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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Gee Wiz, Pals Are The Real Charmers

By John Anderson | Staff Writer

November 15, 2002

(PG). Slower, fuzzier, more rounded follow-up to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," in which young Harry and friends investigate a petrifying force that is terrorizing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. With Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Isaacs, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane. Screenplay by Steven Kloves, from the novel by J.K. Rowling. Directed by Chris Columbus. 2:30 (a little grisly at times).

'Ron Weasley and the Chamber of Secrets"? Even better -- "Hermione Granger and the Chamber of Secrets"? Ah, well. It's hard to be wild about Harry, but we're stuck with him, even if he is, was and ever shall be the least exciting thing about the Harry Potter movies.

As it was with "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," last year's smash-hit adaptation of J.K. Rowling's initial Harry Potter novel, "Chamber of Secrets" finds its charm in Harry's pals -- Hermione (Emma Watson), the plucky spell-casting prodigy, and Ron (Rupert Grint), the kid with red hair and a thing for Hermione. Daniel Radcliffe's Harry is more of a hub around which things revolve, including the elite of British screen acting; one hopes Rowling keeps writing, and movies based on the books keep getting made, if only to give us a yearly glimpse of Julie Walters (as the prolific Mrs. Weasley).

Like its predecessor, "Chamber of Secrets" is faithful to its source material, although the hardened fan will probably find something about the translation to grouse about. The rest of us may grouse about something else entirely: a much slower pace and a less cogent story.

Or stories. One of the faults of "Sorcerer's Stone" now looks like a virtue: The first book's episodic structure made it less of a novel and more of a collection of Harry tales. Ironically enough, "Chamber of Secrets" has more of a narrative arc, but consequently lacks much urgency. It does retain the wonderment that made the first film fun, and -- more importantly -- it portrays its wizard children as basically children and incidentally wizards.

Where do we find Harry when the curtain goes up? Depressingly, back with the Dursleys, the nasty-minded aunt and uncle (Fiona Shaw and Richard Griffiths) who tried to deny the orphaned Harry's birthright as a wizard deluxe. Their being muggles -- neither enchanted nor, in their case, enchanting -- introduces the rather serious-minded subtext of "Chamber of Secrets": When Harry and friends return for the Hogwarts school term, they find a force has been unleashed that is not only leaving student bodies petrified, it is attacking only those whose parentage is muggle or mixed. It's a short step to seeing the evildoing of "Chamber of Secrets" as an allegory for racism, fundamentalism and various other isms, and though the point isn't made very heavily, it's encouraging to see it at all.

"Chamber of Secrets" brings back a lot of favorites -- the imperious Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith), the dark and brooding Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), the gentle giant Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), Harry's insidious schoolmate Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) and the all-knowing headmaster Albus Dumbledore (the late Richard Harris). It also introduces several new characters, some winning, some not. Dobby the House Elf (a CGI animation) is about the most irritating movie creature to surface since Jar Jar Binks (although without the racist overtones). But Shirley Henderson as the ghostly Moaning Myrtle is hilarious, and so is Kenneth Branagh, whose Gilderoy Lockhart is a preening, posing, self-promoting "expert" on the dark arts who delightfully fails to get anything right. Jason Isaacs, always a good villain, is Draco's father, essentially playing the role that Rickman filled in the first film.

Much of the action in "Chamber of Secrets" seems recycled. There's another epic Quidditch match (the school competitive sport played with flying broomsticks and lethal balls), and a Harry-powered climax that doesn't seem fresh at all. The effects are first-rate though, and the tone is quite gentle and the true Potter-phile won't care a fig about anything much, except seeing young Harry back up on the screen.