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Besides the returning main characters from the first Harry Potter film, “Chamber of Secrets” introduces some new faces; Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), the self-absorbed, unabashedly flaunting new teacher at Hogwarts, Moaning Murtle (Shirley Henderson), the wailing wraith who haunts one of a girls’ bathroom, and Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs), the pious, bigot father of Draco Malfoy. As the plot unfolds, the monster only attacks “mudbloods,” a derogatory term in the magical word that refers to witches and wizards who come from non-magical and partly magical (“muggle”) families. Rowling reveals additional divisions in the magical world as a caste of “pure-blood” wizards, like Lucius Malfoy, sympathize with the monster and its master and hope to purge Hogwarts of all mudbloods. These themes of bigotry and fascism are very reminiscent to Adolf Hitler’s vision of the Aryan Race. The traditional conflict of good versus evil in this movie adopts a much darker tone than the first Harry Potter movie. Parents of younger children should be advised that “Chamber of Secrets” contains some scary and graphic content. For example, Harry constantly hears the voice of the monster chanting, “Kill! Kill!” and, “I smell blood!” periodically in the school halls at night. Also, the scene where Harry and Ron encounter the gigantic spider, Aragog, is potentially very frightening for young children. High nightmare- prone children may be very susceptible to this kind of content. Consequently, the movie garnered a PG rating for “Parental Guidance Suggested” for “Scary moments, creature violence, and mild language.” As the monster strikes closer to Harry and his best friends, he learns more about himself. In “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the audience witnesses Lord Voldermort’s failed attempt to kill the infant Harry. In “Chamber of Secrets,” the audience begins to understand the consequences of that act as Harry uncovers some special talents he gained from Lord Voldermort’s power. Particularly, Harry’s ability to communicate to snakes, which brands him as the culprit among his distrustful peers. Despite this, the movie is full of surprises and is destined to satisfy the Harry Potter franchise hysteria. Closely following the novel, with only minor deviations from its many subplots, the total movie running-time is 160 minutes. However, the unfortunate death of Richard Harris (Professor Dumbledore) to Hodgin's disease in late October marks the end of a prolific and charasmatic actor, which may add hitches in the road for the making of the succeeding Potter films |
