Writer (book): J.K. Rowling
Writer (movie): Steve Kloves
Director: Chris Columbus
Composer: John Williams (with some assistant from William Ross, who filled in when John Williams had scheduling conflicts)
Cast:
[returning cast]
Harry Potter- Daniel Radcliffe
Ron Weasley- Rupert Grint
Hermonine Granger- Emma Watson
Draco Malfoy- Tom Felton
Ginny Weasley- Bonnie Wright
Oliver Wood- Sean Biggerstaff
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore- Richard Harris (RIP 2002)
Professor McGonagall- Maggie Smith
Professor Snape- Alan Rickman
Hagrid- Robbie Coltrane
Mrs. Weasley- Julie Walters
[newcomers]
Dobby the House-Elf (voice)- Toby Jones
Gilderoy Lockhart- Kenneth Branagh
Lucas Malfoy- Jason Isaacs
Mr. Weasley- Mark Williams
Moaning Myrtle- Shirley Henderson
Tom Riddle- Christian Coulson
Notable Nomination:
Grammy- Best Score for Movie/TV/Visual Media- John Williams
Write-up:
Preface
Yesterday, J.K. Rowling released more "trade secrets" on her website Pottermore. This time about the Dursleys, how they met, Vernon's reasons for disliking James Potter and by extension Harry, and the original plan for Petunia to have a more poignant goodbye scene with Harry.
I joined Pottermore a while ago, got sorted into Slytherin House, and really hadn't spent much time there. Mainly because I had trouble figuring out how to access the secrets. You not only have access to Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Dueling Club and the ability to make potions. [Potions, I practiced and found it difficult]. You can also go through the books in a new interactive way where you go through the different chapters, pick up items within the pages and unlock additional information like mythologies and character back stories.
One trick I learned- it helps to double-click on the scenes to navigate and find more stuff. That should have been fairly simple :P but nonetheless, I've got that part of Pottermore figured out.
Anyway... yesterday, I got through the first two books and figured... it's been a while since I wrote a Harry Potter post. Why not do another before I continue onto Prisoner of Azkaban...
Predecessor vs. Sequel
What I liked about the first two movies was the sense of continuity. You could see the two movies back to back and feel as if the second movie is a continuation of the first.They had all the same cast back (with some new additions). Except for Emma Watson's hairstyle and voices changing, all the young actors looked as they did in the previous film. And it also helps that Chris Columbus stuck around for a second Potter outing.
A lot of his critics say he doesn't have a unique style, but I believe, combined with John Williams' score, his directing style helped give these early Harry Potter films a sense of magic.
As for comparing these first two movies, the sequel follows its predecessor very well. It brings the old magic back while improving on it with the additions of new characters and advancing the plot. It was also handled in a way where it could be accessible to people who'd never seen the original or read any of the books. All the characters are defined well and introduced as they appear... as if you didn't already know who Dumbledore was :roll:
As far as the pacing goes, though, I still prefer the original because The Chamber of Secrets does drag in some places. Particularly in the 2nd act- from the scene at Dumbledore's office up to when Harry and Ron "follow the spiders."
Book vs. Movie
Again, only a few minor differences between the book and the movie. Certain characters were written out and had their dialogue given to others. There were certain omissions- most of which are available in the DVD special features and whenever the Family channel airs the movie- that attempted to streamline the film.
Considering how much was taken out of the movie, it's still surprising that this is the longest of the movies at 2 and a half hours. It's like the final Lord of the Rings movie in that, you think it was long with all those extra endings, in the Extended Edition it's even longer... go figure.
The adaptation with the Sorcerer's Stone was practically flawless with only a few changes and omissions.
The same can be said about here.
Yet I would rate the book much higher than the movie because of pacing issues.
There were also a few small bits in the book I liked that didn't make it into the movie.
Particularly, there was a scene where Ginny was trying to tell Harry something important and Percy kept telling her to drop the subject... she and Harry only interact a little at the beginning of the movie and except for 3 quick cameos with no dialogue, she's all but forgotten about until the end of the movie where she plays a pivotal role... I'm just saying it would have been nice to give her a little more to do so the end of the movie didn't feel random (at least for those who didn't read the book).
But seriously... Percy has more to worry about than his relationship with halfblood Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater getting around. (But then, except for him being an arrogant Prefect and Head Boy, his role shrank considerably for the movies... in the books, the evolution of his character affected Harry and the Weasleys in notable ways that would have been interesting to see unfold on film).
Plus, the Heir of Slytherin's "how I did it" speech in the Chamber is far more interesting in the book. A bit more sinister, I guess you could say.
Plot
Harry's stuck at the Dursleys for another summer. Dobby the House Elf pays him a visit (at a most inopportune time) to warn him against returning to Hogwarts.
Once there, a devious plot starts to unfold. Multiple muggle-born (they have "normal" non-magic parents) students are being petrified, which may result in the closing of Hogwarts if allowed to continue. Harry and his friends, of course, are on a mission to investigate and, hopefully, put an end to these attacks by the Heir of Slytherin. All the while, they're trying to make sense of their new, seemingly inept, Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart.
New Characters
Dobby is one of those characters you don't truly appreciate until later on Unlike with Snape (who I didn't appreciate or like until finishing the final book), you figure Dobby out by the end of this movie, enjoy his cameos throughout the books and in Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows.
But off the top, for someone who's so concerned about saving Harry's life, you'd think he was an idiot or just going about it all wrong. Some of these measures he takes are worthy a facepalm- if you have it in you to not strangle him.
Lucius Malfoy is a great new villain that appears throughout the series. Nobody could have played him better than Jason Isaacs... who plays good villains in general. When he appears on screen, he just commands your attention. He's that good... but then I could say that about a lot of the British greats in the adult roles.
As for the character himself, he's just someone you'll love to hate.
It's hard to believe that Moaning Myrtle was played by a 37-year old woman. Another great addition to the series. In the book, I think she was portrayed as a little more terrifying. But most of it was the write-up on her reputation, which is why this girls' bathroom is rarely used. In the movie, she comes off as almost bi-polar. Not to say I'm making fun/light of that illness, but her mood swings can either be terrified or hilarious. Especially when she goes from angry/frustrated to calm when Harry questions her for information.
Then of course we have our yearly sucker, I mean, Defense against Dark Arts teacher.
I found some peculiar, interesting tidbits about Gilderoy Lockhart on Pottermore. The best part was finding out the reason behind Dumbledore's appointment of him... from a moral standpoint, it makes a lot of poetical sense, but considering the danger inside the school walls, he was the worst possible choice.
Of all the DADA teachers through the course of Harry's time at Hogwarts, he is easily the most skeptical "casting" choice for this position. He's a devilishly handsome celebrity wizard with multiple best sellers telling how he dispatched all these dark creatures. Yet his track record as a teacher shows him to be severely inept. He sets a crop of Cornish pixies loose in a class session and leaves it to the students to take them on alone. He removes the bones in Harry's broken arm instead of fixing it. And when on the first and final occasions the Heir of Slytherin leaves a message, he shows up after everyone else... you'd think this was Professor Quirrell [who allied WITH Voldemort] all over again.
Interestingly, Jude Law was deemed too young to play him and Hugh Grant ALMOST played him, but had to drop out last minute due to scheduling conflicts (I'm guessing the "other" movie was either Bridget Jones's Diary, About a Boy or Two Weeks Notice).
I can see Hugh Grant playing the role, but glad that Kenneth Branagh got it. He nails that devilishly handsome self-absorbed persona perfectly.
Additional Comments
Again, like all the films, it's like a great mystery novel. If you pay attention to all the details, they all make sense at the end. But thanks to certain edits on parts of the filmmakers (today I noticed a VERY significant plot hole), some of the end results are still big surprises.
One scene I remember enjoying the first time, and still enjoy very much, is where Harry and Ron change into Crabbe & Goyle (via Polyjuice Potion) to pump Draco Malfoy for information on the Chamber of Secrets and Heir of Slytherin. While trying to find the Slytherin common room, Harry and Ron run into Percy and escape detention for being out after hours thanks to Malfoy's interference. Just sitting in the common room with him... it's like you're getting away with something as well as seeing things from the enemy's point of view. And for a moment, I saw why Tom Felton had/has all those/these fangirls.
This is the first movie where we get to see The Burrow where the Weasleys live. Harry had never been to a wizard house before, so seeing things like the magical clock (which shows where all the family members are), knitting needles that work by themselves and a self-washing dish scrubber... yeah, it's pretty awesome.
Not so awesome... my arachnophobia is proportional to the size of the spider, so the bigger they are, the more they kinda freak me out. So the scene with the giant spiders was not a favorite of mine. That isn't to say I scream my head off... I just do a lot of cringing and "ew"ing.
Then there's the basilisk. I don't mind snakes, but this giant snake is pretty terrifying. The rendering on Pottermore... phew, it was so good it was scary, especially with all the sound effects and animation.
<-- this is what a real basilisk looks like, btw
Exposition
I'm all about lists, yet I never got around to making one about the best days of my life :P But if I ever did, this particular day I'm about to go into is top 3 easily...
"Mamma Mia!" is one of those musicals that's really family-oriented. It focuses on the bond between mother and daughter and as well as fathers and daughters. That particular day, my dad took my sister and I to New York to see it... that Saturday in June 2006 per that moment was probably "the best day ever"... the quintessential best day ever... we saw a musical we really enjoyed, my dad surprised us afterwards when he gave us the CD's he bought during intermission [or maybe before it started, not sure], and we went to a restaurant for one of my favorite dinners ever [Salmon Imperial... my mouth still waters thinking about it. Sadly, this restaurant closed just recently.
Whenever I listen to the soundtrack, it takes me back to that day instantly. I remember the overture and the excitement billowing in me. The musical numbers and how they were set up, I still remember really well.
There was also a time when I was in college where I almost couldn't listen to the soundtrack. Certain songs ("Lay your love on me" and "Under attack") were too poignant given what I was going through at the time... or they just made me miss home too much.
A couple years later, they adapted the movie to film, so my mom, sister and I went to the theaters to see it. We weren't quite dancing in the aisles, but enjoyed ourselves... but the movie isn't without its flaws.
At the present moment, I'm inclined to believe that Broadway wins [again] by a landslide, but I'll break my discussion into a couple categories to figure out how true that is.
Casting
First the positives...
Amanda Seyfried was the perfect Sophie. I think this was her first big role since "Mean Girls" and it was a great performance. Probably my favorite of hers still... not that I've ever been disappointed.
The duo of Christine Baranski and Julie Walters as the other Dynamos, Tanya and Rosie, rocked it... other than the "Does your mother know?" number and one particular line ("You're supposed to blow, not suck"- it was regarding an air mattress but nonetheless got a lot of laughs), Tanya wasn't memorable in the Broadway version. The same goes for Rosie and "Take a Chance on Me"... but even that number was better in the movie.
Of the three guys, Colin Firth was the best casting choice. A perfect Harry Bright.
:sigh:
I can have my nitpicks about the choice of songs, how the arrangement differed from Broadway... but my biggest grievances lie with the two leads...
For the record, I quite like Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Julie & Julia"... the issue I have in general is that she's nominated for an Oscar nearly EVERY year...
To this day, I maintain that casting her and Pierce Brosnan as Donna and Sam was NOT because they were the best people for the job...they were cast because Hollywood wanted big names for this movie... as if they weren't confident enough in the huge following this musical has...
Firstly, Meryl Streep was shy of 60 when she was cast for "Mamma Mia!"... Donna is supposed to be a middle-aged woman in her mid 40's, assuming that she met Sam, Bill and Harry when she was in college... therefore too old...
Secondly... :sigh: "The Winner Takes it All" is supposed to be this big triumphant number breaming with feminine energy. Her vocal range didn't allow for that big finishing note, so when it finally came and didn't happen... the bottom fell out of my stomach, I was so disappointed. [As for my biggest disappointment of the movie, see the soundtrack section]
Meanwhile, Pierce Brosnan... I don't care that he was freaking James Bond for 4 movies... I think I only saw "Die another day" and he was quite good... I'm even willing to give him the age thing... only 55 when "Mamma Mia!" was cast...
HE CAN'T SING!
"S.O.S." was painful, his voice was so bad. I'm sure there are dozens of actors in the right age range with a much better singing voice...
This movie also introduced me to Dominic Cooper, who I may forever associate with the character of Howard Stark (aka Tony Stark's father)... as great as he was, I fell out of love with him during his overreaction scene- where he accuses Sophie of using their wedding as an excuse to find who her dad is... that's kinda harsh... also kind of a silly nitpick considering my opposition to the above casting choices.
I also understand that they changed Bill Austin to Bill Anderson for the movie because Stellan Skarsgard wouldn't have matched with the whole "Indiana Jones travel writer" thing Bill Austin had going on... having that said, I sometimes wish they didn't change the character and cast Keith Urban instead :P even if the age range is off by quite a few years
Soundtrack
I suppose the best way to address this is going through the soundtrack song by song and saying who did the better version.
1. I have a dream (tie)
Both version are still very clear in my head
2. Honey, Honey (tie)
Both versions were memorable, but the dialogue where Sophie and her friends were reading "dot dot dot" in Donna's diary was much funnier on Broadway
3. Money, Money, Money (Broadway)
-Broadway- I still remember the set-up well... Donna is on one side of the stage and during the company interjections, they shift the spotlight to them... vocally superior and funner
-Hollywood- includes daydreams of what Donna, Tanya and Rosie would do with the extra money... vocals are good, but aesthetically I prefer the former.
4. Thank you for the music (Broadway)
-Broadway- vocals is shared by Sophie, Sam, Bill and Harry, and introduced early on
-Hollywood-song was deferred to the end credits
5. Mamma Mia! (tie)
Both versions handled it well. The staging was more hilarious in the movie, but Donna's dialogue on the Broadway soundtrack is funnier ("I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to clean out my handbag... or something")
6. Chiquita (Hollywood)
-Broadway- I don't remember this number quite as well, but it was a sentimental pep talk
-Hollywood- lots of hilarious moments that made me fall in love with Tanya and Rosie in this version
7. Dancing Queen (Hollywood)
-Broadway- great vocals
-Hollywood- great vocals, great humor, great use of the set and company
8. Lay all your love on me (Broadway)
-Broadway- vocally superior and I personally prefer their aesthetic to the movie
-Hollywood- great humor with Sky's friends marching in their masks and fins
9. Super Trooper (tie)Both versions were great with the movie being more on the sentimental side
10. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (Broadway)
-Both versions did it really well, but again, I prefer the vocals and the dialogue of the Broadway version to the movie
11. The name of the game (Broadway)
-vocally, Amanda Seyfried sang this really well for the movie... but the producers, for whatever reason, decided to cut this scene and include it among the DVD extras... so I had no choice but to give the point to Broadway
-personally, this number is another sentimental one for me because it makes me think of my dad... after all, this is the point in the story where Sophie confronts Bill about whether he's her father.
12. Voulez Vous (tie)
-prefer the Broadway dialogue, but both versions did this really well
-Tally so far:
Broadway (5), tie (5), Hollywood (2)
13. Under Attack (Broadway)-obviously because this number was omitted from the movie entirely... one of my favorite songs... this dream sequence was one of the most memorable moments... Sophie's in a bed that's being moved back and forth across the stage by Sky's friends wearing snorkeling gear
14. One of Us (Hollywood)-technically, this song was omitted from the movie, but they made the smart choice by limiting its involvement to dialogue... the song is so short, I completely forgot about it
15. S.O.S. (BROADWAY)
-Broadway- remember this number really well too... they had spotlights on Donna and Sam depending on who was singing
-Hollywood- bad singing aside, this number felt kinda phony because it had one singing while the other was doing some random activity without hearing them singing... as if it was something from "Glee" (and I'm a huge Gleek, btw)
16. Does your mother know? (Hollywood)
-the Hollywood version was more hilarious (thanks to Christine Baranski's performance) and memorable... don't remember much about the Broadway version
17. Knowing me, knowing you (Broadway)
-my biggest disappointment from the movie was cutting this, my favorite song from the musical... I agree it would have been repetitive in the movie (since we already had that impressive "S.O.S." number) and Pierce Brosnan's voice would have ruined it, but I almost wanted to cry because they didn't include it
-the man who played Sam... both on the soundtrack and on stage, I loved their vocals on the final note leading to the chorus... "...Goodbye" and "...say"... one of my favorite vocal numbers in the musical
18. Our Last Summer (Broadway)
-Broadway- a duet between Donna and Harry, revisiting their "hippie summer" in Paris
-Hollywood- took the place of "Thank you for the music," much earlier in the script and instead featured Sophie with the three men... I just didn't buy into that interpretation of it :(
19. Slipping Through My Fingers (Hollywood)-Hollywood handled the sentimentality of this number really well... I don't remember it nearly as well on Broadway
20. The Winner Takes it All (Broadway)
-in the movie, this number felt very long and drawn out...
-Broadway- had this been a concert, this would have been the penultimate standing ovation number... that big note at the end is just... WOW... the movie missed a huge opportunity here
21. Take a Chance on Me (Hollywood)
-Broadway- still remember how Rosie was chasing Bill through the empty church before the wedding :P
-Hollywood- the 2nd to last song with lots of hilarious turns and we also get to see Harry's other half (they also clarified in the church scene that Donna was the first [and last] woman he ever loved... which kinda makes sense when you really think about it]
22. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do (Hollywood)
-I don't really remember it in the Broadway version... it was kinda funny in the movie where Sam flashes the ring at Donna and she stammers through the titular lyrics :P nice touch
23. I Have a Dream (Reprise)... (tie)
-Broadway- I don't remember the scene all that well, but the ending of the song gave me chills... and made me so sad this thing was ending... that's a great feeling to have at the end of a show, hating to see it end
-Hollywood- it was a pleasant send-off and great ending... hated to see it end, but it didn't elicit an "ugly cry" response...
The great part with both versions is that they had the encore at the very end... in the Broadway musical, after being sad it was ending, the cast came out and sang a couple more songs for us.
It's great they kept this in the movie for the ending credits, including everyone wearing the ABBA-style costumes :D
Tally-
Broadway (5), Hollywood (5), tie (1)
So by my math, the musical numbers give Broadway the upper hand...
Another difference between the two was the inclusion of two new songs in the movie...
"Waterloo" was in the ending credits, and we also getting another excellent Pierce Brosnan vocal for "When all is said and done"... which takes place before "Take a Chance on Me"..
Even if the vocal was decent, I felt like this song added absolutely nothing to the movie... painfully forgettable...
So there you have it... over the three times I've done this, Broadway has won against Hollywood... I'd do one on "Phantom of the Opera," but my memory of the Broadway show is basically nonexistent at this point...
I don't remember much about the Broadway show beyond the following...
1) the first scene where Christine and Raoul meet each other for the first time since they were kids
2) where the Phantom has the road around Raoul's neck in the catacombs and I was freaking out that he was going to kill him (even though I freaking knew the ending!!)
3) been a hot mess for a good 15 minutes after the show ending because of #2
It just wouldn't be fair to compare the two when I don't remember enough about one side of the argument. And I've grown far too fond of the 2004 movie with Gerard Butler that I probably won't accept any other version anyway :P
