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Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (Widescreen Edition)

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Careful Computer users
Review: Love the movie, but couldn't watch it on my computer. Not too big a deal, but sometimes we like to take the laptop in the backyard and watch the movie outside. Worked on Windows XP, but not Windows 2000 server machine for some reason...

Harder to use all the extras from the DVD without the computer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great addition to the franchise
Review: I'm a huge fan of the HP books, and in spite of the criticism I have thoroughly enjoyed the movies. CoS is better in pretty much all respects than Sorcerer's Stone: the kids have matured noticeably as actors, and look much more relaxed and natural; there was some fun with special effects; and the screenplay took a bit of artistic liberty and branched out from the book this time around. With a force like Harry Potter it can be dangerous to change anything at all for fear of alienating the fans, but this movie did a great job of capturing the spirit of the books without turning into a highlights film - a common criticism of Sorcerer's Stone.

The DVD extras are fun here too - I especially loved the cast interviews where we got to see the kids out of character, and learn what the adults think about their young costars. My one criticism is that there is no feature-length commentary (nor was there in the first movie). I would be very interested to hear the thoughts some of the established actors involved, the director, or Rowling herself.

Overall, this may not be Oscar material, but it's a perfect companion to the books and makes me love the series more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie
Review: Director Chris Columbus has again captured the core meaning of one of the Potter Books

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 2nd Harry Potter Is Great
Review: The first Harry Potter in my opinion was lackluster it was chopped up left out alot of stuff and didnt keep me intrested all that long well the second one changed that this movie is the follow up to number 1 but only 10 times better seems the actors and actresses evolved more more into the script and the plot has alot more action and mystery into it anyways buy this dvd its really really good i like all the special effects including the spider scene

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As good as the first if not better
Review: A classic to have for all harry potter fans. Its as great as the first, I can't wait for the others to come!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: don't get this
Review: the book was okay, but Chris columbus wrecked it, especially with the corny spider scene. the actors were mainly pretty wooden, especially radcliffe, who said his lines with no emotion, nothing to make it believable. The last one was made watchable only by Coltrane but in this one he plays a much smaller role. The comic relief void left by his absence is filled by Kenneth Branagh, who gives a fine preformance as harry's new teacher but nothing special. Finally, the worst thing about this film is the ending, a scene where everyone in hogwarts is happy and hagrid comes and gives them all a big hug. This sickly sweet scene is not in the book. if you must have this then save some money and rent it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Sequel
Review: Loved the books and the films really reflect the author's participation in the filmmaking process. My son and I have read all of the books together, and we both really enjoyed this film. However, certain parts of this film are a bit frightening and are NOT for small children.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A definite improvement from the first DVD
Review: I guess the people at Warner Brothers were listening. Not only have they given a solid, entertaining movie but the second disc on the latest Harry Potter installment is much more user friendly. No more solving puzzles in order to get to deleted scenes. Kid's don't worry. There are plenty of riddles and games to be had. The feature that I liked was the snippets with the kids and the rest of the cast, sharing thier favorite memories of making the film. There is also a 20 minute sit-down with J.K. Rowling and TCOS screenwriter which I found informative.

Now to the movie. Fans of the book should not be disapointed. Special effects dominate the screen but do not take away from the characters and story. A word to parents though. Yes this movie is scarier than the first. Anyone that does not want there 6 year old sleeping in thier bed may want to reconsider. But on the small screen and the volume down, it should be okay for kids as low as the second grade. But for the teens and adults, this is a great addition for your DVD library. This version is much improved and after two weeks of owning it, I'm still having fun with the features. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Entertaining Sequel
Review: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS is both better and worse than the original SORCERER'S STONE--better, for the young leads are more accomplished and the script need not spend time introducing us to the basic premise, and worse, for the story is not as tight or as cinematically interesting. But the pros and cons balance out; when it comes to pure entertainment, the film is hard to beat.

In this particular installment, youthful wizard Harry Potter prepares for a return to Hogwarts for his second year--but is unexpectedly visited by an elf, who mysteriously warns Harry that an evil plot to destroy both him and the school are underway. Harry is not put off, but once he is reunited with his friends at Hogwarts they confront a strange series of petrifications as various members of the student body--not to mention the ghostly Nearly Headless Nick and the diabolical Mr. Crabbe's malicious cat--are found turned to stone!

As in the original, the emphasis here is on bringing J.K. Rowland's detail to the screen, and by and large director Chris Columbus and his special effects staff are very successful: the flying car, the whomping willow, the spiders of the dark wood, and the deadly creature that has escaped from the Chamber of Secrets are all well visualized. As noted earlier, the three juvenile leads (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint) are much smoother in their performances, and they are solidly backed by a host of returning cast members including the late Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, and Maggie Smith--and particularly sinister performances by Tom Feltman as Draco Malfoy and Jason Isaacs as Draco's truly evil father Lucius.

It's all a tremendous amount of fun, and I recommend it. I do have to add a caution, however: if their children are very young or particularly fearful, parents may want to prescreen this one, for there are several scenes that might unnerve some children. Like the original, the DVD is presented in a double disk set, with the film on disk one and numerous extras on disk two; this time around, however, the DVD producers have had the good sense not to make the entertaining extras (some of which require a computer system) so difficult to access. Most kids and parents will love it. Have fun!

--GFT (Amazon reviewer)--

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What a delightful movie!!!
Review: This Harry Potter movie is great! My nephew loves it and he is 4! He is not scared by the basilisk or the spiders, it is not a scary movie at all. It goes along with the book pretty good. If you haven't watched it yet then you must! You won't be dissappointed, I promise!


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