In a “recreation” of last year’s screening of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I went to the Mann Village theater with J—-n, N—a and Rawson. And in sticking with the recreation theme, it was raining, as it was last year. The screening, of course, was for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Without going into too many details, this new film is better than the first (and a little longer). The story is more engaging, darker, and even a little more violent: parents be warned, this isn’t for your 6-year old. I was finding myself as frustrated as I tend to be at most Disney screenings, cause the kids get restless (it’s a long movie), and they start to whine when scary suff happens on screen. Ah well.
The editing was a little sluggish; the dialogue interaction felt stagnant and unnatural at times. The visual effects were a significant improvement above the first film, with ILM handling all of the duties this time around. The music, by John Williams and William Ross, was pretty solid, and didn’t feel like wall-to-wall stuff like the first film. All in all, a wholely satisfying and entertaining film, that I could easily see again, but who knows if I will. (I have only seen the first film once, at the screening last year.)