Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
It is not our abilities that show what we truly are, it is our choices.
Albus Dumbledore
Summary:
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets follows Harry’s second year at Hogwarts. After not receiving any mail from Ron or Hermione, Harry is convinced that his friends have forgotten about him. All of this changes when Dobby appears in his room with a dark warning that Harry mustn’t return to Hogwarts in the fall. Dobby causes some mischief with a cake and then leaves. Until the Weasleys come to rescue Harry, he is stuck in his room due to Dobby. With hopes that the school year goes more smoothly than the start of his summer, Harry is excited to return to Hogwarts. Everything is going well until Ron and Harry crash into Platform 9 and 3/4 entrance instead of going through.
Characters:
Harry Potter is back for his second year at Hogwarts. He’s still pretty new to this world and he spends the year learning about things like house-elves, magical creatures, and more about Hogwarts itself. Harry continues to be brave and follow his gut to be the best he can be and protect those he cares about. Ron Weasley continues to try to prove himself amongst his family. At the beginning of the film, he steals a flying car to save Harry and he continues to stick by Harry through the whole adventure. Ron’s best trait of loyalty is shown throughout as he is constantly ready to stand up for his friends. Hermione Granger continues to prove herself the brightest witch of her age as she is a driving force in the trio’s plan to solve the mystery that is plaguing Hogwarts. Hagrid’s story is further explored as we learn more about why he was expelled and his connection to magical creatures.
Sebastian: 10/10
Review:
This is one of my favourites out of Harry Potter and just in general one of my favourite movies. In terms of adapting the book, I feel that this film did it the best and was nearly a direct translation of the text. What really grabs me about the Chamber of Secrets story is that I feel it is the best mystery of the series as we really delve into the history of Hogwarts and you don’t know who’s behind it all, it is a real whodunnit. The characters are as good as the first film with the young actors coming more into their own and each one showing they know these characters well. Daniel Radcliffe even improvises a scene that is quite good for a 12-year-old. The new cast are great as well with both Gilderoy Lockhart and Lucius Malfoy stealing every scene they are in with Kenneth Branagh knowing exactly how to play the full of himself Lockhart and Jason Isaacs is great as a secondary villain in the form of Malfoy Sr. Besides the mystery, I also felt that the action was better in this film as well with just more in general and I felt the visual effects were quite good during both the spider scene and the finale. The twist at the end of the movie is really well done and I still remember how shocked I was the first time I saw it. I also like how the story has gotten darker with more dark themes like slavery, racism, and murder which are just more apparent in this story. The magic is still there and I love how the castle is constantly shown throughout with Hogwarts being very prominent as not only a location but important to the mystery as a whole. We also watched the extended edition of the film and while it does make it nearly 3 hours I love the little scenes that it adds that might not be needed but just flesh out the story even more.
All in all, this is one of my favourites and it’s one I revisit often! So, if it’s your first time or your 50th this is still a great film with a great mystery worth checking out.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
The Quidditch scene is my favourite because I think it’s even more action-packed than the first one and I like seeing the way Harry has to duck and weave, it shows his skill as a Quidditch player and his determination.
Austin: 9.1/10
Review:
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets is a pretty entertaining movie, although not quite as good as the first one. The length of this movie is a little bit insane, clocking in at nearly 3 hours, but I was pretty impressed with the pacing. It doesn’t feel too long and it doesn’t really slow down. You are gonna finish this movie and be concerned that you just sat for 3 hours, but you won’t be bored. The plot is a little bit more complex than the first one and I appreciated the whole “mystery” vibe. The day-to-day life picks up even more in this movie, and that’s my favourite part. I love seeing the classrooms, watching them learn different spells. It takes a very far-fetched movie and makes it feel real. If it was all intense action scenes of main plot stuff at all times, it would have that same special feeling that keeps us coming back time and time again. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were once again a great cast, so well written. The way their characters mesh together in both high tension scenes and day-to-day Hogwarts life is incredible and it makes the story more compelling. The emotional attachment is there from the beginning and you can’t help but like these characters.
The animation takes another step in this movie, even though it’s only a year after the first one. Dobby is really well done, Quidditch is cool as usual, and the basilisk was awesome. Even though it’s been quite a few years since this movie came out, the animation has survived the test of time. Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets as a whole has withstood the test of time and is still a great movie. It’s such a fun watch and our characters are fantastic. I personally think Prisoner is still the best one, but this is a decent movie.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
As I mentioned in my review, my favourite moment has to be anything related to Hogwarts. The learning aspect of the day-to-day interactions makes this feel real, and it adds to the ambience of Hogwarts.
Nathanyal: 9.0/10
Review:
Another faithful adaptation from the novel, The Chamber of Secrets was never one of my favourites in the series. When it came to novels, this was one of my least favourites, and the same is true for movies. Although this movie is set in the Harry Potter world once again, it doesn’t have the same magical feel as the first. Instead, this novel opted for a mystery, which didn’t seem to click for me. The execution of the mystery and magic combination didn’t seem to work.
There is only one gripe I had with The Chamber of Secrets, and that was the length. Now, I did watch the extended version of the movie, but I still believe that the theatrical release was still pretty long. For a novel that was in the 200s for page count, The Chamber of Secrets spares no detail from the source material. Most, if not all, the chapters from the novel are given a scene in this movie, which made it feel long and drawn out. By filming pretty much everything, the slow parts became slower, and the fast parts were faster. The balance just didn’t seem to be there.
However, the fact that this movie was faithful to the source was also a good thing. By being faithful, all the important scenes were included and some of the extra scenes were able to provide more context to the story. The Chamber of Secrets also featured the same and loveable cast, so the acting was top notch. The plot itself was interesting, so it was fun to watch, nonetheless. And finally, the special effects were still top notch.
Overall, The Chamber of Secrets was a faithful adaptation of the novel. It features the same cast as the previous movie and has a fun mystery that the protagonist tries to solve. However, with being so faithful, there are instances where the movie seems to slow to a crawl and no details are spared.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
My favourite moment in The Chamber of Secrets was when Snape and Lockhart demonstrated dueling. I loved watching Snape decimate Lockhart on stage and watch as his ego takes a hit. It was also one of the first wizard to wizard duels, which made it new and exciting.
