobby falls out of the wardrobe at the beginning of
the film with a dirty sock on his nose...).>>

THAT'S how it's done!  The diary in the sock!  I couldn't remember.  I liked
the sock in the diary though.  And a comment, Dobby in the wardrobe at the
start when Harry is talking to Uncle Vernon I thought was hilarious!  It
just kept opening!  ROTFL

<<The Howler. Whilst the animation was very good, the sequence
petered out, rather than ended with a (literal) bang, and I
particularly didn't like the Ginny congratulations tacked onto the
end.>>

I'd've preferred it if it had exploded at the end, and if they had totally
missed out the Ginny bit altogether.

<<The Weasley clock. Positions include "Dentist" and "Quidditch".
Very amusing. Note, however,we only see the top half of it up close.
Doubtless the production team thought that seeing the rest might be a
spoiler... :-)>>

Note also, how we don't see any Bill or Charlie on the clock....shame!  I
suppose to delay casting until the next film, as Alfonso Cuaron may want to
cast someone different to what Columbus would have casted.

I enjoyed this film a lot.  Aragog was terrifying, as were all of the little
spiders.  If you are afraid of them, beware, they are quite hairy and scary!
(lol, it rhymed!)

Love the film, and can't wait to see it again tonight!

Lauren :)