Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:

• Dobby was just wrong. Not how I pictured him at all. He also talked… differently than I expected.
• Tom Riddle wasn’t as hot as anticipated. Oliver Wood, however, was. And yeah, call me a sicko if you want, but Daniel Radcliffe is looking pretty cute.
• There were some very scary bits. I had to hold Rodd’s hand during the spider part. I’m a jumpy girl.
• Kenneth Branagh was brilliant. Much like my sister, I found myself laughing at everything he did, which often meant that I was guffawing while everyone else was silent. We’re weird like that. Must be a genetic thing.
• I like the way that the filmmakers left in references to things from the book that had been cut, like when Nearly Headless Nick addresses Percy and “Miss Clearwater”. (You learn she’s his girlfriend in an excised subplot.)
• What was the deal about Draco picking up the little green box in the Slytherin common room? I didn’t remember that from the book. It felt weird, like something had been cut.
• The computer graphics were so much better than the first film. The Quidditch match in particular looked amazing. I was literally squirming in my seat as Harry and Draco raced through the beams.
• “I didn’t know you could read.” = another embarrassingly explosive burst of laughter
• I have officially seen two members of the Hogwarts staff in person: Madame Pomfrey was played by Gemma Jones, who I saw as Big Mamma in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in London last year (she also played Bridget Jones’s mother); and Professor Sprout was played by Miriam Margolyes, who I actually ran into at the Philosopher’s Stone premiere in London a year ago. Go me.
• The ending was really sweet, and the whole audience burst into spontaneous applause. (Actually they applauded several times, with Harry’s spinning duel spell against Draco getting one of the biggest cheers.) It was kinda neat to be among so many people who were really involved in it.
• The Snook liked it!

I’m also happy to report that Rodd picked up on the fact that Hermione and Harry are clearly not romantically interested in each other. “Girls don’t hug boys they like. Even I know that.” Isn’t he smart?