You're bland, Harry...

Rating: 5/10 (2 April 2006)

The second in the Harry Potter franchise, 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' was clearly intended for small children. While this approach did work with 'The Philosopher's Stone' as the happy, Disney -esque atmosphere reflected Harry's idealism of a wizarding world that was perfect, a slightly moody and mature tone would have been far more suitable for CoS since this is when our Boy Who Lived starts to realise the darker side of being a wizard and being a hero. In this film, twelve-year-old Harry is now in his Second Year at Hogwarts when the school is subjected to mysterious attacks that leave Muggleborn students incapacitated. Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly learn a creature is stalking the school, a monster that lives in a secret chamber and was once responsible for the death of a child.
The quality of the child acting still leaves much to desired, with Rupert Grint and Tom Felton shining out above their weaker contemporaries. It is left to the adult cast to provide the solid performances, which they do to a marvellous degree. Maggie Smith as McGonagall and Alan Rickman as Snape seem born to play their roles, bringing their characters to life in a way the child actors just can't do. Kenneth Branagh is a treat as the conceited, campy Lockhart and the scenes where he and Rickman's Snape play each other off are the best in the film. Jason Issacs also deserves a mention since he was deliciously evil as Lucius Malfoy. He and Tom Felton not only look like father and son but in a minute-long scene they were able to portray Draco's hero-worship of his father and Lucius' impatience with his son.
The main problem with the film is that it has been produced in a very dull, bland manner. Instead of focusing on Harry's uncomfortable realisation that the wizarding world has problems and his shock at how quickly the school turn against him at the barest of evidence, scriptwriter Steve Kloves and director Chris Columbus seem intent on making the film a magical version of an Enid Blyton boarding school where kids merrily skip around solving problems. The vain attempts to make the film threatening, such as the overly-long flying car scene (as if anyone thought Harry was going to fall out) and the trudge through the Forbidden Forest, are flat and weak. The final battle between Harry and his unmasked enemy are also lacklustre with no spontaneity and drag on for too long. Character development hasn't improved much either with Ron continuing to be dumbed down for comic relief while we have Hermione getting Ron and Dumbledore's lines (and in the case of the latter, it just sounds odd hearing words of wisdom said by an powerful, elderly wizard in the book being uttered by a child of twelve in the film).
CoS also drops a number of points, in my mind, for the crass, cheesy overly-sentimentality of the ending. Steve Kloves must have been in Hollywood saccharine mode when he thought that pupils in British high schools would honestly clap for teachers (especially ones who have done nothing to warrant such praise) and kids hugging teachers in front of everyone. Harry would have been beaten up and bullied for being a boy of twelve who cuddles into his teacher like a wimpy little girl. And the preceding scene where Lucius confronts Harry was also cavity-inducing with the modest hero of the novels coming across as an arrogant, smug little brat. Kloves not only needs to re-read the book but he should spend more time with real kids at high school if this is how he thinks they conduct themselves.
While CoS was enjoyable enough, it was still a mediocre take of the novel. It was evident that it was produced to keep little kids happy rather than a love for the series or to please the actual fans. I did like it but I still feel so envious of the LotR fans who get an epic film trilogy that matches up to the excellence of books and I wonder if HP will ever be that great.