Looks as though everybody’s favorite adolescent wizard isn’t quite as innocent in his second film as the first might have suggested. In fact, the tricks and treats in Harry Potter’s Chamber of Secrets may not be so mysterious after all.
The two hour and 41 minute marathon of zany juvenile action has garnered a PG rating for “scary moments, some creature violence and mild language.” As in the literary series, the second cinematic volume is darker and edgier than the first. Some squeamish children under 12 at the screening had problems handling the bloody fight scenes and scary monsters, like a giant snake or a swarm of gigantic spiders.
Even Warner Bros. admits Chamber of Secrets isn’t quite as fluffy as the first. The advertising campaign has hinted at greater violence; movie posters feature Hermione looking worriedly off-page and Ron gasping in horror.
Warner Bros. says it isn’t worried; the idea is for the audience to grow with Harry and his friends, meaning the violence can grow as well.
By the time the seventh book makes it to the silver screen, the original audience of the first will be in its 20s and the studio will have to come up with more than a threatening game of chess to keep the attention of an adult audience.
Toy-makers Mattel may have already realized this. The kid-friendly company introduced the latest in movie product spin-offs: the “Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 Broom.” The 3-foot-long toy version of the brooms Harry, Hermione and Ron fly around on in the movie has a rough and gnarled handle that-get this-vibrates and makes “swooshing” noises.
Either the marketing guys behind this one at Mattel are highly intelligent or really, really dumb.
The fact that the toy is marketed to the pre-teen set makes perfect sense if Mattel is trying to rope in a consumer audience now for the line of sex toys they plan to sell in five years.
User comments on Amazon.com, which sells the toy, tell stories of how sisters keep stealing it from boys, and how even older siblings like using the buzzing broom. It seems one parent has caught on, claiming he only lets his daughter use it without the batteries.
It was only a matter of time before the Potter franchise starting embracing the adult audience which has for so long demanded the books be considered more than just kids’ stuff.
Who knew that Hogwarts hogwash could be so stimulating?