Prepare yourself for a surprise - It's a good movie!

Rating: Null/10 (24 November 2002)

I'm far from the target audience for HP and the Chamber of Secrets (I'm 21 years old) and I didn't enjoy the first movie of the series as much as I thought I would - having read all the books more than three times each, my hopes were really high and I was disappointed with the whole thing from the first minute.
So you can say I was a bit subdued to face this second installment, but still I faced it bravely. Leave your doubts at the theatre's door - HP and the Chamber of Secrets is a hell of a good movie, better than the first by miles. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are perfect as Harry, Ron and Hermione - way better than the first time around, especially Radcliffe. This time he delivers a slyer, darker Harry Potter, not a read-from-the-cards performance. He's into something good here, mark my words - a very good actor in the making.
As for the rest of the main cast, they delivered a brilliant work. Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart was the best casting they could do after picking Alan Rickman as Severus Snape - I could only wish that Rickman had MORE scenes (maybe on the next movie? One could only hope). Richard Harris as Dumbledore does a most emotional work - a decent farewell for a great actor.
The CGI effects are.well.decent to say the least, but sometimes a bit too fake. I was hoping for something better about Fawkes the Phoenix, but I can't complain about Dobby - hilarious and just like I had imagined him. Great work there.
Sure, some things are missing - but you can't expect them to deliver the whole book in only one movie - and the end could be better edited (and leave behind some silly scenes that didn't have much to do with the story.). Don't fret about it - two hours and forty minutes' worth of great scenes will pass like thirty minutes. I would not recommend it to small kids, or for anyone with arachnophobia. And as for me, I'm already on the line for the third movie.