HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (2002) ** Richard Harris' last stand, and he does it in the style that we'd hope (except that he doesn't drink, so far as we see I mean). Kenneth Branaugh is prepostrous to the point of credibility as the spirit of incompetent writers successfully running on ego everywhere, as superimposed amongst warlocks. The advertisement for his book signing is genius of a willfully lower order. Other than that it's the same lousy cast (mainly, without the good one), same director so entranced by his special effects that he can't even deliver them properly, and a desperate grab to incorporate Star Wars. J. K. Rowling wrote it better than this, no question, but what we get is cannon flop about whether Harry belongs to the dark side, and a house elf who read the R2D2 pamphlet on how to upstage humans. He manages that, so the film isn't entirely bereft of success. In fact it largely follows the unintentional formula of the first one: great (greater) for the first ten minutes, then slowing like a hippo in the mire to the point where, halfway through, you mainly just want to go home. Plenty of things hitting their head where it doesn't belong for the youngest kids though, and culturanados can't beat the steam of hype.
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