Snakes, Spiders and Moaning Myrtle.

Rating: 9/10 (29 March 2009)

Year two at Hogwarts for Harry Potter and his chums. When some pupils start to turn up in a petrified state, suspicion starts to fall on Harry himself, but along with his pals Hermione and Ron, he hopes to uncover the mystery of The Chamber Of Secrets.
Chamber Of Secrets is my favourite Potter film, tho as an adult of some years, I do like the darker tone that the series would take after this instalment. But this remains my favourite because it is the one where the children are still just that, children. Harry and his buddies still have the innocence about them to fully realise the fantastical elements to J.K. Rowling's fabulous writing, witchcraft and wizardry has in short, never been so charming.
Following on from the excellent character introduction of Philosopher's Stone, Chamber Of Secrets retains the whodunit heartbeat and ups the action and hilarity quotient, whilst simultaneously adding some scary flourishes into the bargain. Here we get a quite brilliant Quidittch match, and newer interesting characters entertain without diverting attention from the important children themselves, tho Kenneth Branagh's Gilderoy Lockhart joyously lights up the screen at frequent intervals. Chris Columbus directs again and quite clearly has honed some things from the first picture, the effects are a great improvement on Philosopher's Stone and Columbus here perfectly utilises the lush sweeping location to benefit the story.
A touch too long at 160 minutes, Chamber Of Secrets never in fact outstays its welcome, and come the fabulous face off finale (Daniel Radcliffe as Harry very impressive) I personally feel well and truly rewarded for my time spent at Hogwarts for year two. 8.5/10