Harry Potter2: and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Elevator Pitch: Harry continues to be bullied by his relatives, and during the hols is warned by a house elf not to return to Hogwarts. He ignores the warning and  fortunately is rescued by Ron Weasley in a flying Ford Anglia. In the school they find some of the students petrified – literally, this relating to the Chamber of Secrets which can be controlled only by the heir to Salazar Slytherin. Also Hagrid is banished but the boys follows a trail of spiders to find out the truth. There after Harry finally enters the Chamber f secrets where he is forced to confront a version of his nemesis, and the terrifying basilisk.

Content:  No sex or nudity, or smoking drinking or drug taking. The film is really made up of a succession of set pieces, starting with the flying Ford Anglia which gets caught in a tree at Hogwarts. They are forced to take it to school because they can’t get onto Platform 9 ¾ . Various wizard lessons take place, one involving imps, then an event requires Harry to charm a snake. There-after they track down Hagrid’s pet spider, an insect of enormous size, and have to be rescued by the car. Quiddich takes place. Eventually we get to the Chamber of Secrets.

A View: I am with those who said it was far too long. If you watch it on TV it is likely to come out at over three hours with adverts. Apparently it follows the book almost exactly, to the distress of some. In the end I felt beaten into submission. More of the same and then even more of the same, but in the other hand if you have read the book you would want to see it all on screen. So maybe an essential watch for bookworms, but I am going to be thinking carefully whether I want to see any more of these outings.

Here are a few more sorcery films. I am not claiming they are better than Potter: The Brothers Grimm, The House with a Clock in its Walls and Mary Poppins Returns.