Better than the first one!

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2003)

I think that this film is much better than the first one in many ways: The pacing, the acting, the humour, etc... Although it still wasn't brilliant. It has the ability to be brilliant but it doesn't manage it. The book still beats it easily.
The three leads I think are a lot better in this one. Ron (Rupert Grint) is absolutely hilarious, Hermione (Emma Watson) is less annoying than she was in the first one, and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) has more than two expressions in this one. Robbie Coltrane is still very lovable as the big, friendly giant Hagrid, Alan Rickman (who is one of my favourite actors) is still incredibly icy as Snape, Richard Harris, as Dumbledore, is better than he was in the first one but still not brilliant (I don't think he really understood his part) and Maggie Smith still makes a wonderful Mcgonagal. Also, I'd like to give special mention to Jason Isaacs, as Lucius Malfoy, who I thought was excellent. I also thought that Christian Coulson had very good screen presence as Tom Riddle.
I thought the adaptation could still be a little bit better. Like plenty of other things in this film it's better than it was in the first one but there's still room for improvement. Plenty of people might disagree with me but I think that they don't cut enough bits out. I know it's a pretty faithful adaptation of the book but if they want to actually make an really good film then they should think about cutting more out. I think this because they try and pack loads of things into the films and in the end each scene lasts no longer than about a minute, if you see what I mean. The Lord of the Rings was adapted near perfectly (take note, Steve Kloves, take note) Also, I don't think that this film (and the first film) is very good for people who haven't read the book. It works well as an illustration of the book, not as a stand alone film.
I'm still not absolutely sure that Chris Columbus is the right guy to be the director for Harry Potter. He doesn't make it dark enough. He makes it too childish and cheesy. But all that will change, of course, as there's going to be a new director on board.
But I'm going to leave on a positive note because I did enjoy the film and thought it was much better than the first one and I'm convinced that the Harry Potter films are going to get better and better as they go on.