I finally got around to seeing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets recently. Oh, that and I plowed through Order of the Phoenix...actually, all but the last 20 pages of it. But that's OK, I figured they weren't important anyway. But, back to my point, about the movie: generally, I thought it was all right. Not bad, not great. I'm indifferent like that for a lot of things.

But I realized something which I thought about it, and about the first movie too. It's not so much that they're bad movies, but it's just a matter of trying to accomplish too much. The main problem (which is what I think a lot of people love about the books) is that Rowling is presenting this alternate world of wizards and magic and stuff. The movies have to present a pretty-much-bare-bones version of the general plot, and can't afford to spend too much time on the details of said world. And I think many people sort of picked up on that, or else the movies might've done better. Critically speaking, of course. I know people moaned that they had to cut out Nearly-Headless Nick's deathday party...and as well they should, I didn't miss it. I did think they spent a tad too much time on other parts, though...such as Harry and Ron in the Anglia "racing" the train.

It's kinda like I felt about the first movie...there was a little less attention paid to the "everyday" kind of activities going on at Hogwarts (for example) than the regular plotline. I'm sure given all the time and money in the world, every movie would include every detail and everyone would enjoy the 5+ hour-long films...given adequate stretching time, I'm sure. But of course, that isn't feasible, or marketable, etc.

I guess it's just the nature of the beast...it's where the movies falter, and where, say, Lord of the Rings triumphs...with those movies you get a good sense of what's going on without having to include every detail. But on the other hand, nobody in their right mind would want to include every detail of Lord of the Rings.

In summation: The movie was all right, and, much like the first one, "fails" in the sense that there's just too much to be included to give it a satisfying, complete feeling.
posted by Tim at 1:32 AM