Go pottering around. Review on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Movie

‘Potter-mania’ has gripped the world once more, but its not in the form of the long awaited 5th book (‘The Order of the Phoenix’) but rather in the form of the second movie ‘The Chamber of Secrets’. To tell the truth, I was extremely apprehensive about going to watch this movie as I had previously had a very very poor experience with the 1st movie, but hallelujah the 2nd movie not only surprised me with its pace and the slick picturisation, but also with the much superior performances by the cast. The young cast has matured and delivered a stellar performance (but unfortunately the kids do not look the age they are meant to be in the book, they look quite a bit older than 12).

The Cast

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Kenneth Branagh, John Cleese, Rupert Grint, David Bradley, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane

Directed by: Chris Columbus

Produced by: David Heyman, Chris Columbus

Written by: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling

The Story

Now to all those who have read the book I have one good piece of news, unlike in the 1st book where quite a bit of the story was changed, in this movie the director has stuck to the original book. Now I sincerely believe that to make a movie out of a book is one of the toughest tasks that any director can take up. I mean it, look at the ‘Lost World’ a lousy movie but the book was very good, infact I felt that even ‘Jurassic Park’ the movie, was not a touch on the book. A book gives one the liberty to imagine anything and everything, whereas in a movie everything is set out in front of you and you have to accept things the way they are, in spite of this the movie is a good watch.

(A warning, I have taken the liberty of assuming that all who read this review have a decent idea about the background of the book, by that I mean – who the key characters are and where they are from, etc. if not kindly mail me and I’ll include these additional details immediately)

Now I’ll get down to writing a little about the plot. The story begins in ‘12 Privet Drive’ Harry’s uncles home, when he is visited by a very unusual guest a little creature named ‘Dobby’ the House Elf. Well Dobby warns Harry not to go to ‘Hogwarts’ this year as many evil things were being plotted to cause his downfall (Harry of course decides to ignore the warning, leading to quite a bit of trouble). From there we are taken to the Weasley home, which has been shown very nicely and is quite eye catching, Harry meets Ron’s father for the first time as well. From there we head down to ‘Diagon Alley’ and another first time occurs and we go face to face with Draco Malfoy’s father, Lucius Malfoy who I believe stole the show in the movie, even though he has a very small role, and then finally we reach ‘Hogwarts – School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ (the reaching bit is very exciting and I am sure if you’ve seen the trailers of the movie you would have seen it, it’s the scene where Harry and Ron fly Ron’s fathers car, now why they have to do that you’ll have to see the movie to learn,hehe).

Now in ‘Hogwarts’ Harry goes about his usual daily course of falling in trouble, breaking school decrees (like all good students, hehe including me!!!), and playing ‘Quidditch’ – the quidditch match has been filmed brilliantly and had the entire theatre at the edge of the seats (quite thrilling!). The new professor for ‘The Defence Against Dark Arts’ a Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart is done brilliantly by Kenneth Branagh (but I wish Hugh Grant could have played the role as had been slated previously, but there was clash of dates I believe). The ‘Chamber of Secrets’ is opened after a gap of 50 years, but by who is left unknown till the climax, and after this a spate of attacks on ‘Muggle-born’ wizards (students with non-magical parents) begins, but whether on purpose or by accident not one student is killed only ‘Petrified’ (which means that they are paralysed).

The movie proceeds at a very rapid pace and as the climax approaches the tension has been built up beautifully, even the climax has been picturised wonderfully well, and the whole movie has been created seamlessly, without leaving us feeling that there were points where things occurred without any explanation (unlike the 1st movie).

The Conclusion

This is a movie, which all children should be made to watch and I seriously doubt that there will be too many people who will dislike the film. I definitely would like to advice all parents to take their wards to see this movie, also I’d ask parents to get the whole set of the Harry Potter books and make their kids read them, its a wonderful exercise at getting one’s child to develop his/her imagination. So go watch this film without any fear.

One thing I’d like to mention, even though the movie is very good and fun to watch. I’d still advice everyone to try and get their hands on the book, whether it is before or after seeing the movie doesn’t really matter. Read the book, its more fun then seeing the movie. It lets you interact with the characters and their magical world like no movie ever could.