Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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In honor of the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, I think it's time for me to return to looking at the Harry Potter franchise. A couple of years ago, I reviewed the first movie. I don't know when or if I'll have time to review movies 3 through 8. With all of that said, let's talk about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In case you are wondering, I am going to do my best to not compare this to the book it was adapted from. I think it's only fair to judge this purely as a film. There may be some mentions of the book when I have to talk about the characters. One year after the events of the first film, Harry Potter (played once again by Daniel Radcliffe) is visited by a house-elf named Dobby (voiced by Toby Jones) who warns him not to go back to Hogwarts for the upcoming school year. Harry ultimately does not listen to Dobby's warning. This particular year at Hogwarts involves students being petrified and turned to stone, while our main heroes try solving the mystery of the titular chamber of secrets. I want to start with the negatives because I really don't have that many. The CGI is quite a bit stronger in this film compared to first one. However, it still looks a little bit dated. Occasionally, I think there are points that could have explained a little bit better. How exactly did Hagrid's spider Aragog know that the basilisk was born in the castle? From my memory, this isn't really explained. Admittedly, these kinds of moments don't occur too much in this movie. The plot is actually something I find intriguing. This movie legitimately progresses the overall Harry Potter story forward quite a bit. This is the movie that gives us our first real glimpse into Lord Voldemort's time as Tom Riddle. You get some background into Hagrid's past as well. In this movie, we learn why Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts. Honestly, I also like that Hogwarts's own history is explored more in this movie. I think it honestly helps make the school feel more like a character in and of itself. Even though the film still carries the same lighter tone as the first film, it's still clear that this is the film where you do start noticing the darker elements of the later films in the series. Once again, the cast is legitimately on point. You may already know how perfectly cast the likes of Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Maggie Smith, and Robbie Coltrane are. This legitimately continues into this movie. Kenneth Branagh is amazing as the self-centered fraudulent Gilderoy Lockhart. Jason Isaacs is another perfect casting as the villainous Lucius Malfoy. I also have to give props to actor Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley. The man nails Mr. Weasley's childlike curiosity about everything muggle-related. Overall, Harry Potter is a movie I still think is legitimately enjoyable, even if it still has its own minor issues to overcome.  

8 / 10