Chamber of Secrets benefits from the fact that we already know about Hogwarts, all of the main characters, and Harry's terrible Guardians, who are the worst Guardians you could ever imagine. Since you're in the story a lot earlier, this film moves a little faster than the first Sorcerer's Stone because you're in the story a lot earlier.
Chamber of Secrets benefits from being a little darker than Sorcerer's Stone and presenting a more compelling mystery for me. Kids at Hogwarts are being petrified frozen stiff cryptic messages written in blood are found on the walls and Chamber of Secrets benefits from being a little darker than Sorcerer's Stone and presenting a more compelling mystery for me.
This film also introduced us to the character of Dobby, who is initially annoying, and you think to yourself, "Oh, crap, this could be bad." Fortunately, he doesn't play a large role in the plot, and by the end of the movie, he's developed into a more interesting character with whom you can sympathize. When you see what's really going on behind the scenes with Draco's father, who's even worse than Draco, what a garbage human being, and you see Dobby as that manservant, you understand why this little broken creature is, and you want to comfort him.
You can also see why Draco is so dumb, since his father is ten times worse. Ginny was really responding to Harry Potter being out there when I saw this movie yesterday, I have to admit. Mommy, you saw my jumper lizard on my cat, huh what I did to Jenny, she's been dreaming about your summer, that's one of the cutest things I've ever seen in a film that was just adorable she's crushing on Harry Potter hardcore, and all of a sudden I was in her house like a young love blossoming in front of my eyes.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, you learn a little more about Harry Potter, who can dream in Parseltongue about snakes. So, not only is Harry Potter famous for being the boy who lived, but he can now also interact with snakes, adding to the character's curiosity and making us wonder why these things are happening to him. What is the Chamber of Secrets, and one of the elements of this movie that I love the most is that. The first has a mystery element, while the second has an adventure element, and I enjoy watching our three heroes work together to find out what's going on.
Chamber of Secrets also has a strong resemblance to the first Sorcerer's Stone. I think it was a smart choice when the next Harry Potter film was directed by someone other than J.K. Rowling, because the first two films are almost interchangeable, which is fine, and I can forgive it because it's a franchise, but there are a lot of things that I don't feel like I've seen before? One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Kenneth Branagh and Alan Rickman combat these two different characters in a brief magical battle, but it's even better when Harry and Draco win—which is cool because you despise Draco and just want to see.
This is a more plot-oriented film, so it doesn't take as long to establish all of those characters, and once we get to the big finale, where Harry discovers that Tom Riddle isn't really a good guy, as well as his epic battle with the basilisk. There's a great realistic creature and a great CGI job for 2002, and it's a very fun fantasy family movie that makes you want this world to be real, but it's not.
I just have to say that by the end of these last few scenes, these three kids are just so great together that they put a huge smile on your face. I can't say enough about this casting and how much I enjoyed the interplay between these characters. I enjoyed seeing them grow and mature, and it's a rare thing in cinema to have so many films where you can see characters grow up in front of your eyes and pull it off.