Worthy, But Still Suffers From Loyalty

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2006)

Chris Columbus managed to bring the world of Harry Potter to the big screen with success in The Sorcerer's Stone. Now, Columbus returns to direct the second Harry Potter movie, Chamber of Secrets. After watching the movie it's safe to say that it has improved upon the first Potter movie but still falls in areas.
The deal in Chamber of Secrets is that Harry tries to go back to Hogwarts for another year at school but encounters a house elf who is unwilling to let him go. This leads to Harry's rescue from the Weasley brothers and a real intro to the Weasley family. By the time Harry does get back to Hogwarts he has a lot to deal with, as if the troubles to get there weren't enough. Mysterious things happen to students at Hogwarts that is connected to the Chamber of Secrets being opened. From there on, the movie keeps a good feeling of interest for the audience to keep everything go nicely.
Chamber of Secrets is more serious than that of Sorcerer's Stone and is a darker film. But there isn't anything in this movie that should haunt the youngsters until they're teenagers. While the darker mood isn't used to great effect it does help keep the movie going, and very smoothly at that. There's also a bit of real action in this movie, just a bit though. The Quidditch match is more in-your-face than the last and the scene in the Chamber of Secrets has a bit of an edge-of-your-seat way to it that actually works well.
The acting in Chamber of Secrets is improved from Sorcerer's Stone, but marginally only. Yes, the trio has matured since Sorcerer's Stone and it does show, part thanks to Radcliffe's deeper voice. Even with the acting being just slightly better than that of the first it's not a bad thing. In fact, under the circumstances of most Hollywood sequels, this a good thing, as each person in the movie leaves the same good effect as before. A bit of maturity doesn't go a long way here, but at least it shows.
From start to finish, Chamber of Secrets is a worthy sequel that manages to be better than the first in every way. However, the movie is plagued by the extreme loyalty to the book. This also creates problems for the young performers in the movie and it does show. But anyone that has a good taste for movies should be able to find at least one way to enjoy Chamber of Secrets.