Favorite Franchises: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Directed by: Chris Columbus


Plot Summary: During the summer, Harry Potter is visited by a house elf named Dobby, who warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts. After many numerous warnings and attempts to keep him away from the school, Harry still manages to return to Hogwarts. One night, Harry finds a message written on a wall in blood saying that the Chamber of Secrets has been re-opened. The mysterious person behind the Chamber's re-opening claims to be the heir of Salazar Slytherin, and his victims are left petrified at the sight of a monster that lies within the Chamber. It's up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione to solve how to get into the Chamber of Secrets and how they can stop whoever is behind these attacks before another student is petrified, or worse.


With 8 films in a franchise, even if all of them are considered good, there is always that one film that is considered less among the rest. I'm surprised that most fans point at Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It's common to find Chamber of Secrets, along with Sorcerer's Stone, as the top choices for the franchise's weakest films, which I find to be most unfortunate. The reason behind it is up for debate, but I think a lot of fans are simply in favor of the darker toned films that show up with the rest of the franchise. I will say that Chamber of Secrets is certainly darker than Sorcerer's Stone, but also retains a sense of bright colors and fun for the whole family. Does that concept work in this film? I'd say both yes and no. The film is solid thanks to a lot of the new characters and concepts that are introduced, but I think the biggest struggle is how the story measures up. It doesn't measure up to the nostalgia of the first film, and the later films up the intensity and importance of the remainder of their respective stories, so it causes many elements of Chamber of Secrets to get lost in the shuffle with the rest of the films. But let's look at the positives contributions this film exhibits to the Harry Potter franchise.

No longer having to serve as the audience's introduction to the wizarding world, the character of Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, is much more comfortable being in this world, while also learning more about it. He has a bigger sense of confidence and courage at Hogwarts, and has assumed a leadership type role among his fellow students. Tie that in to the mystery surrounding the Chamber of Secrets and you can also find a lot of his morals like loyalty for his friends and determination to do the right thing. It's at this point that Harry has to accept that if trouble rears its head at Hogwarts that he needs to be the one to save the day. Radcliffe really steps it up in this film and delivers a believable portrayal of a young character that is evolving and maturing into who he is. That concept of accepting his destiny is going to be recurring a lot throughout the rest of the films, so viewers should definitely get used to seeing it.

Rupert Grint and Emma Watson return as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Of these two, the character that evolves the most over the course of the film is Hermione, who is definitely more comfortable bending the rules than she was in Sorcerer's Stone. Using her knowledge of spells and potions, Hermione always seems to come through for Harry and Ron whenever they can't figure something out. She brews polyjuice potion, she immobilizes a rowdy group of Cornish pixies, she blows up a rogue bludger that is chasing Harry, and she gathers as much information as she can to know the history of the Chamber of Secrets, proving how resourceful and clever a witch or wizard could be at the age of 12. As for Ron, he remains the comic relief of the trio. He's actually pretty one-dimensional in this film. His wand breaks, so he's a bad magician. His owl is old, so it's clumsy. He's afraid of spiders, so he acts like a coward. Really, a lot of what Ron does is purely paid for laughs, so there's not much to write about him here. In fact, most of his character moments in the film revolve around stuff around him (objects or characters) and him simply reacting, or more appropriately overreacting, to them.

The best thing about Ron in the movie is that we are formally introduced to his family, the Weasleys. His parents Arthur and Molly Weasley, played by Mark Williams and Julie Walters, really provide an amazing family dynamic in the wizarding world. They may not make that much money, but they still take care and provide for their family. Most importantly for Harry Potter, they are a much warmer and homier family experience than his dreadful family the Dursleys. His Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Dursley, played by Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw, and their spoiled son Dudley, played by Harry Melling, are entertaining characters to be sure, but their shtick never seems to change over the course of the films. But when they do show up, they are tons of fun to laugh at and they are deliciously evil villains that pose absolutely no threat to our favorite young wizard.

A villain that Harry does need to look out for is Lucius Malfoy, played by Jason Isaacs. Talk about deliciously evil, Isaacs completely soaks up the screen whenever he's present, particularly in Chamber of Secrets. We'll talk about Lucius's son Draco, played by Tom Felton, down the road in a later review, but when you watch the first two films, pay attention to his character. To prepare for the role of Lucius, Isaacs watched Felton's portrayal of Draco to see what would make the son of his character tick and function the way that he does. Then Isaacs took those traits and cranked them up even higher to create a villainous parent so loathsome that he makes viewers almost feel sorry for Draco, since it appears that Lucius bullies him around to discipline him. In this film alone, he is able to make enemies out of nearly every heroic character he comes across, so you can tell Lucius is naturally at home being one of the dominant villains in the film, and one of my personal favorite portrayals in the entire franchise. Isaacs has a deep appreciation for his role as Lucius, and you can sincerely hear it in his interviews for the film, which is a telling tale of just one of the many actors who truly value the importance of bringing these book characters to life on the big screen.

The major documentary on this Ultimate Edition goes over a lot of the main characters (much like how I'm treating these reviews) and what their actors bring to the roles in portraying those characters. I really love these kinds of features because they give a lot of behind the scenes footage and fun stories with the cast and crew, but it also shows the level of effort and depth that was needed to bring these memorable book characters to life on the big screen. So when you look at a film like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a film that fans will openly say is lesser than the rest, people can still attach themselves to a character who only appears in one film. Take Gilderoy Lockhart, played by Kenneth Branagh, for example. He's only in one film, but because Branagh plays the role so brilliantly, he's regarded as a fan favorite performance in the franchise. The reason for this is simple. Harry Potter fans are diehard, and they want these characters to be done right. If the cast and filmmakers are able to bring these characters to life on film, then these beloved book characters are turned into universal characters that are now remembered in two different forms of media. That, in itself, could easily be considered a form of movie magic.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

While not a bad film, I definitely feel like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has a difficult time contending with the rest of the films, as it lacks the nostalgia quality of Sorcerer's Stone, as well as the darker tone of the rest of the films. It has a fair share of shining moments, but it definitely has some sophomore struggles that many sequels have. A lot of what happens seems to lack that magic and nostalgia of the first film, while trying to make the story a lot darker, while also having fun, family friendly moments. It may not work to perfection here, but it is a formula that is done a lot better in future Harry Potter films, so at least Chamber of Secrets proved it was possible to do.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and movie images are copyrighted by Warner Bros.