Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

2002 was the year of the sequel with the releases of this film, "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones", “Men in Black II”, “Spy Kids 2”, “Stuart Little 2”, “Goldmember”, a Star Trek film and of course “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” among a few others. As a missionary between 2002 and 2004, I did not watch any movies. “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” was released two weeks after I became a missionary and so I did not see it until two years after its release. It was one of the films that I was excited to see after being released from service because this time, I had read the book first before my mission. I was not disappointed. I feel that it is a little better than the original. The second film relates extremely well to “The Sorcerer’s Stone”, which is very hard to achieve in filmmaking. The film was able to introduce the new characters and settings while still retaining the same mood as the original film. The filmmakers remained faithful to the book once again. I for one can add my voice to those who say that the film depicts the scenes just as I imagined them.

I am grateful that I saw the movie “The Sorcerer’s Stone” first and then read the books starting with the second because I could clearly imagine everything I read. I could see the characters’ faces and scenes in my mind as well as hear the character’s voices. The movie does a good job at bringing certain scenes to life such as Harry & Ron in the flying car, the dueling scene, Dumbledore’s office, the polyjuice scene and of course the chamber of secrets. I also enjoy McGonagall’s exposition scene about the chamber of secrets and the flashback in Tom Riddle’s diary. I like back-stories & prequels and so flashbacks are fun for me. In that scene, light falls on both Harry and Riddle the same but the color creates a clear distinction between the two. Therefore, it really feels like both characters are in the same setting even though everything without color is a memory. I like the use of dramatic irony in the film in that all the answers about the chamber of secrets happen to be in the girl’s bathroom where our heroes spend time preparing their plan: Moaning Myrtle was the one killed 50 years ago and the entrance to the chamber is under the sinks. Ginny even throws away Riddle’s diary in the bathroom. The filmmakers portray this irony quite nicely in the scene following Colin being petrified. The film cross-dissolves from Dumbledore saying that the chamber has been opened to a shot of the sinks, which turns out later to be the entrance. The film has some nice establishing shots that resemble helicopter shots, two of which bookend the movie quite nicely. One negative element of the film if any is that every scene, particularly at Hogwarts, has an important plot point. The movie feels a little cumbersome as a result. The reason for this is an attempt to stay true to the book and so I don’t mind it so much. I have one joke concerning this movie. Harry writes "My name is Harry Potter" in Tom Riddle's diary. When you think about it, he could have followed that up with, "You killed my father. Prepare to die."

There are many elements of the creation of the film that deserve to be pointed out. The acting once again is very good. Rupert Grint’s best line is, “If Hagrid ever gets out of Azkaban, I’ll kill him.” Tom Felton begins to act more villainous as the series progresses and I like the performances of Jamie Waylett & Josh Herdman during the polyjuice scenes. They really seem to act like Harry and Ron in disguise. The new supporting actors fit very well with the returning cast members and thus begins a staple in the Harry Potter series of casting well respected actors in supporting roles. I am a big fan of Oscar-nominated actor Kenneth Branagh from “The Road to El Dorado” and “Hamlet”. Hugh Grant was originally planned to play Lockhart but he was unable to. I think I would have preferred him however because as much as I like Branagh, his persona is worthy of a better character than Lockhart. Jason Isaacs’ performance in “The Patriot” blew me away and to have him play Lucius Malfoy was extremely entertaining. I like how he studied Felton’s performance in the first film. I remember Mark Williams from “101 Dalmatians” & “The Borrowers” (also starring Tom Felton) and it was good to see a familiar face play Mr. Weasley. "The Chamber of Secrets" introduced me to Toby Jones, who plays Dobby. The final moments of the movie with Richard Harris conclude the film quite nicely. He really ended his appearance in these movies powerfully and he is the greatest loss to the film series as he passed away after filming the second film. John Williams created some very good themes for Moaning Myrtle & Fawkes but during the quittage game, the score sounds too similar to "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" or "Minority Report" which were also released in 2002. The film does have better special effects than the first movie and they are still impressive today. The good thing is that they do not take away from the story.

In my opinion, you could take someone who has never seen the Harry Potter films, show them clips from both the first two movies and they would be unable to tell that they are from two different movies. “The Chamber of Secrets” was very well adapted, as it stayed faithful to the book. It is one of my sentimental favorites in the whole series. It was very entertaining to see new actors come into the series and it is wonderful that they continue to reprise their roles as the series progresses. This movie was worth waiting two years for but this film’s ending is bittersweet and not just because of Richard Harris’ passing. With the way that the third movie turned out, the second movie feels like the ending of many things in the Harry Potter film series. Sadly, the clapping at the end of the film takes on the feeling of a curtain call as a result.

4.5 Stars out of 5