Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Bechdel Test: Pass

~~~~

The Entire Film Series

Rating: 5!

~~~~

Ranking within the Series:

4th out of 8

~~~~

The first movie to have the camera soaring through the clouds for the intro. The first one just popped up but this one started what still gives me chills (minus #3 but I have other frustrating things about that one).

source

The Chamber of Secrets was really good for me because it was pretty much the last one to keep with the books. If I based it on just that, Chamber would be my favorite one but it's not so don't worry. I'm really shaky on the whole idea of a movie adaptation; it really just depends on what story and how it was executed.

I think a lot of the later movies leave out some things that are important to the plot used in the movies. It's easy to rant about what they left out and who they left out from the books but it's a movie. It's supposed to be different and it's going to be different for many reasons. But if they leave something out from the movies that has to do with the plot of the movie, then it's a problem. The most notable thing missing from the second movie is the party with Hogwarts' ghosts. All in all, that's not too important to the story. 

It's evident that they tried really hard to keep this movie pretty true to the story considering that Chamber is the longest Harry Potter movie, which is really weird to think about. It's the second shortest book and three times shorter than The Order of the Phoenix yet #2 is 20 minutes longer than #5. They did a good deal to make sure that Chamber stuck to the books. But it makes sense. It was the second movie. Nothing had really been done like this before (The Lord of the Rings was coming out at the exact same time) and they needed to make sure that people would continue to see these movies. And the cast did a brilliant job seeing to that.

The main cast was brilliant for this one. The first movie was good and they did a great job but it still felt like they were acting. Maybe just a little bit. But the second movie starts playing and you're used to them. The magic is there and Hogwarts is a thing and Dan's first lines are good but with his first dialogue with Uncle Vernon he is Harry Potter. And you just feel it. The same goes with Emma and Rupert. The secondary cast was wonderful as well - the introductions to Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley specifically. Also, Kenneth Branagh did a great job of being Lockhart.

Overall, The Chamber of Secrets was really well done compared to when it came out and considering the fact that the rest of the series hadn't been made yet. It's easy to compare it to the later movies but it really shouldn't be. Chamber was really good as a second installment and is a pretty fun movie.


source