Myrtle misplayed... Direction distracted

Rating: Null/10 (16 November 2002)

***SPOILER ALERT: some scenes are breifly summarized below***
I just came from viewing this most eagerly anticipated film. I have three principal criticisms; but they in no way diminish the essential quality of the story that I believe to be J.K. Rowling's best yet.
The story was told accurately, but not as well as it could have been if Chris Columbus had been hitting his stride, as he so admirably demonstrated he was capable of doing with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's ["Sorceror's" for the Yankees] Stone. The direction was uninspired and lingered too long on features added to the screenplay that were not in the story: Harry almost falling out of the flying car after the train catches it; the StarWars-esque "pod-race" chase for the Golden Snitch during the Quidditch match; the second attack of the spiders on the way out of the Dark Forest; and the blind Basilisk sewer run... none of which were described by Rowling's narrative. I would have much preferred to see the de-Gnoming of the garden at The Weasley's Burrow; Harry's eavesdropping on the Malfoys in Knockturn Alley; Nearly-Headless-Nick's Death-day Party with John Cleese and the comical hijinks of the captain of the Headless Hunt; the scene where Lockhart is easily hoodwinked into granting Hermione access to the potions book in the restricted section of the library; and the discovery of the notice that the Dueling club was going to be opened!
Kenneth Branagh undoubtedly has the ability to portray the foppish flamboyant bumbling fraud that is the character of Gilderoy Lockhart; but his performance seemed to have been stoppered in a bottle by inadequate costuming and over-direction. Most obviously, Lockhart's character should have had a different costume for every scene he appeared in, and they should have been garishly coloured. Having remedied that would have greatly supported the characterization that was due by cuing Branagh to go over top---he's supposed to be comic relief!---and to remind Columbus not to hold him back. The duality of the character as a pansy and a poser was almost invisible with the exception of the late scene where he's prodded into taking on the Chamber's Monster.
The character of Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of the girl's lavatory, was mis-performed by Shirley Henderson; but I'm confident she's not entirely to blame. She either didn't read the book in favour of emulating Helena Bonham Carter's performance as Morgan Le Fey in Merlin (1998); she was incapable to portraying the deceased frustrated outcast schoolgirl; or, more likely in my opinion, simply suffered from the director's apathetic attention to what should have been more deeply layered scenes.
It's no secret that Chris Columbus was weary of being away from his own children, who had initially convinced him to take charge of the first Harry Potter movie---I had no idea how disaffected he was until I saw the second finished product. Several scenes struck me as particularly flat, e.g., the scene where Harry and Ron pose as Crabbe and Goyle in the Slytherin common room; and, others were unnecessarily simplified or melodramatic, e.g., every one of Rupert Grint's scenes had him displaying much more extreme emotions than were warranted---it cheapened the character of Ron Weasley as the enthusiastic side-kick, and made him more like a sissy hanger-on (which was due to be Colin Creevey's lot). Likewise the editing seemed to lack a concerned director's influence---it was too choppy---most likely due to over-indulgence of the screenwriter's desire to showcase gratuitous special effects (q.v., over-extended scenes noted earlier).
The pace was good, but it lacked the polish of the original feature. Nonetheless, the movie was enjoyable. My rating: ***1/2