Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Studio: Warner Brothers
Website: http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/
Release Date: 2002-11-15
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Kenneth Branagh, John Cleese, Rupert Grint, David Bradley
Director: Chris Columbus
Screenwriter: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
WorkNameSort: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Our Rating: 3.00
This spookier second installment in the cash-cow kid-friendly franchise about a young wizard in training won’t win any new converts; it’s another competent corporate creation that stays loyal to author J.K. Rowling’s source material in plot and atmosphere while softening her subversive edges. “Chamber of Secrets” justifies its 161-minute running time by successfully conjuring a transporting sense of place and injecting stronger themes of darkness and corruption into Harry’s previously whimsical existence, but the film flags in the last half-hour when the big-budget CGI action climax turns repetitive and boring and the feel-good ending shamelessly begs for applause. Once again, the young cast is barely as good as it needs to be–there’s not a single convincing screamer in the lot, and Daniel Radcliffe is a bland leading boy–but the already strong adult cast is well-supplemented by a scenery-chewing Kenneth Branagh and a silvery, malevolent Jason Isaacs, who makes the best villain in the series so far. Generically directed by Chris Columbus (“Home Alone”) and written by a slumming Steve Kloves (“Wonder Boys”).
This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2002.