I saw this film twice at the cinema and loved it! As with the first story, it was a fantastic effort to bring the wizarding world of Harry and his friends to life. The music, actors, costumes and special effects were all brilliant. The book is short, but I felt that more details were skimmed over than the first book, because there is less world-building and more plot. Still, the main points were all covered. Some scenes didn’t appear in the film – such as the Deathday Party, and the sickly Valentine’s Day – but it didn’t affect the story much. Other scenes were extended for comic effect, such as when the Weasley brothers help Harry escape in the flying car, Uncle Vernon tumbles out of the window. Another is when Harry and Ron are flying the car, having found the barrier at King’s Cross to be closed. They almost get run down by the Hogwarts Express when they are following the tracks, then they tip sideways high in the air, with Harry almost falling out because he can’t grip Ron’s sweaty hand.

One scene which didn’t live up to my expectations was when Dobby the house-elf magics the pudding afloat while the Dursleys are having a dinner party. In the book, the dropped pudding explodes everywhere, not only horrifying everyone, but an owl drops a letter on Mrs Mason, who screams because she’s afraid of birds. In the film it’s more restrained, the pudding falling only on Mrs Mason, who sits there covered in pudding, not making a sound. Perhaps she was too shocked. However I thought the scene could have been funnier. Something I have to mention is that Uncle Vernon uses the word ‘bloody’ in these films, where it’s ‘ruddy’ in the book. For a children’s film, ‘ruddy’ – or something similarly inoffensive – should be kept. Other small quibbles are that Dobby and the Basilisk were not as I pictured them, plus I think that Gilderoy Lockhart – the vain and useless Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, played by Kenneth Branagh – could have been even funnier. Another I have to mention is the giant spiders in the forest. This is a hideous-looking scene and very well-done, but in the book, it was even more frightening, with Harry and Ron lifted up by the spiders and carried to the leader. A fun fact about the slugs which Ron coughs up, when his wand backfires while cursing Malfoy, is that the slugs tasted nice – I think they were made of jelly. I remember reading that somewhere.

The ending of the film, during the feast, is too sentimental. Hermione, now cured, chooses this moment to run in and hug Harry, with everyone watching. When Hagrid appears, let out of prison (where he has been for a short time), Harry starts to clap enthusiastically, which is taken up by the whole school, suggesting that Hagrid is the hero. I’ve never quite understood why the film ended this way. The only thing that Hagrid did to help end the dreadful events, was saying to follow the spiders. I suppose it’s not worth getting annoyed over. It’s just a cheesy way to end the story.

As always, the film is very entertaining, but I prefer the book.

Image credit: https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2018-08/22/16/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web-06/sub-buzz-24234-1534969658-5.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1137281