Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: A Worthy Sequel
Continuing the Harry Potter series after Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is based on the 1998 novel of the same name. Once again, the movie is directed by Chris Columbus and stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, and Tom Felton, as well as new cast members Kenneth Branagh, Jason Isaacs, Christian Coulson, and Toby Jones as the voice of Dobby the House-Elf. During the summer, Dobby warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts because terrible things will happen. When Harry and his friends return, students are being petrified, and it’s believed the Chamber of Secrets has once again opened. Harry is considered a suspect behind the attacks and works with Ron and Hermione to find the real culprit. This is not only the last Harry Potter movie Chris Columbus directed, but the last movie Richard Harris portrayed Dumbledore as he passed away a month before the movie was released.
Filming on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets began right around the time Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in November 2001. While many of the set pieces were the same, the production added new sets, from the Weasley house, the Burrow, to the Chamber of Secrets. Most costumes from the previous movie were the same, with a few new ones designed specifically for new characters like Professor Lockhart and Lucius Malfoy. A new director of photography, Roger Pratt, was also brought in to show how Chamber of Secrets was a darker movie and how the characters were starting to grow up. A college professor named Francis Nolan helped put together how Parseltongue, the language of snakes used by Harry and Tom Riddle, would sound. Animatronics for new creatures, including the Basilisk, Aragog the giant spider, and the Whomping Willow, were created. Aragog required more than 15 technicians to operate it. This helped give the actors genuine reactions to these creatures.
The main cast returned as well as most of the supporting cast. Gilderoy Lockhart, the phony new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, had many actors connected to the role, from Hugh Grant to Alan Cummings and Rupert Everett, before Kenneth Branagh was finally cast. Cummings dropped out due to salary issues, and Grant was busy filming Two Weeks Notice, although Columbus revealed he never met with Grant. Jason Isaacs also tried out for Lockhart before ultimately getting the role of Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy’s father. Isaacs originally didn’t want to play the role because he had already agreed to play Captain Hook in the 2003 Peter Pan movie and didn’t want to play back-to-back villains in children’s movies. His family convinced him to accept the role, and years later, Isaacs and Tom Felton had established a close bond by the time the movies were done. For the role of Tom Riddle, Christian Coulson was cast. Other actors who auditioned for the role were James McAvoy and Eddie Redmayne. Redmayne would eventually join the Harry Potter series as Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts movies. Also introduced in the movie and returning for several more movies are Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley, Ron’s father, Toby Jones voicing Dobby, and Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a solid follow-up to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It expands the Wizarding World in various ways, from new locations like the Burrow and Knockturn Alley to introducing new creatures from House-Elves and Mandrakes to Acromantulas and Basilisks. We learn more about Hogwarts and the Founders, mainly how Salazar Slytherin felt that only some students should come to Hogwarts and built the Chamber of Secrets, keeping a monster inside. We also learn more about the bigotry of the Wizarding World, including the offensive term Mudblood used to call witches and Wizards who have Muggle parents. There is a good combination of animatronics, practical work, and visual effects.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has a good balance of the fun and innocence from Philosopher’s Stone mixed in with a darker tone. There is a good mystery story in figuring out who the Heir of Slytherin is and who opened the Chamber of Secrets. Besides Harry, Draco Malfoy and Hagrid are suspects in being behind the attacks before it was revealed that Tom Riddle opened the Chamber fifty years ago and did it again, brought back from his old diary by manipulating Ron’s sister, Ginny. Riddle is later revealed to also be the younger version of Lord Voldemort. The score from John Williams is mainly the same but with some new pieces for scenes like when Fawkes the Phoenix arrives on screen. William Ross helped John Williams with the score, as Williams was also doing scores for Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones and Catch Me If You Can.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson continue to grow as actors and get better at playing Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The new cast members are welcome additions. Kenneth Branagh is iconic as Lockhart, portraying a phony and a liar so well, with comedic lines pulled off. Jason Isaacs as Lucius adds a chilling presence and a nice setup of what some of Voldemort’s early followers were like and still behave like without him. Christian Coulson as Tom Riddle is also amazing, and you buy into the fact that this teenager will eventually become the darkest wizard in history. Other cast members that returned did well, especially Richard Harris in his final performance as Dumbledore.
A strength and weakness of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is that it’s one of the more faithful-to-the-books movies in the series. On one hand, it shows that Columbus, out of the Harry Potter directors, was the most faithful to the books. At the same time, it led to Chamber of Secrets being the longest in the series. Some scenes do feel as if they drag on a bit too long. The movie takes a while to get to Hogwarts. As faithful as Chamber of Secrets was, it does have a few differences from the book that were a bit annoying. For example, in Herbology, which is a subject Neville excels in and has a close relationship with Professor Sprout, he faints, and Sprout says to just leave him there. The scene where they explain what a Mudblood is is changed. In the book, Ron explains what a Mudblood is and why it’s bad, and Hermione has no idea what the term is, whereas in the movie, she already knows what it means and explains it, once again taking a book moment where Ron is the smartest and gave it to Hermione. Where the book does well in setting up Ginny’s connection to the Chamber by bringing up how, in some moments, she looked unwell and not herself, which the movie rarely does. The movie also cuts out a key scene from the book, Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday party, where, in the book, it introduces Moaning Myrtle and the last place Harry and his friends were before they found Mrs. Norris petrified and the writing on the wall. Moaning Myrtle is introduced in the movie when Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin preparing the Polyjuice Potion.
Overall, while Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is a better movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is still a well made and worthy sequel to it. The performances are great. The animatronics and practical work on it works, as do the visuals. The score and darker tone work. The movie score remains iconic, with a few new pieces. My final grade for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a B+. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, I recommend you check it out.
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