November 15, 2002
Warner Bros.
Children's, Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery, Horror
DVD
B
My review of the book is here: http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2013/11/harry-potter-and-chamber-of-secrets.html. I have somewhat changed my mind about the movie, but first I want to cover the regulars for this entry. (Stars indicate newbies.)
- Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood
- David Bradley as Argus Filch
- John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick
- Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid
- Eleanor Columbus as Susan Bones (still not speaking, since she's not British, but she does join Hermione in crushing on Lockhart)
- Violet Columbus (another of the director's daughters) as Girl with Flowers in one of the moving portraits*
- Emily Dale as Katie Bell
- Warwick Davis as Professor Flitwick
- Louis Doyle as Ernie MacMillan*
- Alfred Enoch as Dean Thomas
- Scott Fearn as Adrian Pucey (although Terence Higgs before)
- Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy
- Richard Griffiths as Uncle Vernon Dursley
- Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
- Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge*
- Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore
- Josh Herdman as Gregory Goyle
- David Holmes as a Slytherin Beater (although specifically Adrian Pucey before)
- Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy*
- Toby Jones as the voice of Dobby the House Elf*
- Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom
- Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley
- Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan
- James Phelps as Fred Weasley
- Oliver Phelps as George Weasley
- Leslie Phillips as the voice of the Sorting Hat
- Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
- Chris Rankin as Percy Weasley
- Adrian Rawlins as James Potter
- Fiona Shaw as Aunt Petunia Dursley
- Charlotte Skeoch as Hannah Abbott*
- Geraldine Somerville as Lily Potter
- Danielle Tabor as Angelina Johnson
- Harry Taylor as the Station Guard
- Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
- Jamie Waylett as Vincent Crabbe
- Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley*
- Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley
- Luke Youngblood as Lee Jordan
Also, Amy Puglia, who was a Quidditch Player last time, is just a Pupil this time. Maria Coyne and Oliver Lavery-Farag again play unspecified students. Ben Borowiecki is again a Diagon Alley Boy, here named Angus for no known reason. (It's not like he has lines or anyone talks to him.) Christopher O'Shea would again be an extra in Order of the Phoenix. Jamie Dunlop makes another of his three uncredited appearances as a wizard.
Shirley Henderson is the most in-jokily cast newbie, as Moaning Myrtle, soon after her appearance as another bathroom-weeper in the first Bridget Jones movie. (She would return to both series.) And Bridget's mother, an actual Ms. Jones, Gemma Jones, makes her first appearance as Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse. Miriam Margolyes was in some of my other movies, and she first appears as Madam Sprout here. (I had to limit tags, so Henderson and Margolyes are omitted.)
Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith both return (as Snape and McGonagall) and have their moments, although fewer than in the first movie. Julie Walters, on the other hand, makes the most of the many more Weasley family scenes, in her role as matriarch Molly.
The main one-timer of note is Kenneth Branagh, as the vain Professor Lockhart. Although not exactly handsome, he makes the role his own. Along with Jason Isaacs, he shows that you don't have to be in the first movie to be impressive in the second. (And of course there would be other later additions who would shine.)
I still have some gripes about this movie, yes, including "No Hogwarts without you," but I tried to be fair in my viewing this time. Even with that scene, the line itself is OK. It's the standing ovation that Hagrid gets that bugs me. It is the first in a series of tone-deaf endings, and yet it is slightly balanced by the post-credit throw-away gag about Lockhart's latest book. (The first movie's ending is just right though.)
The two main things I noticed this time were that the children's acting has generally improved (including Radcliffe's, who's less bland, although not at the level he'd attain later), and the movie is darker (although less than later of course). I really do feel it is arguably both a mystery that we can solve along with Harry and friends (more so than the first movie), and a horror movie. The latter is seen in the use of the spiders and the Basilisk. At the same time, the movie is much more of a comedy than the first, especially in the first hour. On the down-side, there's the beginning of the use of Ron for comic relief, which I don't resent as much as some in the fandom but it can be seen as a cheapening of his character.
There is less shiny wonder than in the first year, but this is compensated for by the general improvement. Even the special effects and music are better than they were a year earlier. (I like "Fawkes's Theme" best, capturing the healing and hope.) I will admit that the pacing is not as good, but it's never dull.
So basically, it's a movie with growing pains, and good and bad mixed together, as suits the voice-changing twelve-year-old hero.
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