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Product:	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (DVD)
Date:	18/02/04 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really good selection of extras and quite an enjoyable film.

Disadvantages: A few scenes not suitable for small children and a whole new dictionary of words to learn.

CAST/CHARACTERS/CREDITS

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) ? The Wizardry boy wonder, who always manages to save the day.
Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) ? Sidekick number one, the clever girl who knows everything.
Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) ? Sidekick number two, boy from a poor family who is a loyal friend to our hero.
Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) ? The potions teacher who has it in for Harry (Oh no)
Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) ? The rather large but kind Gamekeeper of the school who has a soft spot for the three super kids.
Professor Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh) ? The self obsessed Defence against the Dark Arts teacher.
Professor Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris) ? Headmaster of the school and a very powerful wizard.
Dobby (Toby Jones, voice) ? A slave type House Elf that causes trouble for Harry.
Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) ? The arch nemesis to our little Harry.
Directed by - Chris Columbus, who also directed the first Harry Potter film
Based on Novel By - J.K. Rowling, who?s became a household name since penning the Harry Potter stories.
Screenplay - Steve Kloves
There?s more of course, including Maggie Smith and John Cleese (As a nearly headless ghost) but if I were to list them all you?d be sat here reading forever and I?m sure there?s more opinions out there to rate.
Quite a few big names, that fill the characters well and the kids do a pretty good job of keeping up with them (Although I do have issues with Hermione?s dodgy accent). The new character, Dobby and Lockhart, are very enjoyable and Branagh is a genious in the role, very funny.

THE PLOT

Our hero, Harry Potter is about to enter his second year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when h is warned by a rather energetic house-elf named Dobby that he must not go back to school. Harry ignores the warning of course, otherwise they?d be no film, and returns once more to the exclusive boarding school

for the magically gifted to join his friends, Ron and Hermione once more. Of course, his enemies have also returned, consisting of Snape, the sarcastic and mean Potions teacher, a fellow student named Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins (A different ?House? within the school). Of course, being a Harry Potter movie, strange things begin to happen. A strange chamber is apparently opened and one by one people are petrified (Frozen solid with a strange look on their face), work which is claimed by the heir of Slitherin, but no one knows who this could be. It could even be our dear friend Harry who, as you do, has began to hear voices. A member of staff is put at rich and any student could be next and so the tiresome three must once again step to the gate to solve the mystery and safe the school before it?s too late.
The film is rated PG but there are several points for parents with young children to watch out for, including Ron?s slug scene (Which is disgusting) and the big fight scene at the end which gets a little dark. Also, if you?re not a fan of giant spiders you may want a cushion to hide behind.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

There?s quite a few in this film, including a flying car, a computer animated House elf and some mighty wand duelling (Don?t ask). The effects are all done to quite a good quality (Although certainly no match for Lord of the Rings) and move the story along. The visual effect work is by ILM supervisors Jim Mitchell ("Sleepy Hollow") and Nick Davis ("Sorcerer's Stone") and also includes the chamber's secret monster, Gremlin-like Cornish Pixies and an army of spiders amongst many others.

DVD DETAILS

Region: 2
Chapters: 37
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Audio Tracks: Multiple languages
Subtitles: English and Arabic
Captions: English
Menus: 3D animations, with music
Special Features Subtitles: All of the special features that requi
re su
btitles come with them.

DVD EXTRAS

Disk two of the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets contains all of the extras and there?s quite a few to be had. Here?s a quick rundown of what?s on offer:

Additional Scenes - There?s 19 Additional scenes here but they are mostly additional stuff to what?s already in the film rather than band new scenes that weren?t used. There's some more flying car material, though, and naughtiness with Dobby and it is interesting to see how the movie would have been even closer to the original book (Although a heck of a lot longer) had they kept these in.

Behind Hogwarts - This section offers an interview with JK Rowling and the screen writer Steve Kloves, which is quite interesting and lasts about 16 minutes. Kloves talks about trying to edit the books into scripts, while trying to guess what may happen to characters in the future. There?s also a virtual tour of "Dumbledore's Office", and the "Build a Scene" section, which gives you a chance to look at how the office set was built. Then there?s the "Interviews with Students, Professors and More" feature where you can find out what their favourite scenes are and what their friends and family think of them being in a Harry Potter movie. Finally in this section there?s a large gallery of production sketches and designs from the film.

Activities ? Includes a question/answer quiz called "The Chamber Challenge", "The Forbidden Forest Challenge", where you get to fly the car around woods. Also "Colin's Darkroom", where you can see cast photos and finally (Best till last) "Tour Diagon Alley" , where you can look at all the shops not even seen in the film. You can move between shops easily and get a really good look at the set decoration.

There is also a Spellcaster Knowledge Challenge, Gilderoy Lockhart's Classroom and a preview of the EA Game.


DVD R
OM ? Can only be used by inserting the disc into the DVD ROM drive of your PC and you can navigate through the items if you have a microphone attached. Includes a slider challenge, trading cards you can print, jigsaw puzzles, matching challenges, and an animated timeline of important Hogwarts dates. Plus access to the online content if you have an internet connection.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Off filming the third film, which is due out next Christmas. The next book instalment is out next month by the way.

RANDOM FACTS AND THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

Hugh Grant was originally cast as Gilderoy Lockhart but was forced to withdraw at the last moment because of scheduling conflicts. Alan Cumming was also considered.
Fourteen Ford Anglia?s were destroyed to create the scene where Harry and Ron crash into the Romping Willow.
As Hagrid is taking Harry away from Knockturn Alley, we see, in one of the shop windows in the background, an entire set of Harry Potter books.
The train station interior used in the film is Kings Cross in North London, whereas the exterior shot is actually St Pancras. The two stations are adjacent to one another, but not the same building. This was done because the architecture of St Pancras is much more visually appealing.
As Harry enters Prof. Dumbledore's study, a portrait of Gandalf the Grey is included in the collection of the great wizard paintings. It is above the doorframe and slightly to Harry's right.
Emma Watson broke her left wrist during filming and you can just about see a cast under her sleeve in some scenes.
In the scene when Errol delivers the howler to Ron, the wire controlling Errol is visible when he leaves the table.
When Harry, Dumbledore, and Lucius Malfoy are in Dumbledore's office, his face is clean. Later, when Harry speaks to Lucius, his face is as dirty as it was when he was in the Chamber.
The safety tip on the sword of Godric Gryffindor
, is visible as
Harry runs with it.
The Cornish pixies pick up Longbottom by the ears, pulling them up and out. But when the creatures let go, his ears are still being held up.
The end credits run for ten minutes and are followed by a short scene that reveals the humorous fate of one of the main characters.

CONCLUSION

The DVD extras are plenty and great fun and the film?s not too bad either. It stays quite close to the original novel, which is great, but unfortunately means that there is three hours of film to sit through. There are a couple of dark scenes in the film that young children might not enjoy and a couple of scenes are quite sick (Spiders and slugs) but overall the film?s pretty enjoyable (Although I do like the book better).

Also, if you haven't seen the first film then i imagine you're pretty confused by now, you may want to watch them in order

Summary: