Harry Potter 2 : Darker, Scarier, Better

We ditched the 7-month old boy and decided we’d go see a movie together, without a squirming tyke on our laps, without worrying about him making noise to offend other movie patrons, without sniffing for suspicious smells at dramatic moments of the movie…good choice. We decided on “Harry Potter,” because we’re both fans of the books and we both enjoyed the first outing, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” We’ve been counting down to the second movie for a few months now, and after a few hassles at the theatre, snuggled into our seats to watch “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

“Chamber of Secrets” is a longer movie than the first (clocking in at 161 minutes!) but it moves much more quickly than “Sorcerer’s Stone.” The filmmakers wisely made the choice not to re-introduce everything piece by piece with an inordinate amount of exposition about Harry, Hogwarts, Hagrid, the world of magic he lives in…so hopefully if this is your first exposure to Harry, the movie will make sense, but will move more quickly.

The first thing you’ll notice watching the movie is that they’ve got the same cast as they had for the first film, but they’ve all aged a year (well….duh….). It’s especially noticeable with the boys—Harry and Ron’s voices both crack a few times, although they’re both a shade deeper than they were in the first flick. As my wife and I were discussing the movie afterward, we were hoping that they’d be able to keep at least the main three child actors together through the entire course of (we’re assuming) seven movies. If they were able to do that, we could see them all grow together, making a much more realistic vision than say, if they replaced them all after Movie Three.

The next thing you’ll notice, in comparing this movie to the first, is that “Chamber of Secrets” is MUCH darker than the first one. It’s darker, scarier, more violent. No more violent than the book it’s based on, but it’s one thing to read about giant snakes, spiders, and threats written in blood on the walls….and another thing to see it before your eyes. If you’re planning on taking children, consider that before taking them, and I’d even recommend seeing it yourself before taking the pups. We were scared, and we’re in our twenties…so your kids may be too.

I don’t want to disclose much of the plot, but it does involve Harry Potter’s second year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is twelve years old, and his best friends are also wizards and witches at the school, which is in a mysterious castle somewhere in England. Mysterious attacks on students threaten them all, and a much deeper and more violent mystery is soon unfolding at the magical castle.

It sounds totally cheesy. But Director Chris Columbus and his crew (who were also behind the first movie) pull it off. Visually, Hogwarts is more impressive this time around. We get more beauty shots of the exterior of the castle (which sent me scrambling to play with my Harry Potter LEGO after the movie), and more of the classes inside the castle. The CGI—Computer Generated Imagery special effects are more impressive this time around. In the first movie, I was bugged by the fake-looking scenes involving a Troll in the Bathroom, and the Quidditch scenes (which were cool to see, but the backgrounds and actors didn’t really match up). They’ve solved those issues with this movie, and the effects are much better, more realistic, and more exciting than in the first movie.

Columbus couldn’t have pulled it off without the fine company of actors assembled for this movie: the best are Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint as Harry, Ron, and Hermione. This trio of child actors are completely believable, and their friendship seems to be deeper than what’s written on either the script or in the source material. They’re marvelous. A fourth musketeer is their foil, the bastardly Draco Malfoy, portrayed by Tom Felton. He’s the same age as the others, and is the most unrepentantly evil kid you’ve ever met. He’s basically a white-supremacist in the Wizard World, who wants to see the wizards of unpure blood (including Hermione) purged from the school.

The adult actors are of the highest caliber—the late Richard Harris is the schoolmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and his right-hand is Professor McGonagall, played by Dame Maggie Smith. They lend dignity to these roles, and the two leaders of Hogwarts are some of the best, kindest, wisest characters I’ve seen on the big screen in a long time. The other adult characters include the enormous half-giant Hagrid, played by Robbie Coltrane, and the deliciously evil Severus Snape, played by long-time baddie Alan Rickman. A newcomer is Kenneth Branagh, whose Gilderoy Lockhart lit up the screen and stole every scene he was in.

I recommend this movie to Harry Potter fans, who will of course see it no matter what. But beyond that, I recommend the Harry Potter series of movies and books (and LEGO sets!) to just about anyone. If you haven’t gotten on board yet I don’t blame you—I’m always hesitant to jump on the bandwagon of anything THIS popular. Nothing’s THAT good. These books are wonderful examples of friendship, loyalty, and courage; I’ve learned a thing or two from Harry Potter. And if a miserable, grouchy old man like me can learn from him, you can too.