Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

RATING: A-

It's a good thing the guys at Warner Bros were ready to go to put out another Harry Potter film immediately the year after the first one, since they had seven of these things to do in total (or eight, actually). And those kid actors aren't gonna be young forever, right? Hopefully they'll improve though, since some were better than others. 

Luckily, a year and a bit of experience and some of the kid actors actually do improve in the second Harry Potter movie. Daniel Radcliffe does a lot better in the Harry Potter role and continues to do well from here on out. Rupert Grint (Ron), however? He somehow actually got a little worse in the second movie. Tom Felton (Draco) didn't really change much, but he's still got time. 

The second movie had the same director as the first (Chris Columbus), so it was very similar stylistically. The production felt more or less the same. And once again, it was quite a reverent adaption of the book; although it actually did better this time, I think. It seems a bit odd; these two first movies in the series are quite similar, but the second one is loads better. Does it have anything to do that it works with a lot more enthralling story than the first one? Partially. 

Some of the lesser things haven't changed much. Some of the kid actors still don't do well. Quidditch is still depicted poorly (though slightly more exciting and engaging this time). Richard Harris, even if he gets the facial expressions right, still seems just too frail for the Dumbledore role (unfortunately, in real life he died just before this movie was released). 

But besides some of the improvements like Radcliffe's performance, things that were already good are generally better; or good things that have more added onto them; such as the cast. Amongst the great adult actors, new ones include Kenneth Branagh, who is surprisingly perfect as Gilderoy Lockhart. Jason Isaacs is quite a welcome addition as well as Lucius Malfoy. Also, Christian Coulson's performance as Tom Riddle is very overlooked, in my opinion. 

Although the film drags a little bit at times during the first half, and there's still the additions of Dobby and Moaning Myrtle to deal with (characters I'm not a fan of even in the books), things really pick up during the second half, where it feels like the book is done the most justice, namely in the brilliant diary-memory scene and the fantastic finale in the Chamber itself (which they really depict well). Despite being 161 minutes, most of all those minutes are well earned or needed. 

Though Sorcerer's Stone did a pretty decent job of introducing the Wizarding world, Chamber of Secrets is much more effective as there's not a whole lot that's inherently wrong with it. There's a few minor annoyances here and there, but all in all, it's much more of the type of adaption that a Harry Potter book deserves. And luckily, most of the rest of the movies did more or less the same the rest of the way as well. In the meantime, Chamber of Secrets ultimately stands out as one of the better installments in the Harry Potter film series.