*** Official "HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Dan Brecher]

The reason? Williams had little involvement- some other composer (can't remember his name- nobody big) used William's themes & added new music. I'm not sure why, but it was a big let-down for me as well.

William Ross was the "other composer".... John Williams did more work on Chamber than many think, he composed all of the new themes and motif's you hear in the film as well as 40 mins of the score itself. The rest Ross arranged, and he actually did a rather good job considering the timespan he had to work in.

Dan

 

[John Geelan]

When I saw the first film, Harry's world was at least a bit Magical because we had never seen it.
Hogswart and its environs were pretty neat. Even the Quidditch game was interesting.

But in the latest movie most of the earlier stuff was just re-gurgitated, did anyone really enjoy the Quidditch match again? The interiors of Hogswart just seemed lifeless this time. Even the bathroom scenes were deadly dull. At least last time their was a Large Troll bashing his way through the place.

The CGI on the Spiders and The Snake were great but still didn't really satisfy.
How about when The Snake almost catch's Harry by the Metal Grate, very novel how he escaped that terror (the old throw a rock trick).

I just expect more from this series considering it comes from an Award Winning Book Series.
It's basically The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew for a new generation.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I just expect more from this series considering it comes from an Award Winning Book Series.
It's basically The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew for a new generation.

Wait until the next movie. If done right, it should prove that the movie series is more than just Hardy Boys pulp.

 

[Ross Williams]

I really don't get the complaints about the kid actors growing up to quickly. Even if they're a year or two older than they're supposed to be, isn't that far less jarring than throwing in a completely new face?

I really hope that those three can make it through all seven films. (If they make all of them.) Of course by that time they'll all be horribly type-cast, but able to live very comfortably for the rest of their lives off their Potter money. Not too bad of a trade off.

 

[Chris]

Actually I think it is right up there with The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka, and also wipes the floor with ET and Shrek. I say this all because there was an entire world created and written here, places that feel like they might just exist somewhere wayout there. The Oz series and Willy Wonka do this very well and I think Potter pulls it off. Kids can't cling to those worlds from the past forever, they need something new to interest them, and Potter is doing just that for the moment.

I'll be the first to say it, I've always semi-bit-my-tongue; but if there were any film that I was outright dissapointed in, it was Shrek. Shrek was made out to be some gigantic, fantastic animation that would send the pixar boys going back to redesign. But Shrek didn't do any of that. The animation quality in Shrek was lacking, the jokes were rotating between tactless and foolish, and it sent me out cold. I always found Shrek to be one of the most dissapointing films of the year, despite the praise, and rank it below "Scooby Doo... The Movie".

Wizard of Oz is always a sentimental classic; and I truly love Wizard of Oz. That having been said, I find this to be true about Harry Potter: it is a simple to understand tale that in a lot of ways speaks to the wishes of children "what if this were just so" which is the part that many seem to miss.. yes, these things just "happen" to Harry, which is what in large part adds to the joy and mystery of the books.

The Wizard of Oz, a fantastic movie and great book series, in a time, inspired kids to read. Harry Potter (the book series) has inspired millions of kids to pick up books, becoming the fastest selling book series in history, and selling having all four books in the NYT Top Ten until the NYT changed the rules to create new categories for them, basically.

 

[David Rogers]

:frowning: Two things. :frowning:
If you hate HP, don't watch and don't read. A *lot* of the posts are by bashers going "it's stupid, quiditich is stupid, the kids are stupid, the movie isn't GWTW/2001/LOTR/etc..." It is sucking the fun out of trying to discuss the film. So you didn't like it; w*h*y must you attempt to convince everyone you're right? Just go to another thread, maybe one you like the movie for?
If you want to bash *other* movies, do it in another thread. This one is for HP.

 

[Jassen M. West]

" Two things.

If you hate HP, don't watch and don't read. A *lot* of the posts are by bashers going "it's stupid, quiditich is stupid, the kids are stupid, the movie isn't GWTW/2001/LOTR/etc..." It is sucking the fun out of trying to discuss the film. So you didn't like it; w*h*y must you attempt to convince everyone you're right? Just go to another thread, maybe one you like the movie for?

If you want to bash *other* movies, do it in another thread. This one is for HP."


This thread is for a discussion of HP if someone liked it or not they can come and state their opinion that way someone else who hasn't seen the movie can read the goods and the bads and make up their mind if they want to see it or not. If a thread for a movie is filled with only praise from people who really liked it then someone who is undecided will read the "great" reviews and go see it and maybe not like it, in the end feeling cheated.
-edit- while i agree that someone just coming in and saying "hated it" and leaving is bad, the ones that are explaining their reasons are fine.

---
jay

 

[John Geelan]

I know how you feel if you really love a movie and someone comes along and hates it, you feel slighted.
I'm only giving my honest gut feeling about the Harry movies.
Some movies you love right off the bat and are instant classics (Willy Wonka), some others it may take time to appreciate.
I didn't care for Harry 1 but now that I have it on DVD, I like it much better.
Maybe Harry 2 will grow on me when it comes to DVD.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Trust me....I completely understand how it feels to have a movie you love ripped to shreds...I am a big Star Wars fan after all!

I look forward to giving COS another chance!

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Chris Atkins said:

Trust me....I completely understand how it feels to have a movie you love ripped to shreds...I am a big Star Wars fan after all!

On a related note, I picked up Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban yesterday and finished it today. Damn good book. Filming it is going to be easy.

 

[Chris]

On a related note, I picked up Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban yesterday and finished it today. Damn good book. Filming it is going to be easy.

On thing about Azkaban, though.. the ending isn't nearly as perky as the first two You realize, the more Potter books you read, that in a seven series set, the first two books really act as a great setup, and the next few (Azkaban and Goblet) are truly dark little books with endings that aren't the sappy hollywood ending
I eagerly look forward to Order of the Phoenix.

 

[GregBoehme]

Only saw the first HP on DVD (didn't believe the hype) and unexpectedly liked it, so went to the theater to see COS.
It was an overall enjoyable movie but as others have stated the flow just didn't seem right. It just felt too much like a book being made into a movie, certain scenes had to be shown so they were but felt out of place or that there should have been more to them.

The Ginny character seemed like she was going to be more substantial but then just disapeared for 3/4 of the movie.

Why did the car show up in the spider cave ?? I thought maybe Dobby was driving it invisibly but the car just shows up from Ron's house which is very far away.

I expected more in the chamber of secrets than just a big chamber... the basalisk is only one secret. There was the whole Tom Riddle/Ginny thing, but them being in there wasn't the reason for naming the chamber... were there more secrets we didn't see ??

How did the Phoenix know Harry was in trouble ?? Why did it bring him a magic hat and why was the sword in the hat ? Think I kinda missed the reasoning (was the hat some kind of storage thing but only certain people could get certain things out of it, or was it a make a wish type thing ??)

The clapping for Hagrid at the end was forced and cheesy... Why ?? I know to have a 'heart warming' ending but it just seemed totally out of place.

Maybe nitpicking too much for a 'childrens' story but there have been plenty of these type movies i've enjoyed without so many questions especially for a blockbuster movie.

Overall it was good but not worth a second theater visit, maybe i'll read the books and get filled in a bit more.

Greg

 

[Kevin Korom]

Greg, you have many good questions, most of which are better explained in the book version. So many of the little details you can put in a book get lost in the film version.

"Why did the car show up in the spider cave ?? I thought maybe Dobby was driving it invisibly but the car just shows up from Ron's house which is very far away."

The car went into the woods after the Womping Willow attack & went "wild". In the book, Harry & Ron run into the car before finding the spider's burrow, but it's more dramatic the way they filmed it.

"How did the Phoenix know Harry was in trouble ?? Why did it bring him a magic hat and why was the sword in the hat ? Think I kinda missed the reasoning (was the hat some kind of storage thing but only certain people could get certain things out of it, or was it a make a wish type thing ??)"

It's briefly touched on in the prologue between Dumbledore & Harry. By showing True Loyalty to Dumbledore when facing Riddle/Voldemort summoned Fowkes to help. Fowkes was another of Dumbledore's faithful, coming to help in time of need.

Why Harry was able to pull the sword out of the hat is less clear, but it was clear that only a true Gryffindor was able to "pull it out of the hat". It's a magical world they live in, and not everything is expained in a crystal-clear fashion (and it shouldn't be).

I went & saw it again, and I liked it better the 2nd time, probably because I knew what to expect. Those of you still on the fence about how you liked it should go again. It's still not as good for me as SS, but it is enjoyable (for me, anyway). I give it 3 out of 5 stars. (SS would be 4 out of 5 for me)

 

[KlausWinkler]

***************
Why Harry was able to pull the sword out of the hat is less clear, but it was clear that only a true Gryffindor was able to "pull it out of the hat". It's a magical world they live in, and not everything is expained in a crystal-clear fashion (and it shouldn't be).
****************

As an alternative, drink a few beers and pretend that Dumbledore rambled about midichlorians for 30 minutes.

 

[Chris Atkins]

As an alternative, drink a few beers and pretend that Dumbledore rambled about midichlorians for 30 minutes.

See...I told you I could empathize...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The Ginny character seemed like she was going to be more substantial but then just disapeared for 3/4 of the movie.

That (and the Hagrid rah rah rah scene) were my two biggest gripes with the film. She SHOULD have been more substantial.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I found this movie to be boring and largely unengaging. This thread has covered most of the reasons why I didn't like this film, but what really put me over the edge was the weak writing as exemplified by the "cheat" ending. It was classic deux ex machina, the old "god from the machine" trick used by Greek playwrights when they've written themselves into a corner. When the plot got too tangled up to resolve, or laziness set in because they couldn't figure out what to do next, they'd simply call upon one of the gods from Mount Olympus to come down and set everything right again. In The Chamber of Secrets, this moment occurred when the Phoenix came out of nowhere to save Harry Potter by giving him the magic hat and the magic sword (how convenient). There was also another earlier moment, when the car saved them from the spiders. This was a very weak and unimaginative sequence. Instead of telling a real story, we're given a puzzle box situation for our heroes to get out of... which is bad enough, but then we're cheated even out of that by having an outside force magically appear and pull them out. *Yawn*
Here's an example of weak writing: Imagine an old Western where settlers find themselves slowly surrounded by Indians. They form a circle around their wagons, get their guns and amunition ready, and hunker down for the fight. Suddenly arrows fly. Indians have surrounded their camp and are closing fast. There is no escape. After a furious exchange of gunfire and arrows, the lead settler fires his last bullet and realizes they have nothing left with which to defend themselves. What will the settlers do? Suddenly, a bugle call sounds! They turn and see the U.S. Cavalry come charging over the hill to chase off the Indians! They're saved!
Note the totally contrived ending which totally extinguishes all sense of danger and adds nothing to the story. The ending was tacked on simply because the writer got himself into an exciting situation but didn't have the skills to get himself out. So instead of devising a way for the settlers to think their way out--and perhaps have something even more interesting and meaningful happen--he pulled out the old deux ex machina cheat. Such cheats deprive the viewer (or reader) of a real story and leave in their wake a curiously unsatisfying and vaguely disappointing feeling. Add all the flash and FX you want, it's still a cheat and a fundamental writing flaw.

 

[GregBoehme]

Thanks for attempting to answer my questions...

Why Harry was able to pull the sword out of the hat is less clear, but it was clear that only a true Gryffindor was able to "pull it out of the hat". It's a magical world they live in, and not everything is expained in a crystal-clear fashion (and it shouldn't be).

But some explanation of what the hat was should have been given ahead of time...ex: "This is an emergency wish hat that helps people out in time of need" or some such nonsense... as it stands it's just some old hat that the phoenix brings for no obvious reason that just happens to hide a sword that Harry just happens to need at that particular time, all of which hasn't been seen or even mentioned before.

As I stated before, I understand it is primarily geared towards kids and I may be over analyzing.. but as the above poster stated the 'calvery to the rescue out of nowhere' scenario is pretty lame... at least give a quick plausible reason why the calvery is riding to the rescue.... Ex: Harry's voice defending Dumbledore travels up the pipes to Dumbledore's office where the Phoenix overhears grabs hat and takes off... a short 10 second scene that would have made some sense of what was going on.

Again not a bad movie, just needed cleaning up and smoothing over.

As stated think i'll give the books a shot sometime...

Greeg

 

[Kevin Korom]

Greg,
that was the Sorting Hat the sword came out of, not some new hat...sorry I didn't make that clear.
There is much speculation among Potterphiles(and I want to make it clear that's all it is) that Harry will turn out to be the descendant of Godric Gryffindor, and that's why he was able to conjure the sword.
Book 5 looks like it will clear up a lot of these questions about his family's past (and no doubt raise many more). Besides, if we knew all the answers, there'd be nothing to argue about

 

[Brian Ford]

As stated think i'll give the books a shot sometime...

You owe it to yourself. I started reading them just to understand all the hype. By the time I was finished with the fourth book (and this is a common reaction my friends/family have had as well when they finished), I was surprised at how much of page-turner they all turned out to become.