Are there any secrets left?

Rating: Null/10 (23 November 2002)

The excitement dripping from my frosty autumn bum as I rushed in to find a seat at the latest Harry Potter installment, I found myself gleefully following along with the whimsical Williams trademark theme that chimed over the sound system as I sat down. I was excited at the possibilities and potentials this movie could deliver, and thirsty for the magic. The movie starts off promising enough, I was glad to be taken a little deeper into the world of magic that everyday wizards and witches use as we hang out with the Weasley's for a spell. But once at school, there is much the movie tries to accomplish, and it begins to crush under the weight of it's own ambitions (or the ambition of Warner Bros). Kenneth Branaugh gives a delightful performance, as does the other heavy weights (Harris, Smith, Rickman, and the other elders) as usual. But I felt no connection to Harry. No sense of his struggles or his accomplishments. Rather I felt as if Harry was an empty vessel that was only the carrier of a great magic, not a great magician himself. The protagonists (even young Draco Malfoy) were all much more colorful and interesting characters than the fish eyed little good magicians running around with tears in there eyes and "we shouldn't be doing this Harry" look on their faces. I think the studios did a good job of casting and directing the villains, but can't we give some more life to the hero(s)? My next gripe is the music. Was John Williams not interested because the caliber of movie was significantly lower than the first? Was he too busy? Could they not afford him because they spent their budget on effects, yet couldn't even afford all the effects they wanted? (i.e- the phoenix reminded me of a stuffed robotic parrot my grandma keeps in the kitchen that repeats what you say while flapping it's wings and moving it's beak). The music that was "adapted" was a bit bludgeoning: all I could think of was the original scenes from the first movie they were taken from. The new cues (synth pads and "spooky" atmospherics) were a bit lifeless and repetitive. Could we not get anyone to write new music, people? The last half hour all I could think was "Scooby Doo...Scooby Doo...Scooby Doo". Now I have to sit here and watch all the loose ends tie up and come together while the evil plot is explained with painstaking detail by the recently exposed villain mastermind. Then the addendum -glee overload- when all at Hogwart's returned back to normal and cries of joyous triumph filled the air, the theater filled me with the stale stench of a sickeningly tidy little perfect package that didn't leave me with much inspiration or magic at all. I can only hope "Chamber..." does poorly enough at the box office that the producers learn to take a little more time and care with the next one. Don't rush it too much fellas...you'll go so fast you miss the magic.