Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
"An ancient prophecy seems to be coming true when a mysterious presence begins stalking the corridors of a school of magic and leaving its victims paralyzed."
Right off the bat, you got a lot of the same crew returning from the first movie - Chris Columbus, John Williams, Stuart Craig, and, of course, David Heyman. They did a great a job of continuing the light hearted magic from the first film into this new chapter.
One thing I like about Chamber of Secrets, both the book and film, is that it's actually a fun stand alone mystery. Sure you need installments before and after for all context, but it still does well without it. Half of the movies in this franchise are good to watch on their own without the event of a marathon, and Chamber of Secrets is one of them for me. I also think this is the funniest as well. The Snape vs Lockhart scene is a classic. Dobby - hilarious. Harry meeting Fawkes before he "just caught fire" is priceless. And Hagrid's line, "there are no bones left!" gets me every time.
This film introduced a few new characters, along with their brilliant actors. Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy was a phenomenal casting. The real star of the show is Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart. Charismatic and stupid from start to finish. Of course I can't forget the introduction of everyone's favorite house elf, Dobby, voiced by the legendary Toby Jones. And this movie also introduces Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley as well as the return and true introductions of Julie Walters as Molly Weasley and Bonnie Wright as Ginny.
Honestly, the Weasleys' were my favorite part of the film. The voice of Mrs. Weasley's howler lives in my mind rent free. As awesome and funny as they are, it's so heartwarming seeing Harry experience a wizarding home to the first time and also being welcomed with open arms as if he's part of the family. When they arrive at the Burrow after the iconic car escape, Ron says it's not much, but to Harry it's everything he could have ever dreamed about.
This movie is a sequel, and as a sequel it does an excellent job at expanding lore in the wizarding world. This is the first time we really open our eyes to the mysteries and history of Hogwarts Castle. The concept of the four founders is so interesting to me and to this day, I still want to learn about them. Although we don't know it yet. JK Rowling did a great job of planting a seed to one of the most important plot points in the series, which doesn't get revisited until Half-Blood Prince.
Another great aspect of this film is the concept of wizarding racism. While wizards don't categorize themselves by actually race and ethnicity, they do characterized themselves by blood status. There are Pure Blood Supremists who believe muggle-borns, and even half bloods, to be disgraces to the wizarding community. We see Hermione experience discrimination, followed by an empowering scene where Hagrid comforts her with a speech against this racism. The Harry Potter series presents a lot real world problems integrated in a fictional universe, and this is one of them.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆