To be completely honest, this is my least favorite film and my second-to-last least favorite books. I don't know what it is, but I just can't get into it. It does, however, have my favorite lines in the entire series (book).
"Dear me," said Dumbledore, . . . "Impaled on your own sword, Gilderoy!"
"Sword?" said Lockhart dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." He pointed at Harry. "He'll lend you one."
Part of me blames ABC Family's "Harry Potter Weekend"s. Every time (no exaggeration) I click over to watch it, I catch the same scene. Always the same stupid scene (okay . . . it's not a stupid scene . . . I'm just absolutely tired of it). I change the channel to ABC Family and all the sudden Harry is fighting the basilisk. He's running through the chamber's tunnels and all the sudden he ducks into the side tunnel. The basilisk, having lost its eye sight, breezes right past Harry because he threw the stone. After that, I turn the channel back to whatever I was watching out of frustration.
In other words, ABC Family has killed this movie for me to the same extreme degree of Harry killing the Horcrux.
I suppose the easy solution would be to just watch the movie up to that point, but if I start a movie, I'm going to finish it. So I can't really watch it at all, you know?
Anyway . . . I'm done whining . . . moving on to the actual movie.
Chamber of Secrets picks up just before the start of the new school year. Once again, Harry is being tortured by the Dursleys who lock him in his room and bar his window after he (but really Dobby) ruins Mr.Dursley's sale pitch to the Masons. He is, however, rescued by Ron and the Weasley family. Once they start heading to school, strange things start happening around Hogwarts. First, Ron and Harry can't get onto the platform, so they miss the train. Second, rogue bludger chases Harry around the Quidditch field and breaks his arm. Then, things go really wrong: the Chamber of Secrets is opened and the monster inside begins to attack all of the Muggle-born students at Hogwarts, including Hermione. After that, it is up to Harry and Ron to save the day by killing the monster and rescuing Ginny Weasley.
I really appreciate all the hard work that went into Chamber of Secrets, especially when you consider that the filming started the day after Sorcerer's Stone premiered. That is a lot to ask, especially from the kids in my opinion, but Columbus did have a reason for this movie-making madness. The kids were growing up fast and to keep the appearance that they were all twelve, the filming had to start as soon as possible.
While all the characters from Sorcerer's Stone were still growing , especially the young actors, both physically and in their acting abilities, there were several new character additions in this movie that I would rather talk about.
First, of course, is Dobby the House Elf. He was wonderful. The voice, the mannerisms, the CG were just as I imagined he would be. I believe that this is mostly because Columbus insisted on keeping the film true to the books, not just in plot and dialog, but in characters as well. Plus, Dobby was a scene stealler. He dominated every scene he was in. In fact, he stole the spotlight so much that during filming Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) seemingly kicked the air as he left Dumbledore's office. When asked what he was doing, Isaacs claimed that he was kicking Dobby because Dobby took away from his performance and it annoyed him. Thankfully, kicking Dobby was perfectly within the realm of how Malfoy would act.
Another addition to this film is the foppish,boastful, laughable Gilderoy Lockhart who has lied his whole life so that he could become famous out of a need to be better than everyone else. No one could have done justice to this role other than the genius Kenneth Branagh who was willing and able to shift into Lockhar's personality despite the fact that he is a celebrated Shakespearean actor. What I mean is that some actors consider themselves to be serious actors because they only take on serious, Cultural roles (such as those written by Shakespeare). Branagh, on the other hand, has no problem jumping in on the pop culture phenomenon that is Harry Potter even though many might consider that role beneath him. And, may I had, he does so brilliantly.
During this movie, we are formally introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. These parents are the perfect picture of what a mom and dad should look like -- loving each other and their children while still doing their best to raise their children "correctly" with the right morals and values that do not include being rich. In fact, Ms. Rowling had intended on killing Mr. Weasley in Order of the Phoenix, but found that she couldn't because he was the only good father figure that was a frequent character throughout the series.
Another Weasley that makes a more prominent appearance within this movie (as well as the ones following) is Ginny Weasley, played by Bonnie Wright. Even at a young age, Wright is able to capture the spunky and sparky attitude that is embedded deeply into Ginny, best seen when she stands up to Draco for Harry at Flourish and Blots.
Colin Creevey and Moaning Myrtle are also introduced in this film. I am fine with Moaning Myrtle because she is relevant to the series as she appears not only in Chamber of Secrets, but in Goblet of Fire as well (she also shows up in Half-Blood Prince in the books). Colin, however, annoys me. Not that his character is annoying, but how they utilized him in the films bothers me. In the books, Colin makes an appearance at least once per book (with the possible exception of Half-Blood Prince because I don't remember if Colin is there or not), but in the movies, he is only in Chamber of Secrets. That would be fine, however, the cut Colin only to bring in another little kid, Nigel, into the films. I feel like they should have just stuck to Colin, but whatever.
Like the movie preceding it, special effects are a big portion of Chamber of Secrets. The biggest effect is arguably the Weasley's flying car as well as the spiders that chase it off towards the end of the movie. The Polyjuice Potion could also be a contender for the biggest effect. Moreover, the way they chose to keep the original character's voice to help the audience keep the characters straight. Another one is the Howler. It was perfect; even better than how I saw it in my head. As a side note, I can pretty much recite the Howler's message. Is that funny or sad? Another special effect in the film is Fawkes the phoenix. Credit must be given to the prop and CG animators because Richard Harris didn't realize Fawkes was a prop and instead thought it was real.
I'm going to end this review with the last scene in the film. Hermione and Hagrid are back so there is joy, but all the sudden Dumbledore starts clapping and then everyone else joined in. I don't get it. Why are we clapping? It makes no sense.
*For the record, Hermione still manages to save the day despite the fact that she is petrified. Yeah . . . she's that good.
** As this is Richard Harris's last movie in this series due to his untimely death, it seems fitting that we should honor him by celebrating his portrayal of Dumbledore. He comes off wise, intuitive, and amused while he exudes this amazing presence of someone who has the knowledge of the ages, but still allows for life to surprise him. He also comes off as warm and caring towards his students. So thank you Mr. Harris for bringing this character to life. And we should also thank his granddaughter who talked him into taking the role by saying she would never speak to him again unless he auditioned to be Dumbledore.
***I'm not ignoring Tom Riddle. I'm just saving my tirade for my review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
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