Like all the books, "Chamber" begins midway through the summer as Harry's twelfth birthday is nearing, and again he faces a rather dismal one in the company of his horrible uncle, aunt and cousin. Excitement is already on the move however, as when Harry enters his bedroom the house elf Dobby is waiting for him, who warns him that under no circumstances is he to return to Hogwarts, where a great danger is waiting for him.

But return he does, after being rescued from his family by the Weasley family and the now-famous flying blue Ford Angelia, and indeed finds what Dobby promised - something is stalking the halls of Hogwarts, putting all the students in great danger. Taking it upon himself to save his beloved home Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione seek out the clues, and find themselves facing a terrible evil. In a story filled with giant spiders, savage willow trees, magical swords, disembodied voices, mysterious diaries, glorious phoenixes, flying cars and Quidditch matches, the action and excitement doesn't let up until the ending credits.

Once again Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson return as the three main protagonists, and I'm glad to say that while their acting was a little awkward in the first movie (understandable for newcomers) they've mellowed out and are much more natural with their characters and each other. Under-rated actor Tom Felton is again wickedly good, and Maggie Smith (McGonagall), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) and Alan Rickman (Snape) roll out brilliant performances. Unfortunatly I can't say the same for Richard Harris - Dumbledore in my mind is an elderly yet lively and energetic man, yet here I was petrified he was going to kneel over any second.

The best part of any sequel in a series is the myraid of new characters to see, including the afore mentioned Dobby, the mysterious and sinister Tom Riddle, the narcissic Gilderoy Lockhart (played with great pizzazz by Kenneth Branaugh), and pompous Cornelius Fudge, and more of the Weasley family - more from Julie Walters as Molly Weasley, an introduction to Arthur Weasley, and from George, Fred and (especially) Ginny.

Three performances stick out though: Lucius Malfoy was great - cold, calm and elegant, this guy just *oozed* sinister charm, Moaning Myrtle, with her high-pitched sobs and shrieks was an unexpected surprise and Colin Creevy, the forerunner to Book Four's reporter Rita Skeeter and J. K. Rowling's dig at the media was a small, but essential gem, and I love that split-second scene of horror on his face as the runaway Buldger hurtles towards him!

Finally the sets, costumes and props are lovely, but the special effects are only so-so. The Quidditch game (again more visually exciting than any written account) is very good, as is the 'monster in the chamber', but the phoenix, spiders and Dobby could have used some tweaking.
All in all, a fun, interesting, colourful, sometimes-scary, and faithful adaptation to a beloved book, that (along with the Two Towers) brought 2002 to a fantasy-filled climax in the movie industry.

Well, in Chamber of Secrets, people now know the story of Harry
Potter, have lowered (a bit) there expectations, and the entire cast and crew is back with a LOT more experience. All of these advantages over #1 should make this a better movie, right?Thankfully, it WAS. Here's what I thought of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:

1) Plot: This movie follows the second book in J.K. Rowling's recored-selling book series, and follows Harry throug his second year at Hogwarts. While many have said that this was the worst book of the series, and because of that this might turn out to be the worst movie of the series. I highly disagree! We start out with Harry, back at the Dursleys for the summer...here we go again. They treat him like...a criminal, work him to death, and dont allow him to say the "M word" (magic) AT ALL IN THIS HOUSEHOLD!!! Well, one night, when Harry is in his room, a house-elf, named Dobby, visits Harry. He warns of GRAVE DANGER at Hogwarts, horrible things planned for the following school year! What is this elf talking about? Harry ignores the elf, and goes to school anyway. Everything seems to be going normally (or whatever you would call "normal" at Hogwarts) when Harry finds a cat, Mrs. Norris, hanging upside down...petrified in a hallway. And above, written in what looks like blood, are written the words "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened." What's going on??? No one knows, and within a few weeks, more people have been petrified by an un-known creature. That's when Harry remembers Dobby's comments, that something terrible would be happening that year at Hogwarts...

2) Acting: HUGE improvement. Amazing the difference a year makes...at least for the cast of Harry Potter. There is so much more emotion, drama, suspense. For example, last year, there were perhaps 2 or 3 confrentation with Malfoy the whole movie. In Chamber of Secrets, they really clash! There are wizarding duels, TONS OF QUIDDITCH!, a lot more emphasis on Harry and his friends, etc... Bonds are really made here, and some of the best scenes are when Malfoy's father (a Voldemort supporter) and Ron' s dad (a true wizard) talk... Hermione, Ron, Harry, and the rest of Gryffindor really seem to come together. There is real emotion as well when they defend each other, *example: Malfoy calling Hermione a "mudblood", everyone from both Gryffindor and Slytherin yelling and trying to get a piece of the other! Hermione's tears after the insult, Ron and Harry's support. The entire school welcoming Hagrid back toward the end, everyone cheering Harry on after the Quidditch game, etc... And the actor who played Gildera Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) did a SUPERB job! He was holarious, loved to show off his teeth and get attention, and really played the clueless part well too! The whole movie had some humor in it as well that was lacked in the first one, and it was little things like Kenneth Branagh's GREAT acting and sense of humor that made this one better than the first.

There is a lot more dark acting here too. Voldemort is brought to life in a scary way, and seeing all the petrified people, Harry hearing voices in the wall that NO ONE else can here. Tom Riddle's Hermione like brilliance, all the mystery, suspense, and those spiders...and that snake. All of the acting combining with a suspeneseful story made this a better movie then the last.

3) Graphics: Another huge improvement. Hogwarts, while see ming
confined in the first movie, seems to come alive in this. You learn about the whomping willow, go a lot DEEPER into the forbidden forest, and see those....horrible spiders. The snake, the blood, the Quidditch game(s) (brought together a LOT better than in the Sorcerer's stone. A lot more action!). Even the blood and the big fight against Voldemort is all very exciting....thanks to the graphics. You really feel a lot more like your seeing Hogwarts the way J.K. Rowling saw it. It feels real, not like it came off of a computer program. That helped capture the feeling, and continue the magical flame the first one lit!

4) Problems: It seems like they often go for ALL of the big things, and don't try to ease you in to regular life at Hogwarts. And while this was a great movie, and nearly flawless in a lot of ways, it still lacked that and could still use something. The main problem right now, in my opinion, is the fact that they go for the BIG things. When I read the books, I felt (feel) like I was attending Hogwarts myself, reading about all of the homework and going to all of the classes and Quidditch practice every night and eating breakfast and discussing tactics with Ron in the morning. They seemed
to have still missed that for the most part here. *(They also left a few things out: Deathday Party for example)*

Overall, this is a GREAT movie. It has a lot of action, GREAT
graphics, and superb acting in a lot of ways. It's still not perfect, but I think that by the third movie, "The Prisoner of Azkaban" (set to be released June 2004 as last reported) we may have a 5-star series ! I'd reccomend this to anyone who even thought the books were okay, and who doesn't have an XTREME fear of Snakes and or Spiders *lol*.

Thx!