|
 Based
on the record-breaking bestselling series of children's books, Harry Potter
lives with his annoying family once more and is visited by a house elf called
Dobby (voiced by Toby Jones) who warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts because
of ensuing danger; Harry does not heed his warnings and returns once more to
discover a dark force sabotaging the beloved members of the school's faculty and
freezing its victims to stone. Now Harry and Ronald must discover the source
before it's too late.
I really enjoyed this film as I did the
first; I often find the world of Harry Potter to be intoxicating and very
entertaining. Chris Columbus manages to remain aggressively faithful to the
books managing to show great respect to the core audience of the Harry Potter
books. Though I was never much of a fan of his films, he manages to display a
sense of true awe and imagination when approaching the land so present in the
Harry Potter books. It's evident when beginning on this film that you're pretty
much lost unless you saw the first film. Columbus wastes no time in re-capping
the previous story for the audience, nor does he set the characters up once more
and trusts that the people who are watching this have seen the first. J.K. Rowling creates a magical and incredible world nearly
rivaling J.R.R. Tolkien's in "Lord of the Rings".
There is a lot of great
creatures and scenery in the film including that of Aragrog the gigantic spider
who has a connection with Hagrid. The scene where Harry is talking with the
spider and Ronald begins noticing the spiders rapidly surrounding the two had me
laughing. Nearly the entire cast is back for this film including Daniel Radcliffe who reprises his role once more as Harry Potter and gives the same
everyman quality as he so adamantly instilled in the first, Emma Watson returns
as Hermoine Granger and is possibly one of the best characters in the story, and
Rupert Grint is great once more as Ronald Weasly reclaiming his inept comedic
relief that made him so amusing in the first film. Grint seems to have a real knack for
slapstick comedy and often inept comedy with his constant goofy faces and
squeaky voice. There's a lot of other cast
additions to the film including the great Jason Isaacs (The Tuxedo, Peter Pan) as Draco's father who
begins a conspiracy within the Hogwart's magic school causing some trouble.
Though his scenes are rare, he's very commanding and his eyes are creepy as the
villain Lucius Malfoy, the great Kenneth Branagh (Rabbit Proof Fence,
Frankenstein) gives a hilarious and welcomed
role as the narcissistic wizard celebrity Gilderoy Lockhart. His scenes are great
often as the ego-centric wizard who scoffs and shines his pearly whites at every
convenience but ducks out whenever real danger ensues. You can tell that
the other better wizards know he is a fraud but never tell the students. Some of
the best British actors return to reclaim their roles; Sir Richard Harris in one
of his last roles returns as the admirable Dumbledore, Dame Maggie Smith returns
as Professor McGonagall in a truly memorable role, and the most memorable are
the great character actor Alan Rickman as Professor Snape in his intense and
memorable performance, and Robbie Coltrane as the loveable Hagrid. The story is
much more complicated than the first one. The plotline becomes a lot more
intricate and difficult as it becomes a sort of murder mystery, though there's
no actual murder.
 When I
first saw "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" I raved about that film; I
thought it was incredible, magical, adventurous, and extremely entertaining,
nearly becoming a masterpiece. Naturally, when this film arrived and I was
finally able to check it out, I was psyched, but then I saw the entire film and
discovered something: I didn't like this film as much as the first. I couldn't
quite put my finger on it, but there was something definitely missing from this
film that was present in the first and that's the element of awe and wonderment.
It's conspicuously missing from this film right off of the beginning; at first
everything is fine and the pace is exactly as the first's was, but then it just
seems to rapidly diminish as the film progresses. Right off the film begins to
become grim and give a tone of dread and murk somehow making it less accessible
for the child in me. The tone of the film is almost cynical as if the writer and
director attempts to pull the rug out from under the audience.
The movie starts off on a grim note as he
house elf Dobby warns Harry about going to Hogwarts, and then there's simply
nothing but darkness as the movie ensues. The tone is much darker and basically
takes away what the first set up so skillfully. First, Hogwarts seems darker
throughout the entire film, then the characters seem tired and angrier, the
actors portraying the three title characters lack the exuberance that made them
so memorable in the first place. The film plays as a sort of fantasy murder
mystery with signs etched in blood warning the students of the school, then
there's the "petrifacation" of the victims by the evil being at the scenes of
the crimes which come too closely to murders and instantly made me uneasy as to
where this film was going. There's no excitement to the film anymore; even when
Draco and Harry duel in the wand defense class it's so
anti-climactic that I felt
disappointed, even the most exciting aspect to the first, the Quidditch match is
noticeably cut short and is completely focused upon Harry and Draco's battling
on the field.
What makes this film less enjoyable is that
it almost completely focuses on Harry rather than the two other characters Ron
and Hermoine who I often find more amusing and deep than Harry. Emma Watson's
presence is also less involving and she's not in the story as I'd hoped; often
she's at the side and to make it worse is taken out of commission halfway
through the film so it became daunting that she wouldn't be shown anymore, which
pretty much annoyed me. Watson is too talented, and Hermoine
too much of a great character to just be pushed aside. There are
other numerous incredible actors that are sadly put to wasted in this film with
little to no purpose to the story whatsoever and it's a shame. The great Alan
Rickman's character Professor Snape is given very few lines, the late Sir
Richard Harris as Dumbledore is scarce in appearance and impact, Dame Maggie
Smith as Professor McGonagall is barely in the film except for a powerful
monologue in the middle about the chamber of secrets, and Robbie Coltrane as
Hagrid, one of my favorite characters is not in the film as often as I'd liked.
 I'm not
sure if I liked this as much as I did the first film, but nonetheless
despite it's faults, this is a good entertaining film with a lot of imagination, and is better than anything else you
might find nowadays.
- Daniel Radcliffe has said that
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is his favorite book.
- Hugh Grant was originally cast as
Gilderoy Lockhart but was forced to withdraw at the last moment because
of scheduling conflicts. Alan Cumming was also considered.
- Zoë Wanamaker does not appear in
this film as Hogwarts' flying instructor, Madam Hooch. Her character was
written out.
- Daniel Radcliffe was initially
only offered £125,000 (approximately US$181,500) to film Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets. The Actor's Union Equity stepped in,
however, and negotiated new terms that increased his salary to roughly
£2,000,000 (US$3,000,000).
- Many Harry Potter fans went to
see "Scooby-Doo" just to see a Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
trailer.
- Christian Coulson landed the role
as Tom Riddle, even though he is 23 and exceeds the 15-17 age group set
for auditions.
- Fourteen Ford Anglias were
destroyed to create the scene where Harry and Ron crash into the Womping
Willow.
- As Hagrid is taking Harry away
from Knockturn Alley, we see, in one of the shop windows in the
background, an entire set of Harry Potter books.
- The "Let's just hope Mr. Potter
will always be around to save the day" dialogue was improvised by
Radcliffe and Isaacs.
- During the shoot, the part of
Dobby was played by an orange ball on a stick (he was added digitally
later, of course).
- The punch line for the "Japanese
golfer" joke told by Uncle Vernon that Harry ruins is actually quite
vulgar and not at all appropriate for young children or mixed company.
- As Harry enters Prof.
Dumbledore's study, a portrait of Gandalf the Grey from "The Lord of the
Rings" is included in the collection of the great wizard paintings. It
is above the doorframe and slightly to Harry's right.
- Harry Taylor reprises his brief
role as the Train Station Guard from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone (2001).
- A cinema manager in Stavanger in
Norway reported that the film was making his younger patrons ill.
Evidently many children who had overindulged on sweets and popcorn were
throwing up when Ron begins vomiting giant slugs. "It is not a
particularly fun task for our employees to have to wash away the sick,"
he said.
- Some of the portraits in Hogwarts
are actually faces of production designer Stuart Craig and executive
producer Mark Radcliffe.
- While chatting with the Grangers
at the bookshop, Mr. Weasley says, "I understand that other muggles are
afraid of you." This makes little sense unless you know that both
Hermione's parents are dentists.
- Emma Watson broke her left wrist
during filming and you can just about see a cast under her sleeve in
some scenes.
- The script originally said that
Hermione would hug Harry and Ron in the final scene. Because Emma Watson
was embarrassed about having to hug them in front of the entire cast,
Chris Columbus changed the scene. Hermione just hugs Harry, and starts
to hug Ron, but the two get embarrassed and shake hands instead.
- The tapestries hanging in the
Gryffindor Common Room are copies of the "Lady and the Unicorn" series,
a set of 16th century tapestries that are now displayed in the Cluny
Museum in Paris.
- The title used by the film crew
to disguise the shoot (and printed on the clapper boards) was "Incident
of 57th Street".
|
