Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
UK Theatrical poster of Chamber of Secrets
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Produced by	David Heyman
Written by	Novel: J. K. Rowling Screenplay: Steve Kloves
Starring	Daniel Radcliffe Rupert Grint Emma Watson Richard Harris Kenneth Branagh Jason Isaacs Christian Coulson Robbie Coltrane
Music by	Composed by: John Williams Conducted by: William Ross
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Editing by	Peter Honess
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	November 15, 2002 (UK, US) November 28, 2002 (AUS)
Running time	154 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	GB£50.7 million (US$100 million)
Gross revenue	GB£445.7 million (US$878,988,482)
Preceded by	Philosopher's Stone
Followed by	Prisoner of Azkaban
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a 2002 fantasy adventure film, and the second film in the popular Harry Potter films series, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The film was released on November 15, 2002 and was directed by returning director, Chris Columbus. The screenplay was adapted by returning screenwriter, Steven Kloves.

Most of the major cast and crew from Philosopher's Stone (also known as Sorcerer's Stone) returned for Chamber of Secrets, including child stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint and director Chris Columbus. However, it was the last appearance by Richard Harris as Dumbledore (and additionally Harris's last film altogether) and currently the last Harry Potter film directed by Columbus. New key actors included Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart and Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy.

The film was very well received at the box office making $879 million USD worldwide.^[1]

1 Plot
2 Cast and characters
3 Production
4 Marketing
5 Differences from the book
6 Reaction
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Plot

Further information: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter, and his caged owl Hedwig are staying with the Dursleys on summer break. An elf named Dobby appears in Harry’s room and warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts this year because of terrible danger. Dobby’s disruptions result in Uncle Vernon locking Harry in his room until Harry is rescued by the Weasley brothers, twin Fred, George and Ron. Harry and Hedwig escape in the Weasleys’ flying car, a Ford Anglia, and Harry finishes the summer holiday at the Weasleys’ home, The Burrow. After buying their new schoolbooks in Diagon Alley, Harry and the Weasley brothers go to train station Platform 9 3/4, but the gateway closes on Ron and Harry before they can board the Hogwarts Express. Harry and Ron travels to Hogwarts at the Ford Anglina, of Mr. Weasley's car to get to school. Later that night, the car breaks down and crashes into a sentient tree, the Whomping Willow, on the school’s grounds within Ford Anglina itself heads to the forest, causing Harry and Ron on punishment.

Before Harry, Ron and Hermione starts to returned to entered their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, A new professor and celebrity wizard author Gilderoy Lockhart, now teaches at Hogwarts. Harry resumes Quidditch practice with team Gryffindor. This year, Slytherin’s seeker is Harry’s rival Draco Malfoy, who sports a Nimbus 2001 broomstick. The ominous Chamber of Secrets, secretly located beneath the sink in the girls’ bathroom, has opened, and Professor McGonagall reveals to the students how Hogwarts' founder Salazar Slytherin built the chamber long ago. Salazar disliked Muggles, non-wizard humans, and Muggle-born wizards, and emerges as something of a racial supremacist. Salazar had sealed the chamber until his heir had returned to school. Professor McGonagall also reveals that a monster resides in the chamber.

The inevitable Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor results in a Gryffindor victory after Harry captures the snitch, but is attacked by a rogue bludger that breaks his arm. The pompous Professor Lockhart tries to heal Harry's arm, but instead removes Harry’s arm bones. Harry's arm recovers in the hospital wing. Hermione creates a potion to make Harry and Ron temporarily take on the forms of Crabbe and Goyle, so that they may gain information from Draco Malfoy. The same potion turns Hermione into a large cat, and she is temporarily unable to turn back.

Odd events occur - a Muggle-born student is petrified, and young Ginny Weasley starts losing her memory. A girls’ bathroom ghost named Moaning Myrtle, an original victim of the Chamber of Secrets, provides Harry and Ron with Tom Marvolo Riddle’s talking diary. Hagrid is arrested and sent to Azkaban prison for harbouring Aragog, a giant spider mistakenly thought to be the Chamber monster, and Dumbledore is removed as headmaster. One evening, Harry and Ron are called to the hospital wing, as Hermione has been petrified. Hermione's petrification leaves the boys to solve the mystery behind the events before Hogwarts closes, and save all those that have fallen victim to petrification.

The massive spider Aragog tells Harry and Ron that the chamber is guarded by a monstrous snake called a basilisk, which kills with its gaze. Harry and Ron learn that Professor Lockhart is not the great wizard he has claimed to be; he deceives people using a memory charm. After Ginny Weasley is taken into the Chamber of Secrets under the sink, with a message left on the wall that "her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever", Harry, Ron, and Lockhart enter the bathroom to rescue her. Harry descends a long tunnel, and with aid from the Sorting Hat and Dumbledore’s Phoenix Fawkes, he battles the Basilisk and Tom Marvolo Riddle. Riddle’s name is an anagram for “I am Lord Voldemort,” and Riddle is, in fact, the sixteen-year-old soul of Lord Voldemort, preserved in the diary. Harry kills the Basilisk with Godric Gryffindor's Sword and defeats Riddle by destroying the diary, rescuing Ginny in the process.

The petrified students are cured. Hagrid is freed from Azkaban, house elf Dobby is freed from service to the Malfoys, and Dumbledore is restored as Hogwarts’ headmaster who in turn reassures Harry that he truly belongs in the House of Gryffindor, as evidenced by being able to summon the sword. The year ends, with Hogwarts lit up from the Great Hall. After the credits, a post-memory loss Lockhart is shown in Diagon Alley near a poster reading, "Who Am I?".

[edit] Cast and characters

See also: List of Harry Potter films cast members

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter: Now entering his second year at Hogwarts, Harry faces the accusation that he is the Heir of Slytherin, and responsible for the attacks on fellow students.
Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley: One of Harry's best friends. He takes his father's flying car to Hogwarts, after he and Harry miss the Hogwarts Express.
Emma Watson as Hermione Granger: One of Harry's best friends. She investigates what is really the cause of the attacks on students, only to be petrified herself.
Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore: The Hogwarts headmaster and one of the greatest wizards of the age. He is removed from his position as the attacks increase.
Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart: The incredibly vain and famous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He is secretly completely useless, and faked all of his achievements.
Christian Coulson as Tom Marvolo Riddle: The memory of a young Lord Voldemort, imprinted into his old diary.
Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley: Ron's younger sister, who becomes possessed by Riddle's diary. She opens the Chamber of Secrets, under his control.
Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid: The Hogwarts groundskeeper, who is initially blamed for the attacks and sent to Azkaban. Martin Bayfield plays him in the flashback scene.
Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall: The Hogwarts deputy headmistress.
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape: The Hogwarts potions master.
Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy: Harry's enemy, who the trio believe to actually be the Heir of Slytherin.
Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy: Draco's father, and a former Death Eater.
Shirley Henderson as Moaning Myrtle: The ghost of a Hogwarts student killed by the Basilisk years ago.
Toby Jones as the voice of Dobby: The Malfoys' house elf, who goes behind the family's back to help Harry during the course of the year.
Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge: The Minister for Magic.
Julian Glover as the voice of Aragog: A giant Acromantula that lives the forest and is owned by Hagrid.
Miriam Margolyes as Pomona Sprout: The Hogwarts Herbology teacher, who creates a cure for those who are petrified.
Julie Walters and Mark Williams as Molly Weasley and Arthur Weasley: Ron's parents.
Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw as Vernon and Petunia Dursley: Harry's uncaring aunt and uncle.
Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley: Harry's overweight cousin.
Hugh Mitchell as Colin Creevey: A Muggle-born student who idolizes Harry.
Les Bubb - Reader

[edit] Production

Production for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets began on November 19, 2001, just three days after the widespread release of the first Harry Potter film. It was shot on location on the Isle of Man, in several places in Great Britain, and at Leavesden Film Studios in London. Filming finished in the summer of 2002.^[2]

Hugh Grant accepted the role of Gilderoy Lockhart, reportedly dyeing his hair blonde, but due to a scheduling conflict he had to drop out.^[3] On October 25, 2001, Kenneth Branagh was selected as Grant's replacement.^[4]

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Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Marketing

The film's soundtrack was released on November 12, 2002. The film's scores were composed by John Williams, with some new material written by composer William Ross from adaptations of Williams' score, when he was unavailable due to time constraints. The soundtrack was conducted by William Ross. A video game based on the film was released in 2002.

[edit] Differences from the book

Very few plotlines are entirely absent from the film adaptation, although some are condensed because of time considerations. Many of the more truncated themes were originally written in a more comprehensive form, but did not make the final cut. Many of these are included on the DVD edition as deleted scenes, including the Malfoys in Borgin and Burkes, Gilderoy Lockhart giving a pop quiz (all about himself) on the first day of Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and several discussions about Harry being the heir of Slytherin. The Death Day party sequence from the book is omitted in the film, as is the related subplot of Nearly Headless Nick trying to join the Headless Hunt (as a result, the character is reduced to a cameo appearance in the film). As with the previous and succeeding films, the poltergeist Peeves does not appear in the film adaptation.

In the book, whilst flying to Hogwarts, Harry and Ron see the Hogwarts Express from the sky, described as "a scarlet snake" moving below. In the film, Ron drops the car down the tracks and the train appears right behind them, causing Ron to steer the car wildy around, during which Harry almost falls out of the car whilst suspended above the train below.

The only significant deviation from the literary canon is in the effects of the Polyjuice Potion.^[5] In the book, the Potion causes the drinker to assume the exact appearance of the target, including their voice and any disabilities (such as poor eyesight). In the film adaptation, while the potion alters Harry and Ron's appearance, their voices were left unchanged to reduce confusion. This alteration is retconned in subsequent Harry Potter films – in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Barty Crouch Jr, under the influence of the potion, perfectly assumes the voice of Alastor Moody.

A few characters were removed from the script and their lines reassigned to other characters. In particular, the ghost Professor Binns is absent from the film, so his expository scene about the Chamber of Secrets is instead given by Professor McGonagall. Peeves is also absent from the film, as in all the other film adaptations.^[5] Furthermore, the conversation between a young Tom Riddle and Armando Dippet regarding Hogwarts' possible closure seen in the diary flashback instead occurs between Riddle and Dumbledore in the film.

[edit] Reaction

[edit] Critical reception

Reviews were highly positive, it holds an 82% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes^[6] and a score of 63 out of 100 at Metacritic representing "generally favourable reviews".^[7] Roger Ebert called The Chamber of Secrets "a phenomenal film" and gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, especially praising the set design.^[8] Entertainment Weekly commended the film for being better and darker than its predecessor: "And among the things this Harry Potter does very well indeed is deepen the darker, more frightening atmosphere for audiences. This is as it should be: Harry's story is supposed to get darker".^[9] Richard Roeper praised the directing and the films faithfulness to the book, saying: "Chris Columbus, the director, does a real wonderful job of being faithful to the story but also taking it into a cinematic era".^[10] Variety called the film "a bit overlong", but praised the film for being darker and more dramatic than The Philosopher's Stone: "it possesses a confidence and intermittent flair that begin to give it a life of its own apart of the literary franchise, something the initial picture never achieved".^[11] Dana Stevens from The New York Times said: "instead of feeling stirred you may feel battered and worn down, but not, in the end, too terribly disappointed".^[12]

Some negative criticism came from Peter Travers from The Rolling Stone condemning the film for being overlong and too faithful to the book: "Once again, director Chris Columbus takes a hat-in-hand approach to Rowling that stifles creativity and allows the film to drag on for nearly three hours".^[13] Kenneth Turan from The Los Angeles Times called the film "a cliché" and noted: "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is deja vu all over again, it's likely that whatever you thought of the first production -- pro or con -- you'll likely think of this one".^[14]

[edit] Box office performance

The film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets premiered in the UK on November 3, 2002 and in USA on November 14, 2002 before its widespread release on November 15, one year after the Philosopher's Stone film (November 16, 2001). The film broke multiple records upon its opening all over the world. In the U.S. the film opened to an $88.4 million opening weekend, third biggest all-time at the time, behind only Spider-Man and its predecessor Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.^[15] In the United Kingdom the film broke all opening records that were previously held by The Philosopher's Stone. It made £18.9 million during its opening including previews and £10.9 million excluding previews, both extraordinary records.^[16] It went on to make £54.8 million in the U.K., the fifth biggest tally of all time at the time.^[17]

The film made a total of $879 million worldwide,^[18] which made it the fifth highest-grossing film ever at the time.^[19] It was the second highest grossing film of 2002 behind The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers worldwide.^[20] However, it was the number one film of the year at the non-American box office making about $617 million compared to The Two Towers' $584.5 million.^[21] To this day it remains as one of the highest-grossing films of all time, at number 13.

[edit] Awards

On January 14, 2003, Chamber of Secrets won the award for "Best Live Action Family Film" in the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. It was nominated for seven Saturn Awards including for "Best Director", "Best Fantasy Film" and "Best Performance by a Younger Actor" for Daniel Radcliffe. The film was nominated for four BAFTA Awards and a Grammy Award for John Williams' score.