Synopsis:

I've always loved the Harry Potter books, but the movies have been pretty hit or miss for me. I completely love what they have made, but there are many scenes of poor acting, or bad character choices that are completely fixable. My main goals overall: - Create light edits that don't try to reimagine or create anything new, but rather just enhance the original movies - Remove small annoyances and some poor performances (Harry shushing Ron, Barty Crouch Jr tongue flicks, dumbing down Hagrid, etc) - Retain as much world building as possible (Clock in the Weasley's home, monster roar at housekeeping in PoA, etc) - Keep the original music to their own movies, except for a few rare occasions - Tighten up action wherever I could Goals for the Chamber of Secrets: - Trim down the movie a bit to make it more in line with the lengths of the other movies - Cut out some of the one liners and poorly written lines and scenes (Harry shushing Ron a couple times, and Harry always needing to get a final word in) - Reduce some of the more over the top stuff (Harry almost falling out of the car, Harry holding the sword by the bloody blade in Dumbledore's office, Lucius trying to Avada Kedavra Harry)

Intentions:

Harry Potter is one of my favorite series' ever. I've got so much nostalgia from growing up with the books and movies. But even watching as a kid I remember disliking some things about the movies. I don't want to rob the movies of their charm, but I did see some things that I believe would be better changed or removed. I think these small changes make the experience a better one overall.

Change List:

- Starting with the Ultimate Extended Edition as a base, I kept some extended scenes, but cut others - Cut the Dursleys rehearsing their plan for the evening to get to the night faster - Added Dobby's theme to his arrival - Slight trims throughout Dobby's arrival and the dinner party for pacing - Added a very slight music cue to Ginny seeing Harry arrive and then running away, and trimmed it to fit nicer and have less awkward acting from Ginny. - Cut the questioning of a rubber duck. I know it's a kids movie but this was just a bit too much for me - Cut the Malfoys in Knockturn Alley and most of Harry in the shop - Cut Draco getting his last word in at the bookstore. The scene ends with Lucius as he is the main focus of the scene - Cut Harry almost falling out of the car while flying from the train. There is still some action here, just no ridiculous almost death of falling out of the car - Trimmed them running into the Whomping Willow in many spots for pacing - Removed the extended scene - Filch's magic pamphlet - Harry doesn't say "Spooky" to Lockhart - No awkward interaction with Dumbledore about Hermione almost telling him that Harry was hearing voices - Trimmed the Quidditch match a lot for pacing. No Colin almost dying on the field - Removed extended version of Justin's intro before Lockhart's dueling club - Snape attacks Lockhart immediately during the duel instead of waiting forever after the countdown - No quips between Malfoy and Harry before their duel - Cut extended scene of Harry looking over the lake asking who he is - Trimmed Harry being stared at in the study room - Cut extended scene of the kids wondering if Harry is the Heir of Slytherin - Cut extended scene of Harry seeing Hagrid right after the study room - Cut Harry talking to the hat before he sees Dumbledore. Harry's acting wasn't the best here and the scene didn't add much because of the other extended scenes in here already making Harry doubt himself - Trimmed up the Polyjuice gathering scenes - Trimmed up the whole scene of Harry writing in the book and saying everything he writes as slowly as possible - Cut extended scene of Ron and Harry pulling the cloak out. They just go straight to Hagrid's place - Harry doesn't shush Ron in the forest. Cut out both shushes -Cut extended scene of them finding the car in the forest before it rescues them - Small trims for pacing in the spider attack - Cut them knowing that Ginny is in the chamber. This only gets revealed now when Harry finds her. I think this makes Ron's attitude more believable as I'd think he'd be a lot more worried if he knew his sister got taken - Trimmed just a bit of Harry talking to Tom - Cut Tom explaining that the Basilisk got blinded by Fawkes. Unnecessary exposition for the action scene - Trimmed some of the Basilisk attack, mainly where Harry is flailing a sword like an idiot and not hitting anything even though his target is a giant snake - Cut them ridiculously flying out of the Chamber of secrets with Fawkes - Cut Harry picking up the sword in Dumbledore's office. I cringe when he grabs the blade. The only time you see the sword in Harry's hand is a brief moment where he is in the background - Cut Harry saying he'll always be around to save the day - Cut Mr. Malfoy trying to use Avada Kedavra. It's just a normal spell now - Trimmed Dobby and Harry's final scene with a bit of music added over it. Cut Harry telling Dobby to never try to save his life again. So corny - Lots of other minor trims throughout

Additional Notes:

I didn't want to do anything too drastic, but instead create a very light edit to remove things that might take you out of the viewing experience.

Other Sources:

Special Thanks:

Anjohan (Andreas), and JJPotter! I took a lot of inspiration and some exact cuts from their edits to make my own. Poster art by Carlossap on TPDb: https://theposterdb.com/user/Carlossap