HTF REVIEW: "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Ken_McAlinden]

The fact is that she's got a crush on Harry - an aspect barely acknowledged in the film, and then only when he first arrives at The Burrow

Twice actually if you count Draco Malfoy's teasing about Potter having a girlfriend when she sticks up for him.

They also did a good job of showing Lucius Malfoy's "slipping of the mickey" so to speak in a way that is shown outright, but not obvious at first viewing. Brian DePalma pulled a similar stunt in Femme Fatale, but his distraction was much more distracting.

Regards,

 

[Ron-P]

Is anyone else having problems with the layer change in this DVD? At approximately the 1:31:00 mark, the picture freezes and will go nowhere else -- not even to the menus.

No problems here. I have a JVC player and the layer change is one of the quickest I've seen in quite awhile. The disk player flawlessly.


Peace Out~

 

[TheLongshot]

The fact is that she's got a crush on Harry - an aspect barely acknowledged in the film, and then only when he first arrives at The Burrow

There was also dialog to that effect in the first film, that Ginny would have loved to have met Harry.

I agree that the lack of Ginny for most of the film hurts it. You really aren't given any clues that there is something up with Ginny, which makes the ending look like it came out of the blue. A good mystery should give the audience enough clues to be able to figure things out. There weren't enough here.

Jason

 

[Roberto Carlo]

No problems here. I have a JVC player and the layer change is one of the quickest I've seen in quite awhile. The disk player flawlessly.

Thanks, Ron. It gives me the excuse I needed to buy that Sony 755 player with SACD.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

A good mystery should give the audience enough clues to be able to figure things out. There weren't enough here.

Those were enough for me. For a pair of films that are frequently criticized for being too prosaic and expository, it seems odd that anyone to criticize one for not spelling things out more obviously. One thing along these lines that the book did do better was explain Ginny's compulsion to retrieve the book after throwing it away.

Regards,

 

[TheLongshot]

For a pair of films that are frequently criticized for being too prosaic and expository, it seems odd that anyone to criticize one for not spelling things out more obviously.

I'm not asking it to be spelled out more. I'm saying that the fact that Ginny basically not even being mentioned from the screamer to when she gets "kidnapped" towards the end hurt the film. There is no reason to suspect her of anything. She's basically a non-entity until she's needed for a plot device.

As for your hints. #1 is so subtle that even when I'm looking for it, it is difficult. (And it should be. Harry doesn't figure it out until Dobby hints it.) #2 could be anyone, including Hagrid.

I don't expect things to be spelled out for me in movies, but I would like to at least have a fighting chance to figure it out, which this movie doesn't give me.

Jason

 

[Dan Kaplan]

There's a genre that we could call the Jerk-Around Movie, because what it does is jerk you around. It sets up a situation and then does a bait and switch. You never know which walnut the truth is under. You invest your trust and are betrayed.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert...-basic28f.html

Dan

 

[Dan Rudolph]

COS isn't a bait and switch movie as it did provide an explanation that made sense eventually. I didn't read the book, and I suspected Ginny. Although I based this on the principals that it had to be a new character (Ginny wasn't technically new, but was barely in Sorceror's Stone), but it can't be entirely the obvious one (so Lucious Malfoy was out). I figured Tom Riddle, but he couldn't have doen everything from that book, so there had to be an accomplice.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm not asking it to be spelled out more. I'm saying that the fact that Ginny basically not even being mentioned from the screamer to when she gets "kidnapped" towards the end hurt the film. There is no reason to suspect her of anything. She's basically a non-entity until she's needed for a plot device.

So then you're asking for them to keep around a character who has very little to do for that stretch of the film to waste precious screen time just to keep her in the viewer's mind? That alone would spell things out, I'd think. The book bit with Lucius isn't hidden from the audience... there's a closeup of the one book taken and another closeup of the two books when returned.

About the only thing I would have done is intigrate a shot or two of Ginny being particularly distraught when the petrifications took place. Other than that, I thought the movie played pretty fair.

 

[Tim Glover]

My daughters and I watched this this evening. Agree on the video quality. Excellent! However, to my ears the audio was rather flat and uninspiring? Not horrible, just no real juice at all. Sorcerer's Stone's audio was more alive sounding to me. Well, anyway, just my .02. I also think the movie was good, but could have been great if only they would have edited about 30 mins out and made it tighter.

 

[greg_t]

I thought the audio overall was pretty good, with lots of good bass and surround usage, but I do think it sounds a little flat at times. Possibly due to the fact that Warner contiues to use the 384kbps bitrate for the DD releases. That is one question that needs to be addressed on the upcoming chat, what they have against increased audio bitrates?

 

[Tim Glover]

I played some scenes again and played it a little louder and it wasn't as bad...but still flat sounding. It does feel compressed though. Strange that laserdisc used 384 kbps I think? and sounded tremendous. Why not the same results?

 

[John Geelan]

To me the audio kicked in great at the end with the serpent (demo quality sound there with my SVS).

The video looked excellent.

The movie is still much too long (2 1/2 hrs+) but it seemed to play better at home on DVD than in the theater.

 

[Nick Sievers]

Did anyone else think the audio during that 'mandrake' plant scene was awful? The teacher gave the children ear muffs in the film but we don't bloody get them, yet we still have to listen to that overly high-pitched shrill.