I'm sure that everyone's read tons of articles about how J. K. Rowling is some kind of saint because she's brought children back to reading. And, sure enough, between the Harry Potter books/movies and the LOTR movie last December I have never seen a generation of students more interested in fantasy literature. There were also several articles published around this time last year bemoaning the arrival of the HP movie, saying children given the option of finding Hogwarts through the screen instead of the page would surely choose to do so. They were so wrong. The one thing that struck me about reading the movie reviews the students wrote for me after seeing Harry Potter last year was how jealously they guarded the reading experience, how they measured the movie against it and how that classic phrase, "The movie wasn't as good as the book", cropped up again and again. All the kids really liked the movie, but they weren't about to give up reading about Harry because the movie was out there.
Found myself keeping that in mind as I read through the students' "Chamber of Secret" movie reviews today.
*spoilers*
What they liked:
"The ending was really great and the snake looked amazing and I just really wanted to see Harry kill it."
"When Prof. Lockhart lost his memory, it was very funny because he didn't remember anything."
"Aragog! Ron and Harry were really funny in the way they acted scared. Aragog looked cool."
"When Harry played Quidditch and his arm had no bones. It was very funny."
"When Prof. Sprout pulled the plant thing out because it was so cute!"
"When Ron broke his wand in the flying car. I thought it was pretty funny."
"When they went into the forest and the spiders followed them. That was the scariest thing I've ever seen."
Some of the things they would have changed:
"I would have changed the part about the spiders. How could spiders be that big?"
"I would have made the movie a bit longer."
"I would have included the Deathday Party." (-lots- of kids mentioned this- they missed that scene)
"They should have put more Quidditch matches."
"They should have included winning the House Cup."
"I would have made Dobby a little bit fatter."
"I would have changed the way the Phoenix looked, made Prof. Lockhart younger."
"The movie was too long and it was very scary."
"I didn't like the part with Dobby because he was so annoying."
"I would have made the Phoenix a gold colour, not red."
*spoilers off*
Their ratings for "Chamber of Secrets":
***** Excellent! (ten students)
**** Very good! (sixteen students)
*** Good! (one student)
Found myself keeping that in mind as I read through the students' "Chamber of Secret" movie reviews today.
*spoilers*
What they liked:
"The ending was really great and the snake looked amazing and I just really wanted to see Harry kill it."
"When Prof. Lockhart lost his memory, it was very funny because he didn't remember anything."
"Aragog! Ron and Harry were really funny in the way they acted scared. Aragog looked cool."
"When Harry played Quidditch and his arm had no bones. It was very funny."
"When Prof. Sprout pulled the plant thing out because it was so cute!"
"When Ron broke his wand in the flying car. I thought it was pretty funny."
"When they went into the forest and the spiders followed them. That was the scariest thing I've ever seen."
Some of the things they would have changed:
"I would have changed the part about the spiders. How could spiders be that big?"
"I would have made the movie a bit longer."
"I would have included the Deathday Party." (-lots- of kids mentioned this- they missed that scene)
"They should have put more Quidditch matches."
"They should have included winning the House Cup."
"I would have made Dobby a little bit fatter."
"I would have changed the way the Phoenix looked, made Prof. Lockhart younger."
"The movie was too long and it was very scary."
"I didn't like the part with Dobby because he was so annoying."
"I would have made the Phoenix a gold colour, not red."
*spoilers off*
Their ratings for "Chamber of Secrets":
***** Excellent! (ten students)
**** Very good! (sixteen students)
*** Good! (one student)