Saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Saturday. Reviews abound, so I don't feel a burning need for another one. One thing I do want to share, HP & tCoS gave me a new appreciation of Fellowship of the Rings. Both are adaptations of books too large for one movie. In FotR they dealt with this challenge by chopping out large sections of the book, combining characters and focusing on one or two aspects of the story. By chopping out whole sections what was left was given a great treatment, sometimes even expanding on the book.

In tCos they reduce all of the secondary elements but don't chop much out. We get little glimses of things that didn't add much to the story. Near the beginning Harry takes a wrong turn and ends up in the shady part of Diagon Ally. In the book this moves the story ahead as Harry overhears Draco Malfoy and his father talking. However in the movie, we just get a glimpse of some unsavory Wizzards and Witches, not much of point to the wrong turn. It does show us that Harry still isn't at home in the magical world, but when dealing with so much material you've got to double up, move the story and develop character all at the same time.

The challenge of having too much material won't get easier, the third book is longer than the first two and the goblet of fire is almost twice as long as the third.

-Peace