Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

So last night I saw Harry Potter. I got a few beers with some friends then went to check it out by my lonesome. I picked up a pack of twizzlers and walked in just as the movie was starting. The theater was pretty empty and I made myself really comfortable. No one was around me at all so I kicked off my shoes and put me sock feets up on the armrests of the seats in front of me and scrunched all down. I was totally in the mood for a good movie and even had a new experience already because I never watched a movie in the theater with my shoes off. (I'm sure moviegoers everywhere are appreciative because my feet smell like cool ranch doritos sometimes.) As for the twizzlers I ate all them all during the movie. It's not good to eat a whole pack of movie twizzlers. They made me burp alot and made me feel weird. 

OK the Potter. It was absolutely magical... magical how they made so much magic of the book disappear. Oh, let me start off by saying I did actually read three of the four books and liked them alot. So this review is from that perspective. The great thing about the Potter books is not really the actual stories. They always half-confused me. What worked was the world that was created and the small details that filled it. That was the pleasure of the books. The big big things and the little things. The path they took to get to the end of the story was littered with really coolio little magical items and exciting scenes. Not knowing what's around the corner. Poking your finger at something weird to see what it does. The characters were the good, the bad, and the ugly.  The stories themselves were sort of whatever to me.

In the movie's defense it does give the feeling that they tried their best to make a good movie. This movie did not fail because they were lazy or just looking to cash out (even though that of course is the priority here). I think they made a great effort to capture the spirit of the book. As I was watching it I tried to pinpoint what it was that made the movie feel flat. The music could have been better I guess. It wasn't swirling and menacing and bam bam enough- but that wasn't it.  The acting seemed ok but the red headed kid always looked like he was gonna puke. The effects were cool and at some points the visuals were actually really cool to look at- but they usually didn't make my heart jump. Maybe there was too much dialogue or too much story but I'm not sure if that was the case either. The truth of it is I don't really know what was off with this movie. I was just bored alot. I guess when all good books become movies, things have to be left behind. Kids that are Potter fans will love this flick because there's something magical about seeing things you read come to life on the screen. Too bad the magic in the movie didn't come across for us grownup muggles.

Three Good Things About this Movie

- The spider scene was cool in a Starship Troopery way.
- The blond haired bad kid was like mini-James Spader from the 80's.
- The Quidditch scene was very cool and smashy.

Three Bad Things About this Movie

- It was like almost three hours. Let's not get carried away here. 2.2 hours is plenty. C'mon editors! Chop chop!
- The whole time you knew Richard Harris was dead and that was sad cause he's coolio.
- The story made no sense to me. I couldn't really follow it and I read the frickin book. I might be a dummy though.

Bottom line is this isn't a great movie but I appreciated the effort and honesty of it. I actually think this movie might be better for you if you didn't read the book. Because the book will have your imagination running wild and free while you read it. In comparison, seeing this movie is like staring at the story in a friggin zoo.