I saw Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets on its opening night, last Friday. I have a whole slew of observations:
1) First and foremost, the movie itself was just fantastic. I think I may have liked it better than the first one, in fact. Of course, it’s largely directed at kids, but there’s plenty in there for adults to easily enjoy – excellent monsters, great special effects and an entertaining storyline. Just good ‘ol wholesome entertainment.
2) Opening night for a film like this is pretty ridiculous. I went to the 7pm showing, so the loonies weren’t there yet, but the theatre was full and we had good seats, thankfully we didn’t have to sit in the whiplash seats up front. I also had peanut M&M’s – a damn fine snack candy, but no comparison to the mighty Fig Newton, which of course is not sold at concessions. Anyway, when we were walking out after the movie, the line was about a mile long for the 10pm showing and throughout the line you could see goof-balls with lightning bolts on their foreheads and fully-grown adults dressed up as some of the adult characters in the movie like that huge dude with the big-ass beard whose name I’ve already forgotten – Hoggle-schorts or Wiggle-Rumps or whatever. I don’t know. Sheesh. It’s a movie, ok? Why get dressed up? Actually, I think I might go see Free Willy when they re-release it and dress up as a lifesize whale.
3) This was the first time that I have ever been to a film where the entire theatre broke out into simultanous, rousing applause before AND after the movie. That was kind of strange. The only other time I’ve heard applause at a movie was when I saw Alien 2 during high school and Signourney Weaver called the big alien a bitch and then killed it. I think that’s how it happened…..