Well because of the rules of listing, there needed to be a Harry Potter movie that ends up in last place and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets took the honor. That doesn’t mean that it is a bad movie; it is just the only movie that felt like a sequel in the entire franchise. This might as well have been The Sorcerer’s Stone part 2 and that is a bit disappointing compared to the rest of the films.
Much like the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets does not deviate from the book in any significant way. Unless you really care about Professor Binns … now that I think about it, WHERE THE HELL IS PROFESSOR BINNS!?! Then you get the two nitpicks that I have this time around. First, why the hell do Harry and Ron talk in their own voices after getting polyjuice potioned? That defeats the purpose of having a potion that turns you into some else! If that were the case, Barty Crouch Jr. should have gone to Vegas with his Mad-Eye Moody impression in Goblet of Fire. The other nitpick will continue on for the rest of the series; Hermoine knows everything at all times. This time around she steals Ron’s dialogue from the book and explains what mudblood means. Damnit the point of the scene in the book was that Malfoy insults her and she doesn’t even know what it means! Bah. Oh wait I forgot … let’s hug Hagrid to end the movie because that makes sense. And this won’t even be the worst final scene of the series!
All of the major cast members return for their second go around. It becomes painfully obvious that Richard Harris is not a well man during the filming of the Chamber of Secrets. Sadly this would be one of his last performances. The newbies are once again high-level performers. Jason Isaacs is brought on in the important role of Lucious Malfoy. He clearly is enjoying every second of being the absolute douche bag that is Lucious Malfoy. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher replacement is Kenneth Branagh and he is just as annoying in the movie as Gilderoy Lockhart is in the book. And in a fun bit of casting, Toby Jones provides the voice of Dobby. What a great actor being brought in for such a ridiculous voice. Still not much to say about the kids, they get the job done without being all that memorable.
The Chamber of Secrets introduced us to the Burrow and once again the movies were able to capture the insanity of that building that the book described. That set was easily one of the best parts of the film. I also thought they did a really good job with Dobby. He may not have been on the level of Gollum but his CGIness wasn’t a distraction. And the climatic scene in the Chamber of Secrets was very well done. The young Tom Riddle who is not the young Tom Riddle in the Half-Blood Prince does provide us with the first glimpse of Voldemort setting the stage for his true introduction down the road.
Honestly, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the most forgettable movie in the franchise to me. Nothing distinguishes it from Sorcerer's Stone so I was happy to see Chris Columbus replaced as director moving forward. In the end, it is still a great movie but to me it just feels less special than the rest.
8 out of 10
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