Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Submitted Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 12:16:59 PM by Klaitu
Holy Crap! A Harry Potter film! Controversy!
Well, for some people Harry Potter isn't a big deal, but among my family, Harry Potter is pretty much the devil. I'm not precisely sure why this is so, but I have a vague idea.
Anyway, the movie was broadcast on ABC the other day, so I figured I'd give it a shot and see what was what. I mean, so many people go crazy over the books that the movie has to be at least decent, right?
The first thing that strikes me is the quality of acting. the principal cast is, of course, children.. and children actors are pretty hit and miss, but the people they got for the movie are pretty good. I didn't notice any atrocious acting at all. I'm not saying these guys are like masters or anything, but they're not off the bum truck.
I found the type of story to be engaging, Harry Potter has a real X-Men feel to it.. little kids with superpowers sort of thing. Of course, in this world the fantastic is a reality, so you've got what I call "the Jurassic Park effect" going on.
The story elements strike me as recycled.. though this is not neccessarily a bad thing. Many writers have made a living from taking ancient themes and translating them into a new story with new elements. Harry Potter seems to do this more (or perhaps more obviously) than most other stories.
Harry Potter is the hero, he's got a destiny.. and along with him is his clumsy and bumbling sidekick. They hang out with a young girl, who I assume will eventually become Harry's love interest. The girl is forceful and works to prove herself, even though she doesn't have to. Together, they go around solving mysteries in a giant spooky castle that just happens to be a school. Sound familiar? Oh, it gets better.
In this particular film in the series, They're attempting to find out what kind of deadly creature has been petrifying students. This is essentially, a no-threat murder mystery. You see, there's a monster lurking about, and if you look into its eyes, you die.. convieniently, everyone only saw a reflection of the eyes so it petrified them. Go figure.
Technically, the big bad monster is a Basilisk, which has feet.. except for in this movie, where it's just a giant snake. Oh well.
Of course, the giant snake is the guardian of the chamber of secrets, and someone has opened the chamber, thus letting out the snake.. but hold on a second..
At the end of the movie, Harry enters the chamber of secrets, and it's not like there are any secrets in there. I mean, with a name like "Chamber of secrets" you'd think that this is where all the secrets are kept. It's just a big rocky room half-filled with water with a statue on the far end that the snake comes out of.
I probably shouldn't spoil it, but I just have to say that I found it completely and totalyl hilarious that the Chamber of Secrets is located in the girls bathroom. Of all the places to put it!
Then, there are the technical flaws with the story.
This school was founded by 4 wizards, one of which was evil. This was done "1000 years ago" which means no later than 1000 AD. the Evil wizard build the chamber of secrets secretly, and he did it under the sinks in the girl's bathroom. In fact, the water spigot is the mechanism to open the chamber of secrets. The only clue to this is a serpent etched on the faucet.
So, how could this evil wizard have built the Chamber of Secrets in the Girls bathroom using a sink, when sinks, faucets, and indoor plumbing wouldn't be invented for like another 700 years?
There are other cases of things like this happening.. the infamous J.K. Rowling seems to have a tendency to forget the details of her own story, resulting in plot confusion for everyone but the most casual of viewers.
Then again, the movie is meant for 12 year olds, so I guess that's okay.
Anyway, despite the technical problems with the movie, I found it to be a moderately enjoyable experience. If other Harry Potter movies were to come on TV, I would not be averse to watching them.
Which brings me back around to the controversy part of Harry Potter. Some folks are inherently afraid of wizards and witches and other halloween-type stuff. I don't mean that they are literally scared of them, rather they are scared of what the iconic behaviors of these things will do to the young minds of their children.
This is a good thing, because at the very least, it demonstrates that the parents care for the children, which is something that is becoming more and more rare.
From the Christian Perspective, Harry Potter is very neutral. In fact, belief systems of every kind are more or less ignored. The Wizardry and spellcasting is treated more or less as a pseudo-science. The fact that the characters are in a school demonstrates this quite readily.
So far as an impact on Christianity, I hold Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter together. They're both set in fantasy worlds where the supernatural is natural, and this fantasy world is more or less Godless.. and when I say Godless, I mean without (or otherwise ignoring) THE God.
I would not recommend this movie for a young child. If varies according to each kid, but I'd say that this movie is more appropriate for an older kid.. 13 year olds.. that neighborhood. I can easily see kids watching these Harry Potter movies, and then going out and busting off a stick and start imitating the Harry Potter characters.. which would no doubt be disturbing.
I'd recommend this movie to anyone who has a fundamental understanding of how the world actually works, and the ability to grasp that the story is just a movie and nothing more. I personally do not feel threatened by Harry Potter, as I believe my God is more powerful than J.K. Rowling.
Overall Score: 7 of 10
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