The Second Film is a Bit Darker But Just As Fun

Rating: Null/10 (6 March 2016)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
*** (out of 4)
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is warned that he must never go back to Hogwarts but he's determined to see his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson). It doesn't take long after being back that Harry realizes that there are some dark forces at play.
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS is a good film that manages to have all the strengths as the first film. As with the first movie, this one here is quite strong in regards to its technical achievements. Once again the CGI is quite good and this here is coming from someone who usually doesn't like it. So many movies use CGI so poorly that it takes the viewer out of the story but that doesn't happen here. Instead the CGI perfectly creates this world of magic and it really comes across perfectly.
As I said in my first review, I'm not familiar with the books so I'm pretty much viewing these films blind so I can't compare them to the books or know how much justice this does the book. I think the best thing the film has going for it are the young cast members who are wonderful in their parts. Radcliffe is really believable in the role of the brilliant wizard and I think as the subject got darker here the actor managed to raise his performance level. Watson and Grint aren't as heavily used here but they too are good. Kenneth Branagh joins the cast and delivers some fresh fun. Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Richard Harris are all on hand and delivering fine work as well.
I must admit that once again the biggest issue I had with this second film is the rather extremely long running time. Clocking in at 160 minutes the film does manage to move at a nice pace and the magic and excitement are still on hand but at the same time I can't see why the film needed to run this long.