Review: Adolescent cast adds quirks to Harry Potter film

By: Rachel Chang

Posted: 11/18/02

There’s one thing even Harry Potter cannot control — adolescence.

Voices crack and leap between octaves, and growth spurts come and go throughout the second film installment of the universally popular book series, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

The problem with casting the more-than-perfect young actors to play the protagonists Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, is that they grow faster than the speed of movie production. Since the movies are filmed out of sequence, the relative heights of the three kept changing throughout the film, with Ron (Rupert Grint) towering above Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) at the beginning of the film, but closer to Harry’s height later on.

The flying car joy ride scene, especially, looked like a flashback from pre-adolescence, perhaps because it was the first scene filmed last November, just as the first movie hit theaters.

But the magic of the trio’s sophomore year at Hogwarts clouds the pre-teen actors’ physical appearances, transporting the audience out of their sticky movie theater seats and into the picturesque and even-more-magical-than-the-first setting of the wizard’s world.

With far more special effects than its predecessor, each successive scene offers a new overwhelming visual spectacle including an aerial car chase, screaming mandrake plants, bouncing pixies, an eye-numbing Quidditch match and a creepy cave overflowing with spine-chilling spiders. These effects make the sequel scarier and more action-packed than the first, transforming the weaker book into the more exciting of the two films.

Having already won over audiences with his dedication to the original text in the first book, director Chris Columbus took liberties to add bits of humor to the scenes, including a snippet after the credits roll, without taking away from the essence of the books.

Although the film drags just a tad during parts of its 2 hour and 41 minute run, the quick-cutting scenes, not always critical to the film’s plot but essential to staying true to the books, help guide the film through its numerous sets. All are beautifully built, down to the most minute decorations of the Chamber of Secrets.

The film starts with Harry trapped again under custody of his muggle (non-wizard folk, for those of you who are really out of the loop) relatives, the Dursleys, until the Weasley boys rescue him in the middle of the night and take him to the safety of their red-haired family. Before arriving at Hogwarts, Harry gets numerous warnings not to return because grave danger awaits at school, the most compelling from an annoying computer-generated house elf, Dobby, who only talks in third person.

Nevertheless, the young wizard ignores the warnings and suspicious events immediately begin upon his return to school. Only Harry can hear a mysterious voice in the school. Rumors start about a Chamber of Secrets being open and a deadly creature let loose, threatening the safety of Hogwarts to the point that the school could be closed.

Not wanting to be sent back to the Dursleys, Harry leads Ron and Hermione in gumshoe efforts to tackle the chamber’s mystery. Their drive becomes more dire after Ron’s younger sister Ginny is held captive in the chamber.

Radcliffe and Watson definitely benefited from acting in the first film, with budding young heartthrob Radcliffe easily carrying the film as a seasoned professional, and the young Julia Roberts-like Emma Watson stealing her scenes, despite her lack of screen time during the second half. The cartoon-faced Grint makes his trademark clear with his exaggerated facial expressions of woe. Unfortunately the expressions dominate the scene when audiences should focus on Harry’s confrontation against the giant spider Aragog.

Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh (“Wild Wild West”) joins the cast, perfectly cast as the cocky, overconfident professor Gilderoy Lockhart. The late Richard Harris (“Gladiator”) returns to the series as a more down-to-earth headmaster Albus Dumbledore. But his painfully squeaky voice throughout the film reminds viewers that perhaps he was too ill to be on the set.

Other notable characters return including Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall, Alan Rickman as Snape, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid and Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood, all wasted with less screen time than the first. Tom Felton who plays Harry’s archenemy Draco Malfoy, another victim of adolescence, fostered his evil potential between films, clearly a dark wizard in the making.

The overwhelming visuals, stronger plotlines and developed acting abilities of the youngsters make the adventure in this sequel more enjoyable than the first. If the third film is to live up to this standard, production needs to start immediately, before the young stars transform into acne-ridden teenagers.

Rachel Chang is a graduate student in the magazine, newspaper and online journalism program. E-mail her at rschang@syr.edu.