A good sequel to the franchise

Rating: 6/10 (16 January 2020)

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was once again directed by Chris Columbus. It is the second movie of the franchise and compared to the first one it doesn't have to dedicate a lot of it's time on introducing us to the wizarding world of the Harry Potter universe, as it has already been set up. Therefore it can use its entire run time to expand on the first entry.
The story is a lot darker than the previous one and for the first time there is at least a slight feeling that our characters are in real danger. Furthermore the movie improves a lot on its visual effects and has a score and both costume and production design that are just as good as in the first one.
Although the movie has a lot it improved upon in its details, I still think that this film is the worst entry in the franchise. This is due to a rather poor story, which is somewhat darker than the first, however it doesn't capture the magic as well as the beginning of its predecessor and ends up just as unsatisfactory.
Like I have mentioned in my review to "the Philosopher's Stone" these two movies (compared to the later instalments) struggle to find an adult-like ending. This could be a result of the age of our lead characters, however it is very likely that the director and the whole crew behind the project just didn't know how dark of a story they can tell and get away with it.
Overall this movie just seems very similar to the first one, in some ways its better and in some ways its worse. I just really appreciate the decision to have a new director handle "the Prisoner of Azkaban", as it is considerably the best entry in the franchise.