Something missing?

Rating: Null/10 (22 November 2002)

First, I'd like to say that I am not a major fan of the series, as I have never, nor do I plan to, read the books. But, on that note, I enjoyed the first one... not a great film, but fun and entertaining. I liked the characters, except for the guy with the wrapping on his head... I liked how the ending played out and I liked the focus on the school.
Now, with that said, I was a bit disapointed with Chamber of Secrets. 'Older' people seem to be so obsessed with the fact that it's 'darker', like that really makes a better film. Something similar was said in regards to EP2: AOTC, and I think Chamber suffers some of the same problems that MIB2 and AOTC suffered from. Now, I just want to say that, unlike MIB2, it had something more on its mind and wasn't a merely tremor of a movie (Chamber is 2 hours and 40 minutes, unlike MIB2 which isn't even an hour and a half), but, like it, Chamber felt 'cartoon episodic', like watching a 1-2 parter of an animated series, not like watching an actual film or number in a series of films and lost a lot of the magic, fun, and creativity of the first. It's kind of hard to explain specifics, but I'll try.
I'm not sure how much the problems can be faulted to the writer, JK ROWLING, or the screenwriter, who chose a slightly different focus this time around. I can't critique the book since I haven't read it, so I have to judge the film on its own merits. It isn't a bad film, it's ok, but not one I'd really care to see again.
Beware, spoilers bound to occur ahead... (I'll be careful, though, and try to reveal as little as possible)
The film started off ok, back at the house... in comes Dobby, the house elf, beginning the 'mystery' (I didn't mind Dobby, though I'd recommend a little less time spent on his 'self abuse'). The quest permeates, Why shouldn't Harry go back to school this year? Like the last film, this isn't where the magic of the story really begins (and I don't mean 'magic' as in wizardry, but the charm of what brought me in the first time and sold me the movie as a fun and entertaining film I'd gladly watch whenever I got the craving), things start picking up with a jail break, and then we get to see the Weasley home, meet the family for some small little bits (which, looking back, was kinda nice).
Next, we're carted back off to the shopping place of the first movie, but it kind of lacks the wonder of the first time and we're introduced to 2 new characters. Now, Lucius I liked, I just wish they could have done more with him, but I can sort of understand why they used him like they did, hopefully he'll get more stuff to do in the next movie. The second new character, played by Kennth Branagh, I couldn't care either way about him. They had the chance to introduce Hermoine's parents as well, but instead, we just 'see' them... a subplot is introduced, sort of a reversed 'X-Men' syndrome, but ultimately really isn't all that important in the scope of things (more of a sideissue that 'seems' important but it really isn't, rather an excuse for other things).
Now, the train... Ron and Harry get left behind, and they take the flying car... which makes for a decent action piece, so, ok... no complaints here.
Then, quickly herded off, they could be in trouble, expelled, blah blah blah, but they're not, and so school begins... It sort of blurs at that point, then we're introduced to another new teacher, didn't really care for, and that scene is nerve wracking with the root screamers. I had to close one ear, it was that bad. The pixie sequence was alright, but now they're just going through the motions of setting a couple plot elements up.
The plot, which I will not utter here *Gandaulf voice*, I didn't really care for. It was very cartoonish (which isn't necessarily a complaint), didn't really like how it unfolded (it starts off ok, but as the story progresses, it loses my interest)... I'll get into a little more of that soon.
The Duel scene, probably my favorite scene in the film, I just wish they did something more with it. The Journal, an interesting idea, I wish the introduction of it was better somehow. The next Quidditch match is kind of cool...
Whining Murtle, eck, just eck. What an annoying character. I don't mind the whining aspect so much, it's just the sounds she makes, makes me cringe. Anytime you want to put something to 'annoy', especially a character with such importance to the story, it forces me to give it big strikes against the movie. And the guy with the cat, ack, just cut his part to minimal, no more than he had in the first (afterall, there are far more interesting characters to focus on). Having him go around blaming Harry was pointless and never went anywhere.
The three characters... this is probably my biggest complaint. Unlike the first one, it has become strictly Harry's show. Hermione gets to make a potion, then she's taken out of the game for good. All Ron is good for in this film, is being scared. It wasn't about three friends anymore, just 1 kid dragging along 2 others who aren't really that integral anymore. I thought Ron and Hermione were kind of wasted this time out, like many of the best characters in the film, just too much wasting going on. I would have liked to see a couple more moments between the characters not directly pertaining to the plot (which just about everything seemed to, a little bit too blatant at that)...
There is only 1 real advancement for Harry's character this time around, and it's something we already know, only, this time it's explained. WOW! See how impressed I am? It seems very been there, done that, even with Dumbledore in the end having to sit us down and 'explain' everything. You don't have to take the same approach every movie. Let's see a different way of explaining something, or at least, try to make it interesting.
My second biggest complaint, everything seems to be out to save Harry Potter. While, this was ok in the first, here it becomes kind of redundant. Like, ooh look, the car. Ooh, look, the Pheonix, oh, the phoenix again. I didn't like how it came together at the end, I much rather prefer the ending to the first movie (I thought the challenges were kind of clever and the mirror thing interesting).
I guess, it just lost some of its potency that it had the first time around. Looking back, I guess I didn't mind the plot so much as the elements that went into it. Some interesting ideas that just didn't feel like they were put to good use. Underused characters, and less of the 'school' atmosphere and wonder that made the first one what it was. I'd rather have had more classes, more mischevious behavier dragging Hermione along than bothering with the plot. I find those aspects far more entertaining, I want it to be about the three stars, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and their rivalries against kids like Draco. I want Lucius to have more to do, more sneering, and Snapes to be used more.
I'm wondering to myself, how the hell did this movie last 2 hours and 40 minutes? What the hell was it doing for that long? Cause the scenes that got me back to what I wanted to see certainly didn't take up much of that time. The plot could have been done easily in a 1-2 parter of a 30 (15-20 with commercials) minute animated series, the focus was too much on a plot that just needed to be better constructed, and not enough on the characters I wanted to see more of. Too much time on characters I either didn't care for (Kenneth Branaugh), or were annoyed by (Murtle)... ack... so yeah, I was disapointed. In the end, just too much of stuff I didn't want or care for, and too little of the stuff I did want. Ah, well. :( ...