Hall - Assignment 17

The director I chose was Chris Columbus. He's most known for producing Home Alone, Night at the Museum, the first two Harry Potter movie adaptations, the Percy Jackson movie adaptations, and Fantastic Four (the laughable one, with not-yet-Captain America Chris Evans as The Human Torch, that basically just crashed and burned, no pun intended).

Before I pick two of these, I'd like to focus on Chris Columbus' general work. Firstly, in analyzing Columbus' work, he generally produces the "things that wouldn't really happen" movies. They're either fantasy movies, like superheroes, demi-gods, wizards, living museums, Gremlins, etc., or they're just whimsical in demeanor like the Home Alone movies. But generally, he produces "feel-good" movies with a magical or whimsical element.

The two movies I chose to compare and contrast is the first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and the first Night at the Museum movie. Both movies were derived from books, however the Harry Potter movies were truly adaptations, with the same characters, plot, etc. geared towards the same audience. The Night at the Museum was initially a picture book for small children, with the only real similarity being the basic idea of a nightguard working at a museum where the exhibits come to life at night. After the adaptation from this book to a movie, the movie was adapted into a Young Adult Novel. Additionally, both movies created the same general feeling of awe and whimsy, along the "everything is possible, magic is great, yay" sort of vibe.

Also, I had to republish this because I used the wrong assignment name.