Review:

*** ½ (out of ****)

Starring:

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Harry Melling, Toby Jones, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Julie Walters, Bonnie Wright, Mark Williams, Chris Rankin, Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, Robbie Coltrane, Kenneth Branagh, Matthew Lewis, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, John Cleese, Shirley Henderson

Director:

Chris Columbus

Screenplay:

Steve Kloves (Novel: J.K. Rowling)

Length:

161 min.

MPAA Rating:

PG (For scary moments, some creature violence and mild language)

It’s another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and everyone has returned for the second film in the series Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has spent a rather disastrous summer at home. The Dursleys are as usual aggravating and he can’t wait to return to Hogwarts for another year of magical tutelage. He joins up again with friends Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) as they move through their second year.

As the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is gone, a new person has taken his place. No, Snape (Alan Rickman) doesn’t get the post. Instead, it’s the gloriously vain Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh). Known all over the wizarding world as a writer of great books and heartthrob to all the ladies, Lockhart cares little for anyone other than himself.

This year, Harry and company are faced with a strange creature loosed in the halls of the school. This creature has the ability to petrify his victims, though any direct visual contact with it could result in death. Harry must uncover the secret behind who opened the Chamber of Secrets and stop the creature from injuring any further students.

Director Chris Columbus is back for its second outing in the boy wizard series. This time, with all exposition behind him, he manages to achieve a more cohesive and interesting film. He still focuses overmuch on the fantasy, out-of-world aspects of the setting but with a stronger literary backing, he manages to create his first high quality entry in the series.

Steve Kloves continues his work as screenwriter and his adaptation of the book is nearly perfect. Certain elements are missing, but what was strongest about the book is captured on the screen. The novel was able to turn every scene and circumstance into a pivotal event for the later chapters. It was the first, and still only, book of the series that managed to tie everything directly into the film’s final scenes. Whereas the first tome focused heavily on expository demands, the second book took off and captured the reader’s imagination. The film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets manages to achieve a similar goal.

The kids are still a bit wet behind the ears, but their performances have improved over the first year. That these children are learning from some of the best actors in the world certainly helps. Even Columbus, who managed to turn Macaulay Culkin into a major star and goad a solid performance out of him, has helped mold them.

Branagh gives the newest performance in the film, playing the only major new character in the franchise. Branagh has had a decent amount of practice with comedy and he turns that talent towards the role of Gilderoy Lockhart with sensational abandon. As over-the-top as you might think his performance is, he matches perfectly the wit and narcissism of his literary comparison.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is an engaging and entertaining return to the world of witches and wizards. We return with great satisfaction and thus anticipation that the third film of the series will be as good as, if not better than, the second.

-Wesley Lovell (July 21, 2007)