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In the sequel that surpasses the original, Daniel Radcliffe again plays our bespecaled hero, Harry Potter. He's now a second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but his aunt and uncle (Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw), with whom he lives with, aren't exactly keen on his "talents". Dobby, a house-elf, comes into Harry's room and tells him not to go back to school, because bad things will befall him. Harry, of course, doesn't heed the warning.
His aunt and uncle won't allow him to go back, but his faithful friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) comes to rescue him by a flying car! So Harry goes to school after all. But it looks like Dobby was right, because soon after sessions begin, students are becoming Petrified (why not?). To the common eye, it looks like Harry's arch-enemy Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton).
This Potter out-magics the original one. It doesn't waste time on "trivial" aspects such as character developement. To someone who hasn't read the books or seen the first movie, it would be confusing with all the magical lingo and the characters who they do nothing to improve upon. Neville Longbottom gets into more fiascos, Draco becomes more meanicing, but that's about it. No word about Seamus Finnegan. We don't know that Dean Thomas exists, but they can't make a 161-minute much longer, can they?
Radcliffe is OK as Harry, but I don't really understand people saying he's the next Haley Joel Osment. He's fine for these "physically demanding" roles but for a serious part? Nuh uh. Grint, as Ron, horribly overacts. We understand that he's Chuckie to Radcliffe's Tommy (a Rugrats analogy), but come on! Grint is just a little too excited to play a part in a movie. Hermione Granger, a know-it-all, is played well by Emma Watson-gotta see some of the school plays she's been in!
Hogwarts has a new teacher for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class-Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), Order of Merlin, Fourth Class, Five-Time Winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming Smile Award. He's egotistical, as I'm sure you couldn't guess. Branagh performs the best acting of the movie, except it would have been better if, like the book, he had had a larger role. He coulda been a contender.
Richard Harris, as aged Headmaster Dumbledore, is pretty good; unfortunately, he sounds more sickly than the first. Maggie Smith, Professor McGonagall, must have gotton Botox injected during the shoot or something. She had almost no wrinkles for a lot of the movie. But she was pretty good for her small role. All of the other teachers, such as cold Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) were acceptable, however small their parts.
Most of my complaints are also complaints for the book, also, such as all the minor characters. However, if Chris Columbus had not tried to be so faithful to the book it would have helped. Obviously it couldn't be perfectly true to the book, but when Justin Flinch-Fletchy got Petrified, for instance, the movie watching audience had no idea who it was. In the book they at least get some more insight. Many of the speeches, such as Dumbledore's at the end, as almost word-for-word from the book (I had just re-read the book before). Not that it isn't inspiriational, but it's perfectly adapted.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is very good. However, the trouble with Harry (sorry...just had to!) is it's too faithful and some poor acting.
Rated PG for scary moments, some creature violence and mild language.
Review Date: November 29, 2002