Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Published 2015-01-11
Film info
- Title Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Director Chris Columbus
- Year 2002
- Run time 2hr 4m
- Genres Adventure, Fantasy
- Tagline Hogwarts is back in session
- Cast Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Kenneth Branagh, John Cleese, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Miriam Margolyes, Toby Jones
After a long summer with the horrid Dursleys, Harry Potter is thwarted in his attempts to board the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his second year. Harry's only transportation option is a magical flying car, but unfortunately it crashes into a valuable Whomping Willow. Still, all this seems like a day in the park compared to what awaits Harry that fall within the haunted halls of Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione, and Ron do everything that is wizardly possible - including risking their own lives - to solve a 50-year-old potentially deadly mystery.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:09 | Ooh, slightly older Radcliffe. This whole age progression is going to be fascinating. |
| 2:53 | I love the kid playing Dudley. The exact proportion of chubby and gormless. |
| 7:30 | Floating cake is delicious. |
| 9:32 | We're under the impression the car would come off worse in the battle with the window. |
| 13:17 | Yay for Mr Weasley! |
| 15:25 | See, and I pronounce Diagon different to them, so where would I end up? |
| 20:39 | "Take my hand!" "I'm trying, your hands all sweaty." Classic. |
| 28:30 | The car's gone all Herbie. |
| 32:20 | I think the house points seem to have a lot more import in the films than I got from the books. |
| 36:55 | Somebody fed those pixies after midnight. |
| 39:09 | Malfoy's a paydriver. |
| 48:10 | "Even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign." |
| 1:07:28 | They didn't actually teach them anything though. Worst school ever. |
| 1:15:04 | How do they do that? The hat raised an eyebrow! |
| 1:21:14 | Thinking about it, it would make sense for just one of them to have tried the potion first, in case it didn't work and killed them or something. |
| 1:27:21 | "I was just sitting in the u-bend, thinking about death." |
| 1:43:35 | Ron's got a good point with "why couldn't it be butterflies?" but I reserve it for the snake situation instead. |
| 2:00:24 | Best chat up line ever. |
| 2:11:43 | It's all gone a little bit Jurassic Park. |
| 2:31:08 | Don't really get the huge applause for Hagrid, he didn't do anything. |
Thoughts
I had anticipated making a big deal of the 500th film, picking an epic classic, but in the end I wasn't feeling well and in those cases you just want to watch what you want to watch. So, we took in the second adventure of Harry Potter and his pals, in which the shortest book is made into the longest movie.
It was too long, really, and stuff was happening constantly, so that it took more concentration than I'd hoped for. Having said that, it was well done, everything becoming clear and explained well for those who have read the books and those that haven't.
I assume the film is so long because it has to set up so many things for future episodes, and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next, so it certainly didn't ruin anything!
Rating: 3 / 5
