Some of the magic is gone

Rating: 6/10 (19 November 2002)

All in all, I enjoyed HP and the CoS less than the first.
Just like the first one, Emma Watson's and Rupert Grint's performances stood out over the rest of cast. Ron Weasely's role seems to be increasingly slapstick. A lot of scenes depend on his facial expressions. He's very good at expressions, but this could get annoying in future movies.

What bothered me the most was the pacing of the movie and the sloppy transitions. I was downright bored at some points, and this was in spite of the fact that the movie seemed to be rushing along. Scenes would cut abruptly and the new scene would begin with no intro or build up. Particularly noticeable were the quidditch matches. Harry et al would be walking down the hall, and suddenly BANG! CUT SCENE ENTER QUIDDITCH MATCH. It would have been so easy to simply slip a line like, " and during the quidditch game tomorrow..." into the previous scene.
The plot in general meanders along somewhat aimlessly and HP and gang spend most of the time investigating false leads. I know this is how the book proceeded as well, but for some reason it didn't seem to drag and wander so much when I read the book. Perhaps Rowling is just a better writer than Columbus a director.
**** Spoiler ahead but not a major one ****
I didn't like the excessively emotional scenes, which seemed forced and contrived. Of course the ending is going to be cheesey, but come on! It's been a while since I read the book, but I don't remember every single sentence in the last chapter reading, "and his/her eyes were filled with tears..."
On another note, I noticed that there are already action-figure toys of Hermione in cat-form, a rather shameless milking of a scene that lasted what... 3 seconds??