Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Review

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Director: Chris Columbus (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Bicentennial Man)
Screenwriter: Steve Kloves (The Official Harry Potter Screenwriter)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris (Camelot, Cromwell), Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, Director of Marvel's Thor), Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, Peter Pan), and Robbie Coltrane (Goldeneye)
Gross Revenue: $878,643,482 worldwide
Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter: 83%
IMDB Rating: 7.1
      Making a sequel work is one off the most difficult tasks in Hollywood.  Trying to match often unnaturally high expectations without disappointing old fans while trying to rally new fans, all the while improving upon the first film, is an arduous task.  This is perhaps why sequels are rarely as good as their predecessor, and fail to meet expectations.  Fortunately, Chamber of Secrets is able to meet most of the expectations and is a worthy follow-up, even if it doesn't match the quality of Sorcerer's Stone.

      The Chamber of Secrets begins a year later after the events of the first, with Harry preparing to begin his second year at Hogwarts.  He is warned by a house-elf named Dobby that he mustn't return to Hogwarts for he is in grave danger.  After a harrowing escape from the Dursleys with Ron and a flying car, Harry arrives at Hogwarts to learn of one of the dark secrets of the school: The Chamber of Secrets.  Created by one of the founders of the school, it supposedly contains a dark and terrible beast, that has been unleashed upon the school, and is threatening the lives of the students and the teachers.  As Harry and his friends seek to discover the truth, Harry learns more about his enemy Voldemort, and more about himself, and the growing number of connections they possess...

     Chamber of Secrets continues the successful string of entertaining Potter movies.  Once again, the scenery in the film is just beautiful, and as we are introduced to not of only Hogwarts but of the magical world, our imaginations are further stimulated.  The effects have improved from the first film, which reflects in the climatic battle scene as well as the improved Quidditch match.  The acting has even improved over the first film, and one can tell that the actors are maturing with the characters.  Daniel Radcliffe especially.  He has essentially become Harry Potter, and his performance is genuine, and has greater emotional maturity then the first film.  Chris Columbus is once again the director, and the look and feel of the film is very similar to that of the first.  The technical aspects of Chamber of Secrets are superb, and are an improvement over the first film.
     Undoubtedly, Chamber of Secrets is darker then Sorcerer's Stone.  While the magical world and Hogwarts especially was portrayed as wonderful and fanciful in the first film, the dark side of magic is shown here, and the effects it can have on society.  The film even deals with themes of racism, with the prejudice against "Muggle-borns" or wizards/witches born to non-magical parents, such as Hermione Granger.  The sense of danger is greatly increased, and not even some of the central characters are safe from the effects of the Chamber.  All this makes for an altogether more exciting film then the first, and one that is more mature and features a greater range of themes.
     However, the film is not without its flaws.  Like the first film, Chamber of Secrets is, in my opinion, overly-long, and features too many of the details of the book.  The film drags in parts, due to too many conflicting sub-plots and story lines.  While they are effectively wrapped up at the end of the picture, they distract during the middle of the movie, and still leaves the audience with the feeling of confusion.  Because director Chris Columbus tries to remain too faithful too the book, he includes too many unnecessary details that aren't given enough screen time, which only confuses people.  I know I haven't read the books and "I don't understand",  but I shouldn't have had to had read the book to understand this movie, and I feel like this movie was just as a n add-on to the book, and doesn't stand on its own.  He is too concerned with pleasing fans of the book, and doesn't have enough courage to deviate from the source material, which makes the movie overly-long, periodically confusing, and painfully slow in certain parts.

     Since virtually none of the crew changed between production of Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, it is easy to compare the two.  Most of the problems in the second film are present in the first, and the way each film is shot and presented are the same.  However, Sorcerer's Stone has a more innocent and nostalgic feel to it due to being the first of the series, so it more acceptable for it to be long and drawn-out.  it was necessary in order to properly introduce the characters and the magical world of Hogwarts.  Chamber of Secrets has no such excuse, and adds on the minutes without justification.  While there is nothing wrong with long movies, there is something wrong with movies that are unnecessarily long, and Chamber of Secrets is guilty of this charge.
    I really hope people don't think I am ragging on Chamber of Secrets.  I was thoroughly entertained by it.  I absolutely adore these characters, and I have fallen in love with Hogwarts and the wizarding world.  However, it just doesn't possess that same lively spark as the first film, and is harder so sit all the way through.

     Chamber of Secrets almost worked perfectly.  It added more action, improved on the special effects, added darkness to the story, as well as more mature themes, which could have been used to make a much better film then the first.  However, Chris Columbus and crew make the same mistakes as the first time around, except they make them bigger, and the movie is too long and drags in too many places, without the childhood innocence of the first to justify it.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is darker, contains more actions, and features more mature acting from the young cast, but Chris Columbus and crew once again heed too closely to the book and produce a movie of unnecessary length, that drags and is painfully slow in too many places.  3.5/5
"AMAZING!  This is just like magic!" - Gilderoy Lockhart
My current ranking of the Potter films from greatest to least
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 4/5
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 3.5/5

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