Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Review

by Susan Granger (ssg722 AT aol DOT com)
November 12th, 2002
Susan Granger's review of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (Warner Bros.)
    The second installment in the ongoing film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's series is scarier, darker, longer and even better than the first. Assuming that everyone in the audience is familiar with the characters and the setting, screenwriter Steve Kloves and director Chris Columbus skip the exposition and immediately launch into the plot. Harry Potter's summer vacation is ended abruptly when Dobby, a house elf, suddenly appears in his bedroom at the dreadful Dursleys, warning him of great danger. There's a malevolent presence lurking in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, petrifying students into a stony stupor. With his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), heroic Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) must not only find the dreaded Chamber of Secrets but battle the Basilisk serpent hiding within. Along with Headmaster Dumbledore (Richard Harris), Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith), huge Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) and vicious Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), there are a bevy of new characters, including Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), whose vanity knows no bounds, and Herbology Professor Sprout (Miriam Margolyes), who graphically demonstrates how to transplant a howling Mandrake. Production designer Stuart Craig and cinematographer Roger Pratt create dazzling delights - like a flying Ford Anglia, a red envelope containing a "howler" message and a fast-paced Quidditch match. Yet at 161 minutes, it's overly long and some scenes may be too sinister and intense for children under age 8. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is an enchanting, enthralling, eye-popping 10, a magical miracle of moviemaking.

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