Wild About Harry?

Rating: 8/10 (29 April 2003)

"Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets" I suppose in some ways is better then the first film. It is an endlessly creative and imaginative movie. It has flying cars, trees that fight, a small elf and many other things that set the movie apart from others. But, the real downside to the movie is it's story. It's rather weak. And I even thought this of the first one, but, moreso here, now that I can compare the two.
"Harry Potter 2" (Which is how I will refer to the movie from now on) is enjoyable in it's opening moments. We are revisiting a world we have not seen in a year. We meet the same old characters, some new ones, but, I personally became bored with the movie after a while. I felt that the viewer is just going along with the movie to mainly see the special effect. Well, after the appeal of that rubs off, than what? The story in both films was never strong enough to hold the viewers interest for the entire length of the film. I believe, or at least it felt like this one was longer than the first! At 2 hours and 30 some odd minutes, "Harry Potter 2" should of been cut down by at least 40 mins. Imagine what kind of truly amazing film that would of been. Because than the movie would move faster, we would see this amazing world that has been created and the action and adventure would be coming from all sides. Then you would really have an exciting movie filled with laughs, special effects, and action.
This movie is about Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) being warned not to return to Hogwarts for fear someone will harm him. Of course Harry doesn't listen because he claims Hogwarts is the only place where he feels he belongs and it's the only place where he has any friends. Once he arrives strange things start to happen. And soon we are told about a secrets chamber that was created a long time ago. The chamber has been opened again and is causing harm to the students. Now, Harry and company must find out who opened the chamber of secrets and save Hogwarts. Does this honestly sound like it can hold your attention for over 2 hours?! Don't get me wrong. I did slightly enjoy the movie. I think it does possess more "magic" then the first one. But, the advantage the first one had naturally was it was introducing us to these characters. There was more of a story there then here. The first one had much more to tell since it was opening up a series. This one just seems like it wants to get by on it's creative special effects. I will admit one of the things I liked about this movie is the introducton of Professor Gideroy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh). I found his character to be very amusing. Is this something the kids will like? I suppose so. I do think the ending may scare them though. But, maybe not, kids seem to be a lot more braver than I was when I was a kid lol. I guess this is a movie the whole family may enjoy but I think the adults may become bored with it before the kids do. If you enjoyed the books and the first movie, "The Chamber of Secrets" will entertain you. *** ( out of ****)
ps - I'm not very "schooled" in this whole Harry Potter thing, but, why is he the main character. When at one point in the movie someone actually says what I was thinking. He doesn't seem to have any magical powers. He just seems to be getting himself in trouble and it's up to his friends namely Hermione to get him out. He never does anything remarkable that makes you believe he would have the reputation that he does.