Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Blu-ray) (2002)

"...an enchanting spectacular for Potter fans anxious to ride the Hogwarts Express toward a new year of magic and mischief.  Gregory Weinkauf, Dallas Observer
"Columbus beautifully realizes many of Rowling's fantastic conceits...  J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
"A fun, fantastic adventure...  James Berardinelli's ReelViews
"...it's better, as well as darker, than the first.  Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
"...a veritable Who's Who of British actors [elevate] the proceedings out of the kid's movie genre into something special.  William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Editor's Note Director Chris Columbus recreates the magic of the second book from author J.K. Rowling's best-selling series about a young wizard, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe). In this sequel, Harry and his friends Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the new school year only to be met with a terrifying mystery. An unknown creature, one that supposedly lives in the legendary Chamber of Secrets hidden at Hogwarts, is attacking students in the school, leaving them literally petrified and as cold as stone. Even the professors seem at a loss for how to solve the chilling mystery, leaving it up to Harry and his friends to save the day. Rowling's story translates well to the big screen, with a magical flying car, a giant spider, a house elf named Dobby, and assorted other creatures making their film debuts. Radcliffe continues to charm as the wide-eyed young Potter, and Grint shines as his best friend and sidekick. Kenneth Branagh joins the all-star cast as the preening megalomaniac author and professor, Gilderoy Lockhart. HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS also stars the late Richard Harris, majestic Maggie Smith, and an under-used Alan Rickman.

	Alan Rickman
	Daniel Radcliffe
	Emma Watson
	John Cleese
	Kenneth Branagh
	Maggie Smith
	Richard Griffiths
	Richard Harris
	Robbie Coltrane
	Rupert Grint
	Tom Felton
	Warwick Davis
	Andrew Ackland-Snow, et. al. - Art Director
	Chris Columbus - Director
	David Heyman - Producer
	J.K. Rowling - Based On Novel By
	John Williams - Original Music By
	Michael Barnathan - Executive Producer
	Peter Honess - Editor
	Roger Pratt - Cinematographer
	Steve Kloves - Screenplay
	Stuart Craig - Production Designer

New York Times
"...Many of the sequences are thrilling....The visual environment is beautifully conceived and skillfully rendered..." 11/15/2002 p.E1

USA Today
"...CHAMBER OF SECRETS, the movie weaves a powerful spell over its audience..." 11/15/2002 p.6E

Entertainment Weekly
"...[The film has] new characters, marvelously played by fresh king-and-queen hams who conjure the old-fashioned art of well-placed acting..." 11/22/2002 p.49-50

Rolling Stone
"...The young actors -- Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron, and Emma Watson as Hermione -- exude a new ease..." 12/12/2002 p.106

Sight and Sound
"...It affords an opportunity for such character actors as Kenneth Branagh and Shirley Henderson to let rip....[The] monsters from the first film are smoother and more nuanced here..." 01/01/2003 p.47-9

Los Angeles Times
"...CHAMBER OF SECRETS, like its predecessor, is intelligently cast and makes good use of behind-the-camera talent..." 11/15/2002 p.C1

Box Office
"...Enchanting....We see even more of the exquisitely realized Harry Potter universe in this outing..." 01/01/2003 p.62

Variety
"...It possesses a confidence and intermittent flair that begin to give it a life of its own....[The] film features a commanding turn by Christian Coulson..." 11/11/2002 p.25-9

Reel.com 8 of 10
The big challenge in filming Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was to translate J.K. Rowling's magical literary world to the screen. With that mountainous task accomplished, director Chris Columbus gets on with the business of storytelling in the series' second film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Unfortunately, Chamber is the weakest of the four Potter books, making an improvement over Sorcerer's Stone nearly impossible. Screenwriter Steven Kloves and the Mrs. Doubtfire director remain faithful to the spirit of Rowling's work, but this ramped-up roller-coaster ride begins with a bang and fizzles out in its third act...But darkness is one of the things that keeps Columbus on track with the series. It's only going to get more frightening and dangerous for Harry Potter as the semesters go by, and kids are ready to follow the "boy who lived" through his unconventional coming of age. J.K. Rowling understands how to define compelling characters and how to craft a complex tale of good besting evil. It's her vision that makes this Chamber of Secrets worth opening. - Mary Kalin-Casey

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
The first movie was the setup, and this one is the payoff. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" leaves all of the explanations of wizardry behind and plunges quickly into an adventure that's darker and scarier than anything in the first Harry Potter movie. It's also richer...What's developing here, it's clear, is one of the most important franchises in movie history, a series of films that consolidate all of the advances in computer-aided animation, linked to the extraordinary creative work of J.K. Rowling, who has created a mythological world as grand as "Star Wars," but filled with more wit and humanity. Although the young wizard Harry Potter is nominally the hero, the film remembers the golden age of moviemaking, when vivid supporting characters crowded the canvas. The story is about personalities, personal histories and eccentricity, not about a superstar superman crushing the narrative with his egotistical weight...While I am usually in despair when a movie abandons its plot for a third act given over entirely to action, I have no problem with the way "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" ends, because it has been pointing toward this ending, hinting about it, preparing us for it, all the way through. What a glorious movie. - Roger Ebert