Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrrets
Year: 2002
Director: Christopher Columbus
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Tom Felton, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Daniel Radcliffe, Alan Rickman & Emma Watson
Runtime: 174 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 13/10/20
Director: Christopher Columbus
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Tom Felton, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Daniel Radcliffe, Alan Rickman & Emma Watson
Runtime: 174 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 13/10/20
I’m going to start this review off on a dour note, Chamber of Secrets is without a doubt my least favourite Harry Potter film. I do still like elements of it, but the issue I have primarily lies in Christopher Columbus’ tone of the film, and its gargantuan length.
After having to spend the summer with the Dursley’s and not hearing from Ron and Hermione at all over the summer, Harry is feeling quite down come summers end. The day before he is due to leave for Hogwarts a house elf named Dobby appears in Harry’s room, informing him that he must not return to Hogwarts as Harry will most certainly be in great danger if he does. To try and stop him from going, Dobby has been hiding all of Harry’s mail from his friends. Ron rescues Harry from the Dursley’s and after a mishap with the train caused by Dobby, the two eventually get to Hogwarts. Shortly after term starts Harry, Ron, and Hermione find Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris, petrified and next to a message that informs the school that the heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts and the Chamber of Secrets will be opened, putting the lives of all non-pure blood wizards at risk.
Harry seems to be the prime suspect due to various strange things he is found to be doing, but regardless of the rumours the trio set out to uncover the heir of Slytherin and stop the monster that resides inside the chamber to be set loose upon the school.
After having to spend the summer with the Dursley’s and not hearing from Ron and Hermione at all over the summer, Harry is feeling quite down come summers end. The day before he is due to leave for Hogwarts a house elf named Dobby appears in Harry’s room, informing him that he must not return to Hogwarts as Harry will most certainly be in great danger if he does. To try and stop him from going, Dobby has been hiding all of Harry’s mail from his friends. Ron rescues Harry from the Dursley’s and after a mishap with the train caused by Dobby, the two eventually get to Hogwarts. Shortly after term starts Harry, Ron, and Hermione find Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris, petrified and next to a message that informs the school that the heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts and the Chamber of Secrets will be opened, putting the lives of all non-pure blood wizards at risk.
Harry seems to be the prime suspect due to various strange things he is found to be doing, but regardless of the rumours the trio set out to uncover the heir of Slytherin and stop the monster that resides inside the chamber to be set loose upon the school.
It’s a pretty good story to be honest, and the book is among my favourites in the entire series. But Chamber of Secrets the film falls at almost every hurdle put in front of it due to the tone of the film being inconsistent with Columbus’ vision for it.
First of all the child actors still have not come along a huge way from the Philosopher’s Stone in terms of ability. Whilst a few are starting to shine as potentially great, such as Tom Felton’s Draco Malfoy, Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger, and Daniel Radcliffe as Harry; there are several that are still straggling behind and (spoilers) don’t ever really get much better such as Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan. Whilst future films seem to work slightly more in those actors favour by adjusting dialogue to sound more normal, Chamber of Secrets still insists on making characters sound like they are reading their lines from Rowling’s book which only exacerbates the problem further.
We then also have the problem of Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockheart. Now I can never pin down whether it’s his performance I don’t like or the character itself. You’re obviously not meant to like Lockheart, the arrogant prick he is, but disliking something comes in many forms for villainous characters. Take Draco Malfoy for example, you’re never meant to like him as a character, but like that he is there and that he always provides a good dynamic. Lockheart however does not, instead he attempts to steal the limelight and simply fails to do so...and I can never tell if it’s the actor or the character that’s the problem here. But whatever it is, I don’t like it.
On top of this the film is horrendously long. The theatrical version runs for 2 hours 41 minutes and the extended version available on most blu-ray copies of the film is 2 hours 54 minutes! This works out to being (on average) around 20-30 minutes longer than most other films in the series, and it really shows. The film doesn’t put this extended running time to good use either as it’s not like the film attempts to bring in anything more from the books than the first film did. Instead much of the more subtle character development, and intriguing side plots are still left by the wayside for a greater focus on the usually uneventful day to day life of a Hogwarts student. That’s not to say these scenes aren't welcome, but to sacrifice meaningful character development for quite literally nothing of importance is something that should definitely be addressed.
I don’t really have much good to say about this film. I enjoy the final act where Harry & Ron enter the Chamber of Secrets, particularly because of the impressive visuals and the strength of the script once Tom Riddle enters the fray. I also think the scene in the forest with Aragog and the spiders is done very well. But in terms of what strengths the film has by itself, there really aren't very many. Overall, Chamber of Secrets is a film I watch because I have to. It’s the second film in a series of eight, so it’s wrong to just skip it. But if this were a standalone film, would I ever watch it again? Most definitely not.
First of all the child actors still have not come along a huge way from the Philosopher’s Stone in terms of ability. Whilst a few are starting to shine as potentially great, such as Tom Felton’s Draco Malfoy, Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger, and Daniel Radcliffe as Harry; there are several that are still straggling behind and (spoilers) don’t ever really get much better such as Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan. Whilst future films seem to work slightly more in those actors favour by adjusting dialogue to sound more normal, Chamber of Secrets still insists on making characters sound like they are reading their lines from Rowling’s book which only exacerbates the problem further.
We then also have the problem of Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockheart. Now I can never pin down whether it’s his performance I don’t like or the character itself. You’re obviously not meant to like Lockheart, the arrogant prick he is, but disliking something comes in many forms for villainous characters. Take Draco Malfoy for example, you’re never meant to like him as a character, but like that he is there and that he always provides a good dynamic. Lockheart however does not, instead he attempts to steal the limelight and simply fails to do so...and I can never tell if it’s the actor or the character that’s the problem here. But whatever it is, I don’t like it.
On top of this the film is horrendously long. The theatrical version runs for 2 hours 41 minutes and the extended version available on most blu-ray copies of the film is 2 hours 54 minutes! This works out to being (on average) around 20-30 minutes longer than most other films in the series, and it really shows. The film doesn’t put this extended running time to good use either as it’s not like the film attempts to bring in anything more from the books than the first film did. Instead much of the more subtle character development, and intriguing side plots are still left by the wayside for a greater focus on the usually uneventful day to day life of a Hogwarts student. That’s not to say these scenes aren't welcome, but to sacrifice meaningful character development for quite literally nothing of importance is something that should definitely be addressed.
I don’t really have much good to say about this film. I enjoy the final act where Harry & Ron enter the Chamber of Secrets, particularly because of the impressive visuals and the strength of the script once Tom Riddle enters the fray. I also think the scene in the forest with Aragog and the spiders is done very well. But in terms of what strengths the film has by itself, there really aren't very many. Overall, Chamber of Secrets is a film I watch because I have to. It’s the second film in a series of eight, so it’s wrong to just skip it. But if this were a standalone film, would I ever watch it again? Most definitely not.