Carrying On The Formula

It’s not surprising really that Chris Columbus took up the directorial plinth once again to direct the 2nd instalment of the Harry Potter film series, since he profoundly did a rather successful yet simple job of creating the platform and mood for the first flick. In actuality, there does seem to be this rather odd correlation between each and every well-known film franchise in terms of the person who directs the films of that particular film series. Good examples of this of course come in the forms of Christopher Nolan and Peter Jackson who have both made multiple films for the respected film series; Nolan with The Dark Knight trilogy and Jackson with his efforts of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit sets of films. What is noticeable about these two directors (and potentially others as well) is how, after each film they made, they significantly found a way, either within the contexts of the film or with the technical aspects, to improve on the last film which in turn, makes the film series they’re apart of, stand out from the rest. Of course, the Harry Potter series, as it went on, gradually shined near to its end and overall culminated to children’s understanding of film. However, having to re-watch the Chamber of Secrets for this review, there really isn’t much that director Columbus did to improve on from his first filmic piece. Other than the introduction of a fair few characters who seemingly thread into the world of Potter and much improved action set-pieces and acting from the young leading trio, there is this mentality throughout that makes you think that you’ve been and seen all of this before; making the structure and pacing of the film to be rather stagnant…

Following on from his adventures from The Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter is once again spending his summer holidays with his muggle relations, the Dursley’s, when he suddenly gets a surprise visitor in the form of Dobby, the house-elf, who warns Harry to not go back to Hogwarts; warning him that terrible things are going to happen. With the help of the Weasley family, who help him back into the wizarding world, Harry once again goes back to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his 2nd year where he is faced with another curious, strange and terrible mystery. Muggle born students of the school are turning up petrified and bloody writing appears on the walls, revealing to everyone, that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened once again. As the school year goes on, with the possibility of the closure of Hogwarts and hearing strange voices within the walls of the school, Harry, along with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, is forced to secretly uncover the truth about the Chamber of Secrets before any more lives are taken…

It is funny, being older now, looking back at how I view the older films that I grew up with and seeing how much nostalgia can be brought about from a single viewing in this present day. With the Chamber of Secrets, specifically, I do remember the time when this film came out into cinemas, back in 2002, and how much me and my family enjoyed watching it at the Trafford Centre. At the heart of the Harry Potter films, remains this subtle notion and nod-back to the British classical horrors of the 1950’s-70’s era; where the story inhabits this story structure of building up tension to a rather light-hearted horrific scene. This, of course, becomes much more prevalent in the later Harry Potter films when the stories and the circumstances become naturally darker. However, it still remains, that, for the most part, all the Harry Potter films are indeed horror’s for the younger demographic. This does come apparent within the Chamber of Secrets; with the ending action sequence of the giant Basilisk, the harrowing voices that Harry hears throughout the duration of the story and the blood-writing which warns Hogwarts of threats that await. This was something, when watching it back in 2002 and re-watching earlier this week, that I thought worked well for the film, considering it balanced well with the more cheery and comic-relief segments that all Harry Potter films embody. Be that as it may, being that I did in fact re-watch this film earlier this week, it has to be mentioned that there are faults with this 2nd tale. The biggest problem that it possesses, is its structuring and overall running time. Having the film come to a full 2 hours and 41 minutes is a bit too exorbitant, especially since this is a film that is primarily aimed towards a family audience. With an adaptation such as this one, it’s apparent that Chris Columbus had to maintain a certain level faithfulness to J.K. Rowling’s books. But, to have such a lengthy film that unnecessarily puts too much depth and needless exposition throughout, like Columbus has done here, its not exactly a film that you can casually watch. Indeed, its very understandable for any child to easily stray themselves from what this film displays. This adaptation just shows that, what may be exciting to read on the page, doesn’t always translate well on the silver-screen. Along with the dispensable length of the film, is the poor structuring and how it plays out to be a iron-copy of the previous piece. While it nicely threads new characters into the magical fray, the film has a problem of expanding from its predecessor as it basically sticks to the same formula, of seeing Harry being essentially bullied by his distant relations to him going back to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts.It’s as if as though I’ve been here before; watching a re-incarnation of the first film. Another problem that might arise, for someone who hadn’t watched The Philosopher’s Stone beforehand, is the attachment to the characters and their multiple situations. The first film laid down the frame that invited expansion of multiple film assets, whether contextually or cinematically. Without the background of the first film, it’s easy to see why many may not be emotionally invested in the array of characters, the ‘tense’ Quidditch matches or Harry’s journey to becoming a Wizard without watching the first film first.

Even though it may seem that following a familiar film formula can be seen as a bad thing to do, especially for what I just talked about with Columbus using the same story structure from his previous film; making Chamber of Secrets to be as stagnant as the movement of a snail, the one aspect that Columbus brought from his first film and into this one that works, is the performances from such a large cast. Even though the likes of Maggie Smith, as McGonagall, and Alan Rickman, portraying Snape, don’t get as much screen time compared to their co-performers, they do have their moments to shine; whether it’s McGonagall explaining to the students the history the twisted history of Hogwarts and the Chamber of Secrets, or Snape a multi-layered individual who, to anyone who doesn’t know of his character later in the films and stories, can be seen as someone who is slick and hard to read, just like in the first film. What was an improvement to the casting and acting was the addition of new faces, most notably with Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart who is added in as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and basically is served as the comic-relief character when things in the story start to seem grim. It would be criminal if I didn’t go and mention the performance of Richard Harris as Dumbledore who did indeed past away a few weeks before the premiere of this film and played the character in manner that fitted the mood of the film. There is, of course, the addition of the house-elf, Dobby, who, after watching the film recently, did in fact annoy me with his rather odd personality (even though, when I watched it back in 2002, he didn’t negate my pleasure of watching the film).

While, understandably being older, I didn’t really attach myself on a humorous level with the character of Dobby, it does have to be mentioned that the CG, considering the time it was made (when CG was becoming a used commodity throughout the majority of films), is executed rather well in a seamless way. Overall, there was good implementation of cinematic effects which meshed well together. One good example of this would be the spiders/Aragog appearance’s in the Forbidden Forest, where the CG spiders are crawling around the tree’s whilst we also see, on screen, an animatronic model of the giant spider Aragog who looms over both Harry and Ron. This can be also said with the appearance of the Basilisk as well, with it slithering around after Daniel Radcliffe who acts rather well in that filmic passage. 

Commendable as Chris Columbus tried to offer up another magical 2nd instalment of Harry Potter with the Chamber of Secrets, it’s noticeable right from seeing Harry in his new bedroom at the Durseley’s, that the film is a carbon-copy of The Philosopher’s Stone in terms of the narrative structure and the overblown running time which honestly, negated my viewing experience after re-watching it. Despite the film improving on the casting/acting of a huge array of people and continuing to do a simple yet effective job of moulding the CGI with the practical effects, there wasn’t anything or any scene that implemented something new or different. It’s a very stagnant film that goes far too much into detail for its own good and really should have been cut down more towards a respectful running time that is more accessible to watch. For sure, great amount of change would be bestowed upon Alfonso Cuaron’s take on Harry Potter with the Prisoner of Azkaban, but would that film tarnish the reputation of the past films and the books? Or would it be seen as a platform that added even more cinematic quality and imagination to this fantastical tale?…

Well, on that note, I think it’s time to end my short film review. A always everyone, thank you for reading my latest film review and I hope you’ve enjoyed the read! If anyone has an opinion on the film or on the review itself, please feel free to drop a comment down below in the comments section. Next week, I’ll be giving you an anime review of the recent ‘Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress’, an anime executed by the same person who did the well known ‘Attack on Titan’. Until then, I want to finally thank you once again for everyone who has my latest review and I’ll be seeing you all next week! Have a nice weekend! Adieu!! 🙂

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ – Alex Rabbitte