Review

J.K. Rowling's essential series of Potter novels is rapidly becoming a formidable film franchise, as a tremendous amount of novelistic detail is expertly condensed into this wondrous, exciting and quite breathtaking second installment. It's year two at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and after lying dormant for decades, a frightening Chamber of Secrets has been opened, the creature within out for blood. Mudblood, that is, which makes half-witch half-muggle Hermione (Watson) a prime target. So it's up to Harry (Radcliffe) to save the day. . . and is that a hint of a (yuk) budding romance between the two? Top-notch special effects and set designs bring Hogwarts to life, with such standouts as a Whomping Willow tree, a very funny lesson in harvesting mandrakes and a new, pivotal ghost by the name of Moaning Myrtle (there's one in every school). Yet the human touch is just as important: Harry, Hermione and Ron (Grint) are winning as ever, and Branagh is a delight as an egomaniacal professor who's famous for his writing ("Magical Me" is his latest) but is merely full of hot air. Harris is majestic in his final role, as the wizened wizard Dumbledore who takes Harry under his wing.

 -- David Gorgos