Harry Potter: Every Wizarding World Movie Ranked Worst To Best
7. Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets
Let's get this straight immediately: The Chamber Of Secrets is NOT a bad film - it's just not up to the high benchmark set by the rest of the franchise. It absolutely has its moments, but it rather misses Voldemort as a more developed presence and it's a little uneven in places.
It's absolutely still spell-binding, but it feels too much like the first, and the lack of progression is particularly noticeable when you consider what came next with Prisoner Of Azkaban.
The Good
Kenneth Branagh is delightful as Gilderoy Lockhart - the perfect blend of smarmy and charismatic, and Shirley Henderson is great as Moaning Myrtle. Sure, she's annoying, but that's EXACTLY the point. And the Ford Anglia scene at the start is exactly as it felt reading it in the book.
The Bad
The pacing is a little slow and ponderous, which is strange for a film that is essentially an Agatha Christie style murder-romp (albeit without the actual deaths), and it's very much a case of Chris Columbus trying to make the same film again.
As Ginny Weasley, Bonnie Wright hadn't quite learned how to act yet. Plus the Basilisk looks a bit rubbish.