Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Cast
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart
Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall
Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore
Directed by Chris Columbus
Rater #2 has Description and review
Rater #1
7/10. I thought this was a good movie, but I have some points that made it seem a little awkward. During the movie, I noticed Richard Harris (he died not to long ago), seemed to already not have the strength to carry on. His voice was very raspy compared to the first movie. Another thing I noticed was how heavily Chris Columbus relied on special effects. I know that special effects can make ya (Star Wars) or break ya. It was somewhere in between in this one. One last thing was how the movie did not seem to closely refer to the book. I thought I remembered that there were some funny parts metioned in the book but not in the movie.
Rupert Grint was very funny as his character, Ron. Though he seemed to be scared all the time, but I think that was due to how the script was written. Daniel Radcliffe was great as Harry. He made me really believe that he was Harry Potter. We can start to see great things are going to come from him.
Back to the book aspects, I remembered that in the end of the book they had a ceremony to award house points, but they did no such thing in the movie. I also don't remember everyone cheering on Hagrid at the end, but maybe that's because I haven't read the book in awhile. One last thing was at the beginning. Harry, in the book, never started out in the room, but, instead, he was in the stairwell for awhile, and then he got moved. I felt that the movie jumped too quickly to some spots.
All in all, this is a good movie, and should be seen by all. I hope on the DVD, they include some things that were in the book but not in the movie.
Rater #2
7/10. In the sequel that surpasses the original, Daniel Radcliffe again
plays our bespecaled hero, Harry Potter. He's now a second year at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but his aunt and uncle
(Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw), with whom he lives with, aren't
exactly keen on his "talents". Dobby, a house-elf, comes into Harry's
room and tells him not to go back to school, because bad things will
befall him. Harry, of course, doesn't heed the warning.
His aunt and uncle won't allow him to go back, but his faithful
friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) comes to rescue him by a flying
car! So Harry goes to school after all. But it looks like Dobby was
right, because soon after sessions begin, students are becoming
Petrified (why not?). To the common eye, it looks like Harry's arch-
enemy Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton).
This Potter out-magics the original one. It doesn't waste time
on "trivial" aspects such as character developement. To someone who
hasn't read the books or seen the first movie, it would be confusing
with all the magical lingo and the characters who they do nothing to
improve upon. Neville Longbottom gets into more fiascos, Draco
becomes more meanicing, but that's about it. No word about Seamus
Finnegan. We don't know that Dean Thomas exists, but they can't make
a 161-minute much longer, can they?
Radcliffe is OK as Harry, but I don't really understand people saying
he's the next Haley Joel Osment. He's fine for these "physically
demanding" roles but for a serious part? Nuh uh. Grint, as Ron,
horribly overacts. We understand that he's Chuckie to Radcliffe's
Tommy (a Rugrats analogy), but come on! Grint is just a little too
excited to play a part in a movie. Hermione Granger, a know-it-all,
is played well by Emma Watson-gotta see some of the school plays
she's been in!
Hogwarts has a new teacher for the Defense Against the Dark Arts
class-Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), Order of Merlin, Fourth
Class, Five-Time Winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming Smile Award.
He's egotistical, as I'm sure you couldn't guess. Branagh performs
the best acting of the movie, except it would have been better if,
like the book, he had had a larger role. He coulda been a contender.
Richard Harris, as aged Headmaster Dumbledore, is pretty good;
unfortunately, he sounds more sickly than the first. Maggie Smith,
Professor McGonagall, must have gotton Botox injected during the
shoot or something. She had almost no wrinkles for a lot of the
movie. But she was pretty good for her small role. All of the other
teachers, such as cold Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) were
acceptable, however small their parts.
Most of my complaints are also complaints for the book, also, such as
all the minor characters. However, if Chris Columbus had not tried to
be so faithful to the book it would have helped. Obviously it
couldn't be perfectly true to the book, but when Justin Flinch-
Fletchy got Petrified, for instance, the movie watching audience had
no idea who it was. In the book they at least get some more insight.
Many of the speeches, such as Dumbledore's at the end, as almost word-
for-word from the book (I had just re-read the book before). Not that
it isn't inspiriational, but it's perfectly adapted.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is very good. However, the
trouble with Harry (sorry...just had to!) is it's too faithful and
some poor acting.
Rater #3
8/10. Harry Potter was a great book series! I was glad but kind of against the making of the movie, because it sets images of the characters in your mind. I liked the freedom to have the characters look any way I wanted in my mind. But I think that the movie did a wonderful job choosing the characters, they looked close of not exactly like I had imagined them. The movie was great, and I thought it had alot of humor in it (intentional and un-intentional) Intentional being Hagrid and his "If anyone wants to know anyhing, all they would have to do is follow the spiders. And thats all I have to say" and the un-intentional humor of Ron's cracking voice. This movie really followed the book and it reminded me of parts I had forgotten, like Tom Riddle. I loved this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who isn't afraid of spiders or snakes.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie
Rated PG for scary moments, some creature violence and mild language.
Running time: 161 minutes
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