Even better than the first! WONDERFUL!

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2006)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/2002/****
Main Stars: Daniel Radcliffe Emma Watson Rupert Grint
Okay the first one was WONDERFUL! But it turns out I liked the second one even better than the first! Okay the first deals with the Sorcerer's Stone while this one deals with The Chamber of Secrets. Okay I'd choose the chamber before the stone or maybe even after because best is for last. Yes, this had an imaginative, creative story to it with even more and better characters and better story, longer than the first: Aragog, Dobby the House-Elf, Tom Riddle, Moaning Myrtle, and Colin Creevey. They were all interesting and entertaining characters and of course more so than the first. This so-called Chamber of Secrets is a wonderfully looking chamber with an old man's head in it (Salazar Slytherin) where the basilisk (a giant snake) comes out of and chases Harry. This is the first time you physically see The Burrow, or the Wealsey's house, which is a very tall building for a house. Also you see the old Ford Anglia for the first time that is able to fly (because Mr. Weasley enchanted it) and turn itself invisible and helps Harry and Ron escape from the Forbidden Forest in one scene that includes the spider Aragog in the scene. It also is the car they fly to Hogwarts itself since someone in particular closed the barrier and didn't let them get onto Platform 9¾. When they are actually inside the castle you see Dumbledore (the late Richard Harris) for the first time in the film. He obviously didn't look good because he was very sick in the film and I'm surprised Harris was able to make the film with how ill he was. He passed away shortly after the film was released in the theaters. That is one cast member dead from the Harry Potter series. The new Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is worse than and not as convincing as Richard Harris. I'd prefer Harris over Gambon because not only is he wiser and has straight posture (like Dumbledore should be) but he's calmer and not as loud and annoying as Gambon. So, on with the mysterious chamber The chamber has supposedly been opened and Hogwarts needs to be under supreme caution because, as I said before, the chamber is a home to a vicious monster snake, or basilisk. The teachers were getting anxious and were also thinking of closing the school if the culprit behind the attacks was not found. Harry and Ron also seem anxious and use the Invisibility cloak to get around to places where they really need to go like Hagrid's hut. Hermione tries to discourage them because it could be dangerous but she did not succeed. Students are supposed to be in their dormitories or accompanied by a teacher at nine o'clock at night. Each Head of House tell their student that. So Harry has the Invisibility cloak idea. They have many questions for Hagrid like how the Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Hagrid, however, could not finish this statement because someone knocked on the door at that exact moment. Harry and Ron were unconvinced. They were then told to follow the spiders if they needed any specific information on the chamber and who opened it and blabitty bloo So they arrive in the Forbidden Forest, which is home to many terrifying creatures, and the one they were going to interrogate was the giant spider Aragog. He gave them as much info as he could give them, which was very limited. Ron was still unconvinced; but Harry found out a big piece of information concerning it. That led to one of my favorite parts of the film, the chamber that Harry, Ron and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (Gilderoy Lockhart who is played by none other than the stage actor Kenneth Branagh) discover. He's the cowardly teacher that thinks he's one of the best wizards in history. This made the magnificently adventurous film become even more magnificently adventurous. This is definitely THE BEST Harry Potter film ever to be released and probably will remain. I made a big mistake saying that the fourth one was the most spectacular. I was just astounded by it in the theaters but now I've found out that the second one is still THE BEST. I would be astonished if there was a Potter film that could beat this one. So now we wait. Movie directed by Chris Columbus.