cgi spiders aren't scary

[pauraque_bk]

We just rewatched Chamber of Secrets, which I own for some reason. I hadn't seen it in a really long time, probably not since about the time I got into the fandom, which was around when it came out on DVD. My impressions were these:

- This movie is so long.
- Absolutely everything that happens is followed by four or five reaction shots. Sometimes the reaction shots are of characters who don't even have names or lines!
- Movies were better before CGI existed.
- This movie is all about hats. Arthur's pointy hat. Minerva's tartan hat. Lucius's furry hat. Harry pulls a deus ex machina literally out of a hat. Hats, man.
- Jason Isaacs and Kenneth Branagh totally saved everything.
- Snakes can't hear. Well, technically they have earlike structures that can detect vibrations. But they sure as hell can't hear you whispering, nor that pebble Harry threw. And they can certainly smell, so Harry should have gotten eaten either way.
- Hagrid's homecoming scene is SO OVERBLOWN that it gets into self-parody territory. Standing ovation WTF??
- Everybody in the world wants to get into Harry's pants.

Comments

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

God, even when I first saw that ending scene in the theatre, I winced. I can't bear to watch it again. (Besides, why bother to watch any more of the film after Lucius leaves? :D )

[pauraque]

I remembered it being overdone, but my memory blocked out the full force of how incredible it is. The worst thing about movies is the knowledge of how many people worked on them (especially in a special effects extravaganza like HP) and how many people looked at a bad scene and thought it was fine, or didn't care.