Harry Potter: Ranking The Movies From Worst To Best
6. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)
Director: Chris Columbus
Don't get me wrong, Chris Columbus' brand of sentimental movie magic is perfect for the first two movies (Stanley Kubrick is a great director, but if he directed a Harry Potter movie it would be terrible). They hit you right in the childhood, that happy place where good always triumphs over evil and fun takes precedence over drama. But Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets largely has the same tone as the first film, which is a slight disappointment considering the genre-influenced direction the movie could have taken.
Think about it, a large monster terrorises people on campus (due to their heritage no less) forcing them one by one into comas while our protagonists hastily try to figure out who is controlling the attacks. That's a classic mystery and/or horror set-up, and Columbus picks up the pace during the frightening climactic battle between the basilisk and Harry, but the whole movie could have benefited from a few more scares (although people who are afraid of large spiders may care to disagree).
And while the child actors are still experiencing the benefits of a learning curve, they are given more to work with here particularly during the polyjuice potion scenes. At this point it becomes absolutely necessary to recognize the brilliant work of Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart. In the book the character was drawn with an incredibly broad stroke, an easily accessible yet ridiculous archetype.
And Kenneth "I do serious work like Shakespeare" Branagh gives the character an ample air of camp, but he doesn't ever make it seem like he is slumming it with the make-believe crowd. His pomposity is at once believable and repugnant, an accurate combination for the character that plays a large role in the plot of the film.
So even though it is not near the best the series has to offer, it has quintessentially memorable moments like the sublime acting of a great actor playing a great (and obnoxious) actor.