Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great Features, but not for Mac computers!
Being an avid Harry Potter fan I looked forward to the DVD and the special features on Disc Two. I was pleased to see the producers went above and beyond the features in the Sorcerer's Stone DVD. Viewing the additional/deleted scenes reminded me just how much Chris Columbus had to cut out of the movie to keep it viewable at 161 minutes. There were quite a few scenes that were true to the book that were (unfortunately) edited out of the final film. Having read the books I feel some of the edited scenes might have helped clarify parts of the storyline somewhat (such as the scene where Harry accidentally arrives in Knockturn Alley...the dialogue between Lucius Malfoy and the shopowner regarding selling Voldemort's belongings were filmed but cut out of the final version...it would have helped explain why Lucius had Tom Riddle's diary with him when he runs into the Weasley's in the bookstore in Diagon Alley...). As an ADULT fan of the Harry Potter books/films, I would like the DVD producers to try to keep us older fans in mind when producing their next DVD features! I really enjoyed the interviews with the actors but wanted more! I would like to have heard about more topics, as well as hearing from more of the actors. (I did appreciate the option to pick and choose the interviews by actor and topic rather than having to endure one long piece). The interview with JK Rowling and Kloves (the screenwriter) was interesting as well. But again, I'd like to hear more from Rowling and Kloves about their collaborative process. The interactive features, especially those of Dumbledore's Office and the tour of Diagon Alley, are absolutely awesome! The computer graphics are better quality than the graphics used in the features part of Sorcerer's Stone and the interactivity of the games (such as the Forest Chase game!!) is improved as well. By the way, if anyone knows how to get out of the Chamber Challenge alive, please post in your review!! However, I thought the Gilderoy Lockhart feature was a waste of valuable space. Again, more interviews or interactive activities would have been better than going through this rehash of Lockhart's vain character. I would like more than anything to see an UNEDITED DIRECTOR'S CUT version of this movie on the DVD. It would be much more palatable to sit through 4 hours in the comfort of my own home than in the theater, and the unedited version would be a delight to see. Also, a feature I really enjoy on DVD's is watching the movie with running commentary from the director, et al. That would be a real treat to learn more about the filming of the Harry Potter movies, but, alas, it is not a feature on this disc (again, that's something that is more adult-oriented...). Finally, my one HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT is in the "Extra Credit" feature. Once again, we Mac users are out on a limb when it comes to DVD-ROM features. I put the second disc in and only got the same special features I got on my television (they looked great on computer though!!). Apparently, the games, screensavers, and activities that are so tantalizingly previewed on the disc are nowhere to be found when the disc is inserted into a Mac computer.
Rating:  - Lets hope Harry keeps getting better
What the first movie suffered from, was a lack of flow from jumping from scene to scene without much set-up. Here, they learn from their mistakes to make a more mature, grown-up and highly superior movie to the first. The first thing you notice is that all the cast (including the new ones) are so damn comfortable in their roles you forget they are real people. Now, the plot is Harry Potter (a much more confident Daneil Radcliffe) goes back for his second year, but not without an ominous warning from the lovable CGI creation Dobby the House Elf, who claims something awful will happen and plenty will come.But before that, Harry catches up with his friends Ron (the underrated Rupert Grint) and Hermonie (a more mature Emma Watson thanks to the first film and puberty) and begins his studies. But soon enough, evil messages written in blood appear some next to petrified bodies which leads some to believe that the legendary Chamber of Secrets has been opened by an heir who will bring the downfall of wizards and witches who are not fully magical, but mixed with muggles as well. Overall, director Chris Coumbus and Screenwriter Steve Kloves have created a masterwork of fantasy and even action (see the giant spiders and the snake). As well, there is a cream of the crop supporting cast which includes a wonderfully naieve Kenenth Branaugh (Gilderoy Lockhart), the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore, Maggie Smith as Mccgonagal and the deliciously sinister Chris Issacs (this guy played the corrupt British solider in "Patriot") as Lucious Malfoy.
Rating: - Not as dark as I'd been led to believe
I hadn't expected to be able to share my impressions of this movie with other Amazon customers until it came out on video in six months or so, and I'm pleased to find the opportunity. It had been a while since I read the book (though I plan to pull it out again tonight), so I came to "Harry II" without any clear recollection of the plot, and expected, from the hints I'd read, something really "down" and scary. Well, scary it can get--the whole basilisk sequence is definitely not for people who get nervous around snakes, and don't even *consider* going if, like Ron Weasley, you're afraid of spiders! Yet in the end this film, like its predecessor, reaffirms plenty of positive values--courage, selflessness, quick thinking, honesty, loyalty. Harry and his friends must stand by gamekeeper Hagrid and Headmaster Dumbledore in a time of trial, deal with a charismatic but not at all truthful new Professor (Kenneth Branagh doing a wonderful turn, with lots of charm and a great wardrobe), and solve the mystery of who, or what, is leaving students literally petrified all over the corridors of Hogwarts School. The young stars are even better this time out than they were in their first outing; Daniel Ratcliffe (Harry) suitably serious and focused, Emma Watson (Hermione) a perfect prodigy, and Rupert Grint (Ron) displaying a genuine gift for comic emphasis. All the old cast is back--Professors McGonagall and Snape, Harry's rival Draco Malfoy, quidditch-team captain Oliver Wood, Nearly Headless Nick the Gryffindor ghost, Ron's older twin brothers Fred and George, Harry's horrible Muggle kin the Dursleys--and there are a few new ones too, including Hermione Grainger's Muggle parents (briefly seen in the bookshop in Diagon Alley), Draco's sinister but stunningly handsome father, Mr. Weasley, mistress-of-the-greenhouses Professor Sprout, a new ghost named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the bathroom where she died (and provides an important clue in Harry's quest for the answers), and the magically preserved sixteen-year-old self of the mysterious Tom Riddle, who attended Hogwarts 50 years ago. The special effects are, if anything, even better than they were in the first movie--that basilisk is worth the ticket price in himself, not to mention a flying car, Dobby the house-elf, and a second chilling Quidditch match. The one scene I had feared--Harry's discovery of caretaker Filch's obnoxious cat, Mrs. Norris, after the mysterious petrifier has had its way with her--turned out to be nowhere near as bad as I had expected. Despite its length, time literally flew--there's never a moment of boredom. My chief gripe was that the theater had the sound turned up much too loud! You will want to think twice before taking very young or sensitive children to see "Chamber of Secrets," but for all the rest of the 90% or so of the known world that's "just wild about Harry," this is a must-see. And a must-buy, when it gets to video!
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