Was this by the same director? Is this the same cast?

Rating: 5/10 (13 December 2002)

The cast of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone did an excellent job; specifically the three children who stared in the movie. They almost looked like real kids being almost overwhelmed with real adventures that you and I could only dream of. And the director, Chris Columbus, did a pretty good job making an entertaining movie out of what was essentially a children's story with many contrived parts.
But The Chamber of Secrets almost looks like it was made by other people. The acting was stale in most parts, over baked in others. And the movie just lumbered along from scene to scene like it was directed by some novice. It's almost like they said, "We don't care for this particular story, so let's just get through it so we can get to the other movies." You can almost hear the characters thinking, "Ok, here we are in class again... Here we are at the quidditch match again... Here are the ghosts...again." And if that ending was just like the book, I think we could have forgiven Chris Columbus for taking some creative license to improve upon it, just like the LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring was an improvement on the book (an rarity, for sure). Let's hope the cast and crew didn't spend all they had on the first movie with nothing left to give, because there're still 3 more to go.