Medusa's Serpentine Hairdo
O.K. - The effects for that iconic AND world-famous Gorgonian snake-do are Pathetic! Chris Columbus shoulda friggin' KNOWN BETTER. Like... at least that first Harry Potter movie - while NOWHERE close to the later films, quality-wise (let alone in the same 'Quiddich' League as Alfonso Cuarón's INTOXICATING third one), STILL HAD some decent effects pieces / action sequences... so what the HELL happened here??
as poor Uma Thurman weaves and bobs her head around, the snakes coming out of her head all move perfectly along, thus spoiling any sense of weight distribution in said hissing, spitting reptilian follicles. to make the illusion work, ALL THAT the effects artists had to do was take the damn time to animate snake heads bobbing up to Medusa's head level just a LITTLE BIT later, and so thus giving the sense that said beasts really are there... and really are coming out of Medusa's noggin.
a painfully lazy effort and result for a painfully lazy enterprise and film, if you ask me.
P.S. THIS MOVIE HAS THE DISTINCTION OF HAVING ONE OF THE VERY WORST Pre/Mid/Post/Whatever Credits Sequences OF ALL TIME! The token 'MSP' (Mean Step Parent, natch) suddenly finds himself locked out of his apartment by the token 'PPP' (Positively Perfect Parent) ... and after an unfunny, utterly forgettable exchange, MSP finds himself alone amongst his boxed belongings, assigned to move out. clearly dejected, he's struck by the insatiable urge for A Beer. we know of this burning desire because, cleverly, the screenwriter(s) inserted the inspired line of "I need A Beer" ... spoken to an empty room/movie theater. so in search of his suds, MSP goes to his former fridge...only to find it firmly locked by a steel combination padlock - the sort you'd find on most any locker in most any hemisphere...for the simple reason that THEY'RE SUPER GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO. shoot it, blast it, drop it, WHATEVER - they can take it... so MSP hacks it off with ease. with a box or something. BUT - get this! - in the fridge, instead of booze, is Medusa's rotting head!! LAFF! and so, MSP is turned into stone, killing him in horrific fashion.
assuming, rightly, that those stone statues are, in fact, DEAD PEOPLE... as we see one of them have it's arm cut off, and so, naturally, if they can somehow come back to life, that'd be WAY messed up for what is ostensibly a family picture.