Columbus vs. Cuaron - Part 1: Columbus's Chamber of Secrets

In the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, director Chris Columbus returns for a second time and, I am tempted to say, another chance. Though his first film was very popular, I found it less than satisfying. It was faithful to the book in almost every detail, and yet somehow fell short. So, when watching the Chamber of Secrets, my biggest question was whether it would improve on its predecessor.

Well, the short answer is, yes. Where the Sorcerer's Stone dragged, the Chamber of Secrets did not. It was action packed, and every minute was so filled with things busying here and there that my mind almost had trouble keeping up. My attention didn't wander, unlike with Columbus's first film where I thought, "Come on, this is getting boring. Can the plot begin to move at the pace it does in the book?" However, I still wasn't quite satisfied with how the story was told. It wasn't boring, but it wasn't captivating either. It didn't grab you up the same way the book did. To put it another way, Columbus only seemed to care if the details of the film were faithful to the details of the book. But whether the movie itself was high quality wasn't really a priority. It wasn't terrible or anything - it just lacked the Muse you find in the Lord of the Rings.

The acting was good, as can only be expected from the best Britain has to offer. Richard Harris's Dumbledore is still good, though I must say he doesn't quite convey the rigor of Rowling's character. Kenneth Branagh was superb, as I didn't like him one bit (a difficult thing to accomplish). His portrayal of the despicable Gilderoy Lockharet was, well, brilliantly despicable. Bonnie Wright does what she can with the little screen time she has for Ginny Weasley (And for those who have read my review of Rowling's novel, Ginny's crush is basically non-existent - she doesn't even have enough screen time to send him the Valentine). 

For the trio of friends, this one was rough. Not really as regards the acting; in fact, Radcliffe's performance was quite convincing this time round. I don't know what he did, but it made a significant difference. The problem was really just with the various sizes they went through. The poor young actors were obviously going through puberty, so at the beginning we have a sizable Ron and a taller Harry matched against a significantly shorter Hermione. As as to Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), he simply towers over the other students. In addition, poor Rupert Grint's voice is changing in at least several scenes of the film; it was just plain comical hearing Ron's voice squeak around his lines. But, all things considered, they did a very good job within their limitations.

So, to conclude, Columbus has improved, but not enough for my liking. Not much thought for the cinematography and music was given, and only a little more was given to how the story told by the movie, not the book, worked. Columbus's work was decent, but unfortunately not something I'd particularly recommend to someone else to watch.