Review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) by Alex M — 26 Jun 2012

After the success of the first Harry Potter movie, it was no big surprise that Chris Columbus decided to come back for the sequel. And although it doesn't stray away from Sorcerer's Stone too far, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets comes out as a more action-packed movie than the first one was.

While movie one had to lay the groundwork for the rest of the series, the second installment can allow enough time to have a real mystery. Students in the school are being attacked by a monster, and Harry and his friends have to figure out what's going on and who's controlling this mysterious beast. The movie does a fairly good job with a slow build-up to the eventual reveal to exactly what's going on. The story here is stronger and more interesting than the first film, but that's mostly because it has more time to develop.

Many of the problems from the first one still remain, though. Once again, the movie follows the book extremely well and it can feel a bit slow at times. This isn't usually a problem considering the action and brevity that the novel of which it is based have, but it can still feel rather tiring at times with a run time over two and a half hours. The acting can also be an issue. Although the teachers are still great and newcomer Kenneth Branagh playing Gilderoy Lockhart is great, but the kid actors have not improved at all. Yes, it's not entirely their fault due to some corny lines, but even bad dialogue can sound good when done right (legendary actor Richard Harris does it here without breaking a sweat). It isn't as much of a problem as it was in the first one but it's still prevalent.

Although the second entry in the series has its issues, it knew that it had to go darker and more interesting plot-wise since it couldn't repeat the wonder of the first one. And that's exactly what a sequel needs to do. Good job, guys.