'The Chamber of Secrets' was released back in 2002, a year after the original and is once again directed by Chris Columbus and starring the same cast along with newcomer Kenneth Brenaugh (Thor). At the time, this was my favorite book in the series, due to its much more serious tone and more unique fantasy and horror elements. The film does follow the book's elements and tone rather well actually, which was a criticism I held against the original film. Chris Columbus does capture the book's spirit better here and brings better and interesting cinematography. John Williams also returns to do the score and does his usual excellent job, although I have to say that out of the three films, 'Chamber' has the weakest score. It's rather quiet and mostly consisting of deeper tones, though the 'Duel' theme is one of the catchiest film songs I've heard.
The only other real issue I have with the second film is that it can be rather slow and runs at almost two and a half hours, which as a kid and even now can cause boredom at times. The film's climax is where all of the revelations come together and we get a spectacular fight sequence that does make some of the pacing worthwhile, but other scenes tend to go on for what seems like forever and some elements of the book should have honestly been left out or had more focus put upon it to help as well. Where the film's strength really lies is in its awesome cast, with all of the returning characters played by the same actors. Sadly, this would be Richard Harris' last outing as Dumbledore as he passed away shortly after and it shows somewhat in his performance that he wasn't well. He is still a wonderful actor, but I get the feeling that his role was cut down somewhat due to this.
Alan Rickman's Professor Snape and Maggie Smith's McGonagal get more spotlight in this outing, and with the two actors being some of my favorite I always love seeing them on screen. The young actors do well without coming off as insincere or obnoxious like many young actors can be. With the earlier review of the first film, I stated that I believe child actors can be excellent if given the right material to work with which sadly is not common. Overall, this cast is the height of talent.
'The Chamber of Secrets' is a step in the right direction and a much better film than 'Philosopher's Stone' however it's a little too long and could have been trimmed a little. Check it out...why am I even saying that?
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