Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Darker, and better than the first!
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is the next installment in the film versions of the Harry Potter book series, written by J.K. Rowling. The film, directed by Chris Columbus and written by Steve Kloves, is excellent.PLOT SUMMARY: 12-year-old Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, along with his best friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). Things get bad from the beginning, when a house elf from the wizard world known as Dobby, comes to the Dursleys' house to warn Harry and tells him that he shouldn't go back to school. Harry refuses to listen to Dobby's warning and after he is rescued by the Weasleys, they go back to school. Harry learns that things are quite different from last year, especially when his arch rival, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), pays his way onto the Slytherin Qudditich team; Hogwarts gets a new vain Defense of the Dark Arts teacher, Gildory Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh); and pretty soon, Harry starts hearing voices coming from inside the school walls! It turns out that a hidden secret chamber somewhere inside the school has been opened again for a second time...someone has opened it, and has released the horrible creature within. Now the evil monster is loose and is attacking students, ghosts, and even cats at Hogwarts, by petrifying them. Only the heir of Slytherin could have opened the chamber, and now it's up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione to discover what's really hidden down in the chamber and who opened it--before it's too late, when innocent suspects will be blamed and before someone dies. One of the suspects is being Harry Potter himself! ACTING: The acting performances by the entire cast is truly superb. The actors are starting to develop more into their characters, and I think they are starting to get used to the story. The young child stars (Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint) seem to have more confidence with their roles, and they do not seem as stiff as in the first film. ADAPTATION OF BOOK: The screenwriting of Steve Kloves brought the story to the screen as best as possible, some parts were yet still missing, like there was more when Harry was at the Dursleys and there was a different ending, but basically it stayed faithful to the novel. SPECIAL EFFECTS: What can I say? They are better than ever, and they don't look cheesy like in the "Sorcerer's Stone", which really didn't seem all that cheesy. It's just that the special effects LOOKED better, especially during the Chamber sequence. Now that's some superb special effects! OVERALL THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed this second installment almost as much as I love the books. It is a much darker story, though still rated PG. It doesn't really start getting spooky until the middle and close to the end. If anything, I can't wait for "Chamber of Secrets" to be released on DVD and for "Prisoner of Azkaban" to hit theaters! I highly recommend "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Score:
100/100
A+
Rating: - Harry Potter is great!
Okay, to all of you "concerned parents" who think that Harry Potter ... this movie is just as good as the first... you can't expect everything from the movie... it was well done for all it had to convey. yes, the books are better, but when is the book ever worse than the movie? altogether i liked this film a lot...
Rating:  - It doesn't get much worse than this
Oh, I know you won't like this but it's true. This was NOT a good portrayal of the book. It was hard for me to even sit through. The only two things this movie has for positive is the basalisk at the end, and the great story to back it. Not that you would really understand any of the story if you only watched the movie. The extreme lack of detail is appaling. It is beyond resonable. I know they had to cut down on the lengeth of time it ran, but come on, if your going to have to pay for it, they'd better have done a good job portraying the book. I'd rather watch a GOOD six hour movie in two parts than a four hour marginal movie. I'f you've never read the book, don't bother. Read the book, but just skip the movie, watching it will just be a dissapointing way to finish the second Harry Potter book. Don't bother with the movie. It's just same old, like the book, but missing everything that makes it good. I'd suggest this crud for only those who don't have enough imagination to read the books.
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