Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 

By the time The Chamber of Secrets premiered shortly before my 12th birthday, the world was in the beginning stages of Harry Potter movie mania. And I was just one of many. I had read most of the books by that point and was absolutely in love with the Hogwarts and the Wizarding World. Chamber of Secrets is my favorite book and film (followed by Prisoner of Azkaban) and is also considered the darkest of the entire series. 

When Harry Potter receives a bizarre message from a house elf warning him not to go back to Hogwarts lest he find himself in grave danger, Harry (in typical Harry Potter fashion) ignores it. However, the house elf wasn't wrong either. After Harry arrives at Hogwarts for his second term, strange accidents seem to be abounding out of nowhere. Then messages written with blood on walls appear and students are being targeted and petrified. All this chaos points to the old Hogwarts legend of the Heir of Slytherin, who would return to extract his revenge on the school.

Unfortunately for Harry, who possesses certain abilities that are considered abnormal even by wizarding standards, he is seen as this possible heir. In order to clear his name, prevent the school from closing and save his friends, Harry must fight monsters inside and out of Hogwarts to track down the true Heir of Slytherin and end what he has started.

• This movie has a special place in my little fangirl heart because my family was moving at the time and while my parents were looking for another house, we were all living in this tiny beach cottage with limited entertainment. Fortunately Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was one of the movies we brought and I remember watching it with my siblings while anticipating the release of The Chamber of Secrets. So many fun memories!!

• I went and saw this movie in theaters for my birthday and also got the book as a birthday present. 

• By this point I knew I was undeniably in love with Daniel Radcliffe.

• Chamber of Secrets has the most intense and psychological storyline 

• Meeting the Weasley family as The Burrow was one of the best scenes, because coming from a big family myself, I can totally relate to them.

• Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart! Legend!

•  Then Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy...I was little too young at the time, but as I got older I totally saw the appeal. 

• Tom Riddle (Voldemort) was almost a sympathetic character and that translated that quite well on screen. He's an orphan with no home and is desperate to hold onto Hogwarts; however, unlike Harry who will always do the noble thing and fight, Tom will do the opposite and manipulate and terrorize. 

• There's one millisecond in Harry's conversation with Tom Riddle, when Riddle gives this smirk which just holds the absolute presence of evil and I've always been slightly disturbed by it.

• Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint were both in the throws of puberty and their voices hadn't entirely cracked, which made this film especially entertaining to watch if only to listen to them.

I'm not sure why Chamber of Secrets is my favorite, but I think it has more to do with nostalgia and childhood memories more than anything else. The movie itself was visually stunning and the children actors just got better and better. Monsters certainly abound in this film, whether in human or animal form. It's interesting that so early on on a children's series that the controversial issues such as generation prejudice and child manipulation would be dealt with. Yet it wasn't done in a way that seemed to be making a statement of sorts, but rather the fact that even a wonderful places such as the Wizarding World and Hogwarts is not without its flaws and brokenness.