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| The three wizard kids have a new sickly-looking friend on this gold-exuding poster for Chris Columbus' Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
Harry Potter escapes his Muggle home and Dobby the house elf to go back to Hogwarts, where mystical blood trails appear, and a student goes missing. It turns out to be a Slytherin heir, who is causing chaos.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is written by Steve Kloves (Wonder Boys (2000)), adapting the same-titled 1998 novel by J.K. Rowling (The Casual Vacancy (2012)), and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Chris Columbus (Adventures in Babysitting (1987)). It is the 2nd film in the Harry Potter franchise.
Mostly Chamber of Secrets is at least as good as the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001). There are good characters, handsome effects, - with especially the snake dragon monster impressing, - and Kenneth Branagh's (Peter's Friends (1992)) Gilderoy Lockhart character is introduced.
Unfortunately Harry's sidekick, Rupert Grint's (Thunderpants (2002)) Ron Weasley, is a colorless, talentless 'character', - though he seems more like a ceaseless parade of grimaces than an actual flesh-and-blood character. And the film carries some of the same weight about it with especially the third act being overlong beyond the acceptable. - More than 2½ hours running time is just too much for a Potter entry.
Related posts:
The Harry Potter franchise: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) - Columbus lands new family franchise successfully (also by Columbus)
Chris Columbus: Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) - Columbus and Robin Williams score with a truly great family jewel
The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure (writer)
Gremlins (1984) - Dante's 1980s puppetry classic (writer)
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 100 mil. $
Box office: 879.6 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 8.79 times its cost)
[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets premiered 3 November (London) and runs 161 minutes. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)) was paid 3 mil. $ for his performance as Harry, while Grint and Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast (2017)) each received 125k $ as sidekicks Ron and Hermione. Production began 3 days after the release of the first film. Shooting took place from November 2001 - July 2002 in England, including London, and in Scotland. The 'Chamber of Secrets' set was the biggest created for the Potter saga, measuring 76x36.5 meters. The film opened #1 to an 88.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 5 weekends in the top 5, one of them again in #1, grossing 261.9 mil. $ (29.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd markets were Japan with 142.7 mil. $ (16.2 %) and the UK with 88.1 mil. $ (10 %). The film was the year's 2nd highest-grossing worldwide, behind The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers, and the 4th highest-grossing of the year in North America. It was nominated for 5 BAFTA's, winning one; and it also won an AFI award and was nominated for a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film made more than 27.3 mil. $ on the North-American video market. Columbus returned with Rent (2005). Radcliffe, Grint and Watson all returned first in the next Potter entry, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?
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