J and J Productions: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Review.

Starting Wedsday I will be posting some Lord of the Rings posts.

Thoughts: This is the sequel to the first Harry Potter and I was expecting it to be better than the first and it was a lot better than the first one. The acting was better, better plot, faster pace, and more action. Although a few of the same flaws that hindered the first movie is still present here. The opening of the movie with his adopted family, again do not make sense why they would care that he goes to the Hogwarts School since he would not have to live with them except in the summer. It was still cheesy and actually really dumb. But that part only last around ten minutes were as it lasted about 20-30 minutes in the first movie, therefore it was much more tolerable. The movie it's self was very good and solidly entertaining. It was also a little darker, which I thought was a good thing since the first movie was much more like a kid's movie than this one. It was basically better than the first movie in just about every way but it is not a real major improvement to say that it is a great movie but it is a good movie.

Directed by: Chris Columbus
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Release Date: 15 November 2002
Running Time: 161 minutes
MMPA rating: PG

The Good: Better than the first Harry Potter movie,

The Bad: Still had a few of the same flaws as the first movie,

Plot: The following plot summery is copied from Wikipedia.com.
Preparing for a visit from a potential client of Uncle Vernon Dursley's, the Dursleys send Harry to his room. Harry finds Dobby the house elf, who warns against returning to Hogwarts. When Harry refuses, Dobby causes havoc in the house and frames Harry for ruining Vernon's meeting. Vernon locks Harry in his room to prevent his return to Hogwarts. Ron, Fred, and George Weasley arrive in their flying car to rescue Harry and take him to The Burrow, their home. Harry meets Ron's younger sister, Ginny, who is about to begin at Hogwarts and has a crush on Harry. Harry also meets Ron's father, Arthur Weasley; he had met Mrs. Weasley the previous year. Harry and the Weasleys travel to Diagon Alley by Floo Powder. While shopping, Harry meets Gilderoy Lockhart, a famous wizard and author, and later Draco Malfoy and his father, Lucius, who praise Voldemort and deride Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys.
At King's Cross Station, though the rest of the Weasleys reach Platform 9 3/4 without trouble, Harry and Ron find the magical barrier blocked; as a result, they miss the Hogwarts Express. Harry and Ron take the flying car and reach Hogwarts, but accidentally land in the school's Whomping Willow. Ron's wand is broken and the car behaves erratically, ejecting the boys and driving itself into the Forbidden Forest. When Harry and Ron enter Hogwarts they are seen by Snape, who scolds them for flying the car to Hogwarts and nearly expels them. Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore arrive and McGonagall defends the boys and tells them they will receive detention only. Watch the movie to what happens next.

Plot: 7.1/10- The plot had a mystery component and the pace was much better than the first movie.
Action: 6.0/10- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets actually had a few action scenes.

Acting: 6.0/10- The acting is much improved from the previous movie especially the three main characters Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Special effects: 6.0/10- The effects are still a little dated but effective enough. Also the CGI character Dobby looked about the quality of Jar Jar from The Phantom Mencius.

Soundtrack: 9.0/10- The soundtrack was basically the same great John Williams soundtrack was in the first movie. I also noticed during one scene of the movie that soundtrack sounded just like a soundtrack from Star Wars.

Comedy: 7.5/10- There was a good deal of humor in the movie.

Overall: 6.8/10- Overall is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a good movie that is better than the previous Harry Potter movie.

Closing comments: I plan to continue watching the Harry Potter movies since the first two movies in the series are considered to be the worst in the series.

Recommended for: Fantasy fans, Adventure fans.