Goodbye, Friends of Hagrid ...

Rating: 8/10 (25 November 2002)

SOME SPOILERS BUT NOTHING TERRIBLE
Let us start off with a quick summary of this reviewer: I *am* a Harry Potter fan, and I did have several expectations from this film. I loved having the chance to watch it, but I seriously doubt I will go and see it again until it makes its inevitable migration to DVD.
That is not to say I did not admire everyone involved for their extraordinary efforts in bringing the second HP book to life. The casting, production design, acting and subtle background nuances are part of what makes this film grand. I loved seeing the Weasley home and the Ford Anglia, and I thought the movie did not try to adapt *everything* from the book into the finished film. Jason Isaacs was not my first choice for Lucius Malfoy (I thought that honor should have gone to Charles Dance), nor was Gilderoy Lockhart being portrayed by Kenneth Branaugh (Alan Cummings would have been deliciously narcissistic), but these are nitpicks. Overall, the film wins, and so do we. The Quidditch game alone is intense and exciting.
Incidentally, if you found Dobby and Moaning Myrtle annoying, GOOD. That was definitely intentional. If you think every character is supposed to be lovable or despicable, think again. Rowling did not create such two dimensional contrivances. That is one reason her works are so fascinating to so many of *all* ages.
But CoS has problems that make it less than terrific. For one thing, the pacing is a bit too slow. So faithful an adaptation of the book has given us this overlong, plodding cow instead of a tightly focused bit of storytelling. Some purists will say that the first movie was long, so why shouldn't the second one be equally long? Simply because the first movie was introducing the world of Harry Potter to us. In this film, that world is established. Some parts of the book, while wonderful to read, just lengthen the film unnecessarily. I thought some inclusions (like Mrs. Norris the cat getting petrified) were slavishly unnecessary for those who never read the book. (If you have read CoS, you learn Filch was a "mudblood", so the attack on his cat keeps with the entire theme of mudbloods getting attacked.)
Some characterizations were inconsistent for purists of the series. Snape was downright kindly to Lockhart in the Wizard's duel. The Snape of the book looked like he was going to turn Lockhart into a red stain. Fawkes was almost great, but not quite. And Minerva McGonagall was too easily terrified compared to the tough lady from the first film.
Then there's Hagrid. First of all, he barely has any screen time in this movie. To make up for it, he is given this rousing standing ovation at the end of the film that is downright ridiculous. Hagrid's reaction to being imprisoned in Azkaban is that it was inconsequential. In fact, Azkaban is terrifying, but from Hagrid's reaction to being taken there, you would never know it.
I liked CoS, but I could not love it like I did the first film. It get's a mostly positive review, but it's not as great as it could have been.