Better than the first

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2002)

While I liked the first Harry Potter movie OK, I didn't love it, mostly due to the slow pacing. This movie kept all the charm from the first one, but stepped up the action and suspense considerably.
The faster pace kept me involved from start to finish, and there was more than one moment where I found myself cringing (think hundreds of giant spiders and one bigass snake).
While I'd leave the under-5 crowd at home (the guy next to us brought his kiddie and blabbed the whole time to keep the little guy from getting too scared), this movie lived up to its hype, so gets my recommendation.