Hey, ya-all, Jordan here, your Webmistress’s partner-in-Potterdom. Just saw Chamber of Secrets opening night. You’ll probably agree with me when I say this installment is in many ways better than the first.

All of the actors have really transformed into their characters. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson really let Harry, Ron and Hermione come out this time around, and the film is so much more enjoyable for it. Daniel doesn’t have that “Holy Cow, I’m Harry Potter!” look on his face anymore. The scene in Flourish and Blotts is the first scene where he really is Harry Potter. Just the way he says “Voldemort murdered my parents” was so perfect, totally real. Aaahh.

Rupert Grint is still brilliant, and his facial expressions are terrific. When he belched slugs, I felt like throwing up. (That, my friends, is the sign of a true actor.) Especially at the end, when Hermione runs and hugs Harry, and then she turns to Ron, he just starts stuttering. Then Ron and Hermione shake hands!? For heaven’s sake, he puked slugs for her! It is very clear that Harry and Ron’s relationships with Hermione are very different. They’ve been just friends up until that point, but because Hermione could have easily died, Harry and Ron appreciated her more, and their relationships to her deepened. In Goblet of Fire, Ron is jealous because Harry gets all the glory, and this might be setting up that Harry also gets the girl.

Emma Watson is still Ms. Smarty, but you can tell her character has matured since the last movie. Even her hair shows how much she’s grown up. In Stone, it’s all frizzy and huge, because she can’t possibly be bothered with anything except her schoolwork. This year, she styles it and everything, and she looks so much older. (Although, she might just be doing it for Lockhart! ;-D ) She’s still a little snobby, but not quite to the lil’ witch (excuse the pun) extent she was last movie. Just like I loved her “I’m going to bed before either of you . . .” line, I loved her line to Draco “A t least Gryffindors don’t have to buy their way onto the team.” I still have to watch the movie 2 more times before I can recite all her snotty lines by heart, but I still loved that one. (And, it was straight from the book!) When Draco calls her a Mudblood, she looks ready to cry. Actually, she’s a good crier. Totally believable, and no stupid whining either. Oh, and the whole Polyjuice Potion cat-hair thing, hilarious, but there simply wasn’t enough. You only get to see her in the shadows, and none of her slow recovery in the hospital wing. Anywho, her dreamy obsession with Lockhart is cute and funny. Sorta like me and Sean Biggerstaff, but oh well . . .

Now, to specific points:

Dobby is exactly like I imagined him in the books. It’s almost freaky. There are parts where the CG isn’t very good, but he sure looks a heck of a lot better than the Halloween troll in HPSS. His voice actor was perfectly cast. That, combined with how life-like he looked, made me want to hug him when evil Lucius kicked him. Oh, poor little Dobby. . .

Speaking of Lucius, he’s not just evil, he’s fantastically, deliciously evil. He and Draco are truly father and son. Oooh, and Draco . . . Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) is delicious (yuuuum) also, and this time around he doesn’t do the standard snobby-rich-kid act. You know he genuinely hates Harry. And, aaaaah, the eyebrows! His little “Scared, Potter?” eyebrow thing is the coolest thing since Sean Biggerstaff (Oliver Wood) wrestles the Bludger in Sorcerer’s Stone. Aaaah. Did I mention the hot-quotient of all the guys in Harry Potter went up several points in the last 12 months?

Lockhart is hilarious, and, again, just like I imagined in the books. Only with more teeth. ;-D Too bad we didn’t get the whole Valentine’s Day fiasco. I so wanted to see that. Oh well. Hopefully that was a deleted scene. “His eyes are as green as a fresh-pickled toad. . . .”

Ginny’s cute, too. Near carbon copy from the book, and I love it! Just that one scene in the Burrow of her eyes widening was all we needed to know how much she’s infatuated with Harry.

Quidditch looks awesome, as in realistic awesome, not video game awesome. The first film had those hideous completely CGI players, and it looked awful. (Especially Fred and George at the end with the arm jerking that was supposed to be a high-five.) This time, most of the match has actual people flying around, and it looks great. The spectators don’t have that strange lighting on them, and Lee Jordan actually looks like a guy, but that might be a special effect, too. (Hehe.)

Holy cow. The spiders. THE SPIDERS. Way scarier than the Dark Forest scene in Stone. That was so terrifying. Do not bring your younger siblings if they get scared easily. The spiders. Ooooh, the spiders . . .

The basilisk was a minor letdown. It was so . . . meh. I was expecting something more fantastic and magical, but it was pretty generic. “Scary slightly dinosaur-ish monster? Check.” It was kind of ugly. Not freaky ugly, but just dull ugly. Bleh.

Quick list of more things I liked: The Burrow, Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley, the whole Diagon Alley/ Knockturn Alley scene, the music, Fawkes, the diary scene, Tom Riddle, “Tom Marvolo Riddle—I Am Voldemort”, the flying car, the violet pudding landing on Mrs. Mason’s head, the opening sequence, Harry’s boneless arm, how they finally told the audience Hedwig and Mrs. Norris’s name, the Dueling Club, Ron’s slugs, Sean Biggerstaff, Percy’s bed hair at the Burrow, Floo Powder, Borgin and Bukes, the sound of Parseltongue, Moaning Myrtle, Petrified Nearly Headless Nick, the Polyjuice potion, the Howler . . .

I know I’ve written forever about the wonders of this movie, but there were some things I didn’t like, believe it or not. For one thing, Chamber of Secrets didn’t have the same feeling of awe and wonder that Sorcerer’s Stone had. Granted, neither did the book, (Chamber is my least favorite book for exactly that reason) but there were things I loved about the first film I missed in the second. Hedwig flying above Hogwarts, Harry staring out the window on his first night in the castle, the ghosts singing Christmas songs, McGonagall showing her Animagus skills, the train leaving Hogsmeade, the scar on baby Harry’s head transforming into the title, the Mirror of Erised, and, heck, even the Chocolate Frogs. I know some of these things wouldn’t have fit or even a part in Chamber, but the heart and soul they gave the first film just didn’t happen in the second. And I want them to make a bigger deal of Lily’s sacrifice to save Harry, gosh darn it! Her love is what is protecting him, helping him, and they aren’t hardly even mentioning it! What, may I ask, are we going to do in Prisoner of Azkaban when he starts to remember when his parents died?

Another thing that totally irked me was the treatment of Hagrid. It sucked radioactive monkey toes, okay? He had no funny scenes, let alone funny lines. All he did was state the obvious. (“That rogue bludger’s been tampered with!” Duh.) Dobby had Hagrid’s lines, gosh darn it! (“I shouldn’t have told you that.”) I love Hagrid, but why are they giving him such a small part in a movie when his part in the book was so big? Hmm? Anybody? AND WHY WAS EVERYBODY CHEERING FOR HARGID AT THE END?!?! That was a total mystery. I mean, he was barely in the story! Argh. Anybody want to explain it to me?

I loved Richard Harris, he was a terrific actor, and will be sorely missed. But I feel he was a little off as Dumbledore. Dumbledore is a very old, but still rather exuberant man. The way Richard Harris portrayed him, he was just old. I never pictured him like that.

One more thing, pretty nitpicky, but oh well: Harry doesn’t seem very conflicted about the Sorting Hat and how it still believes he should be in Slytherin. I mean, in the book, that was a major problem for Harry. He wasn’t sure whether or not he was the Heir of Slytherin. The separation from the rest of the students, the dirty looks, his fear when he keeps getting discovered at the scene of the crime were all very well carried-out, but I wanted to see that inner conflict.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was a more polished, exciting, scary, well-acted and better paced film with more character development than Sorcerer’s Stone, but the heart and magic that the first film had just couldn’t appear in it’s sequel. But my view could change if I see it again.

Gotta go, yo, Jordan