Charger Arts & Entertainment

New Harry Potter sequel tops the first, but falls short of book’s magic

Kathleen Robles, Thomasina Bennett, Charger Staff

Recently Americans of all ages have been swept up in the Harry Potter craze. Even if you are not a fan, you probably have heard about this magical world created by J. K. Rowlings. There are now four books and two movies available. The latest movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, opened on Nov. 15.

It is always hard for readers to watch a book made into a movie and enjoy it. Time restrictions and other difficulties make it hard for the movie producers to bring the book completely to life. The movie cannot be what everyone envisions.

This is true for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Missing scenes and misused lines were a recurring problem. Characters were wrongly portrayed and trivial but entertaining chapters were cut, such as the Burrow, home of Ron Weasley, Harry’s best friend. Not as much time was spent on these scenes in the movie, as in the book where J.K. Rowlings leads you to see how poor but yet content the Weasleys were.

In the book, Harry arrives at the Burrow and is greeted rather oddly by the Weasley clan. Then he is welcomed as one of their own. This is illustrated when Harry helps the Weasley boys in de-gnoming the garden. In the movie, this hilarious and male-bonding moment was not included.

Ginny, the youngest and only Weasley daughter, is rather fond of Harry. She is extremely shy around him in his few days at the Burrow before school term begins. In the movie, she is a rather flat character with no personality and few scenes, while in the book she was a key factor to Harry’s newest dilemma.

George and Fred Weasley, the infamous trouble-making twins of Hogwarts, were hardly seen or heard from in the latest movie. In the book, they were crucial background characters who provided comic relief.
One of the most memorable scenes in the book and movie was the amazing flying Ford Angela. These special effects were excellent. The Whompping Willow, the angry and temperamental tree on Hogwarts grounds, made for a wonderful crash landing spot for Ron and Harry.

Hogwarts has a brand new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. Lockhart is known throughout the wizard world for his skill. He single-handely vanquishes many evils and writes about them in his many bestselling books, particularly Magical Me. He spends most class periods speaking of his wonderful, dashing, “best smile award” instead of teaching students about the Dark Arts.

In the second book Harry discovers he has the rare ability to speak with snakes. The “snake language” was very well done.

Fans of the novel are already familiar with the sport Quidditch. While wonderfully detailed in the book, poor details and weak action in the film do not live up to the book’s promise.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the superior of the two movies released thus far. Director Chris Colombus will have a hard time topping himself for the third film. Many twists and turns make this a spectacular movie.