chamber of secrets

Last night, thanks to my sister Maureen's MTRCB (the government film review board) pass, Nikki and I got to watch the latest Harry Potter film. I was severely disappointed in the first film, being a fan of the series from its inception (and still believing that apart from "Jaws" there has never been a film version that did a book justice - well, maybe "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"). I came with almost no hope for this film and left the theatre feeling justified.

To be fair, I was entertained. There was a lot of pleasant eye-candy and truly entertaining moments - the game match and the howler scenes were precious - but overall the film could have been edited better. And what the hell was that ending? Talk about manipulative! In the book, Hagrid and Potter experienced a mutual sense of isolation, but in the film we barely sensed that feeling of being pariahs; thus all the applause for Hagrid reeked of false emotion.

I fought sleepiness (and found myself unconsciously trying to recline my chair as if I were still trapped in a long-haul flight).

Overall, this film was a dud.

A pretty dud, but a dud nonetheless.

Pathetic.

Better to read the books.