Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets DVD > Reviews > Darkly satisfying

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Nearly everything
Disadvantages:	Never as good as the book

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

First of all, let's just get the bad news out of the way, shall we? Mrs D said it all really as we got up to leave the cinema: "It was good, but not as good as the book, they left bits out." A bit harsh maybe, but undoubtedly no one could have made the film of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets even half as good as J K Rowling's second book in the HP series. You see that's the ultimate power of the written word, it can spark the imagination like no movie can ever manage. Even in these days when the power of the computer is awesome and you can generate all manner of marvels and make real the most amazing of dreams on the screen, there's nothing quite as wonderful as the imagination.

The Chamber of Secrets book may not be the best in the series, but it is undoubtedly a marvellous creation, feeding the imagination and inspiring all sorts of mind pictures. Rowling's a stupendous story teller and her success with the Potter franchise is fully merited.

One also has to bear in mind some other bits and pieces too. The BBC Radio film reviewer, Mark Kermode, took a pretty critical stance, sparked chiefly by his displeasure at the presence of the director, Chris Columbus. Kermode recounted how he asked youngsters what they thought of the film and their responses were to merely list a series of events, and he pointed out that there was little in the way of narrative. He moaned that Columbus approached the film much as an accountant would, ticking off the set pieces from the book as he introduced them, stopping in satisfaction when he'd finished off his full shopping list.

The final gripe is around some of the acting of the child stars, Daniel Ratcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Grainger) and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy). It's not that it's bad at all, it's just that for the Potter films to work completely you need to be convinced by these main characters, and that's an almost impossible task for such youngsters, no matter how good they are. The problem is that we spend all our time declaring, "My, how they've grown," and other such inanities and so never really give them a chance.

Okay, that's the end of the downsides, and I have to spend a few minutes just reassuring you that these are indeed pretty unfair charges to lay at the door, for despite them, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is without doubt one of the films of the year, a certain box office smash and a superbly realised version of the book - it's streets ahead of the relatively twee and simpering first film, and is an altogether much darker and more exciting affair, genuinely gripping you throughout, such that there's absolutely no way that you'll realise that the 161 minutes have actually passed by the time you get to the end. It's wonderfully addictive and breakneck stuff, with a few moments which are genuinely frightening.

The special effects never intrude overmuch, but they are undoubtedly extremely expertly done and all seem so surprisingly natural as the story unfolds. This is how computer generated stuff should be, not plastered on for gratuitous effect, but totally in keeping with the film's needs.

There are some excellent adult actors on display here, with the cast list reading like a best of British roll call, and they give uniformly strong performances. Kenneth Branagh as the foppish celebrity wizard Kenneth Branagh and the supremely evil Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy get most of the headlines and the plaudits, and are quite splendid, but the rest of the cast are not far behind - Richard Harris (Albus Dumbledore), Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), John Cleese (Nick the Nearly Headless Ghost), Richard Griffiths (Mr Dursley), David Bradley (Argus Filch), Julie Walters (Mrs Weasley), Mark Williams (Mr Weasley), they're hugely enjoyable. However, it is the performance of Isaacs which is the most awesome, and he is the very epitome of evil.

Things are so much stronger than the first episode, and this is not so much a kids' film, as a movie for adults which the kids will love. It's hugely entertaining and you won't want to miss a single minute.

The book is probably the weakest of the four to date, but undoubtedly Chris Columbus has made a great stab at making the most of things. I'm looking forward to the second episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy hugely, and I'd reconciled myself to finding this a bit second rate, much as its predecessor was, especially when compared to Peter Jackson's adaptation of the Tolkien myth, but I was enormously impressed. The settings are magnificent, gloomy and dark and genuinely scary. Very young kids might find all of this a bit disturbing, but for we older fans it's simply stunning.

Unfortunately, the books increased in length as they progressed, with J K Rowling throwing more and more in. It's difficult to do justice to the story within the confines of feature length films, and there's little chance to either develop characters or give much background to the uninformed, so unless you've read the book you may find yourself a bit confused, while if you have read it you'll undoubtedly miss a few bits. Sadly, we're always going to face such logistical problems, but in the circumstances Chris Columbus has satisfied all but the fiercest critics this time. I loved every minute of the film, and made sure that I watched the first film last week on Sky Box Office to get me back into the mood. I'd recommend this to you if you get the choice, because it set things up nicely for me.

The secret of good cinema is to always leave your audience wanting for more - the time simply flew by for me, and I'm already looking to see the next episode. Mark Kermode has pronounced himself extremely satisfied with the choice of replacement director and I can't wait to see what they make of the Dementors.

HUGELY RECOMMENDED