Another year, another Harry Potter film, this one being bittersweet as the role of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, played by Richard Harris will never be the same. While Mr Harris has now passed on, the role, his final, remains a testament to the great acting in this franchise to date. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (II) (Hermione) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) bring the characters to life once again in a very vivid way.
It's time for another school year and Harry finds himself greeted by the strangest of creatures. Dobby a small elfish-like creature has come to warn Harry not to goto Hogwarts. He foretells of grave danger to Harry and tried unsuccessfully to presuade Harry to stay with his Uncle. The special effects of Dobby are terrific especially when he begins to punish himself for making mistakes. Harry is determined to find out why Dobby believes Hogwarts is in danger and escapes his Uncle's wrath just in time thanks to Ron's flying car.
The Chamber of Secrets evolves the entire magical mythologoy with new words like "Muggle" filling up our everyday chatter. With the previous movie setting the tone of things, Chamber moves more swiftly with pacing that feels fast even though the movie weighs in at 160+ minutes. The trio of heroes once again go through both comical and more dramatic events that make for a thrilling ride. Of course there are villains once again and the movie aims to confuse as to who is really behind each event giving the feature plenty of suspense.
As with the first movie I came into this one without having read the book so my comments on accuracy are impossible. All I can say is that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets picks up where the first one left off and makes for an even better ride than before. While the kids may be too old by the time the fourth and fifth movies roll around, I can't wait to see what new Director Alfonso Cuarón comes up with as this is Chris Columbus' final stab at Potter mania. Definitely a worthy sequel if there ever was one!
The Disc:
Once again Warner has seen fit to showcase just what a company can do with the DVD format in the second release of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The disc is PACKED with extras and this time it is actually usable. We applauded Warner for trying to make the extras fun last time but felt that things were too difficult for the children who the dics targeted. This time around things are better designed without giving up the fun that encompassed the original.
Disc one houses a simple cast and crew listing with no filmographies or biographies, Year One at Hogwarts which is a new video trailer for Sorcerer's Stone, and the actual Chamber of Secrets original theatrical trailer in anamorphic widescreen.
Disc two is where things really get interesting. It begins with the Deleted Scenes which are FAR easier to see this time around. There are 19 in all, each presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen totalling 17 minutes in all.
Next we have a section called Lockhart's Classroom. This three section area contains "Required Reading", brief narrated montage of Lockhart's literary works, "Certificates", a quick video history lesson of Lockhart's accomplishments, and the "Photo Gallery," which actually isn't a collection of stills or production photos from the movie but rather a 2-minute assortment of pics of Branagh made up as various historical figures of the past.
Up next is Activities, a two part section including two of the challenges from the ROM portion of the disc - "The Chamber Challenge" and "The Forbidden Forest Challenge" - plus two DVD-VIdeo-only tests, "Colin's Darkroom" and "Tour Diagon Alley." Kids will likely enjoy these challenges though they are pretty easy and only give video clips or congratulations as rewards.
The next section Behind Hogwarts gives us the real meat and potatoes behind the film. "A Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves" runs 16 minutes and focuses on the process of adapting such a beloved book into a screenplay. Interesting stuff here including some back and forth between the author and producer. "Build a Scene" gives us 16-minutes into the creation of Dumbledorf's Office. We get to see from the inside how the sets, props, costumes, visual effects, editing and scoring were put together. This is brought to us via Chris Columbus and producer David Heyman and most of the main tech personnel, including composer John Williams. "Tour Dumbledorf's Office" is another "click through a 3-D environment" maze, although all we get on the tour is narration that doesn't provide any real insight.
"Gallery of Production Sketches." gives us 18 subsections of images ranging from props to sets to the various creatures seen in the film.
"Interviews with Students, Professors and More" is just that, a collection of vignettes with the cast of Chamber of Secrets talking but their return for Year Two.
The look of the film is excellent once again in its anamorphic widescreen format. Leaving the goodies to the second disc has allowed for the highest bitrate possible making for a clean looking and clear picture. There are no problems that I could see here. Soundwise the disc sounds great with perfect use of the surrounds to capture the home theater experience. Although we miss the inclusion of a DTS track, the DD 5.1 does more than an admirable job with the audio track.
bottom line:
The second feature is every bit as good as the original. Consistentcy is a hard quality to find but Chris Columbus and gang deliver it. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is worth being in your collection.
By - Brian Gray
1/2
