RATING:
PG
RELEASE:
November 15, 2002
TIME:
165 minutes
STARRING:
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson,
Kenneth Branagh, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane,
Alan Rickman, and Jason Isaacs
DIRECTOR:
Chris Columbus
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:
Chris Columbus, Mark Radcliffe,
Michael Barnathan, and David Barron
PRODUCER:
David Heyman
WRITER:
Steve Kloves
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY:
J. K. Rowling
DISTRIBUTOR:
Warner Bros.
GENRE:
Childrens Fantasy
INTENDED AUDIENCE:
Teenagers and adults
Please Note
In providing movie reviews on our site, CBN.com is not endorsing or recommending films we review. Our goal is to provide Christians with information about the latest movies, both the good and the bad, so that our readers may make an informed decision as to whether or not films are appropriate for them and their families.
MOVIE
REVIEW
Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Movieguide Magazine
CBN.com
- The second edition of HARRY POTTER is slightly better constructed and
more emotionally involving than the first movie, which, of course, will help it
to make a lot of money. However, be forewarned: knowledge of the HARRY POTTER
books or the first movie is a necessity for fully comprehending this second in
the series. It is not a stand-alone movie. Like the first two books and
the first movie, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS suffers from an ambling,
prolonged introduction that doesnt quite clarify what the jeopardy is or who
the villain is. With nothing at stake, the movie at first appears to be a series
of vignettes. When the jeopardy does engage, the movie becomes an exciting action
adventure fantasy that follows the classic model of heroic tales, but, then, it
has several curtain call endings. Several of these manipulate the audience into
feeling good about the characters in the movie and perhaps even clapping for the
movie. The movie opens with Harry back at home with his horrible uncle,
aunt and miserable cousin Dudley. These caricature people make it clear that they
do not like Harry and that he should stay in his room and not interfere with their
lives. A nicely animated CGI house elf named Dobby appears, who is one of the
few real characters in the movie. He warns Harry not to go back to the Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Like any house elf, Dobby makes a racket. Uncle
Vernon puts bars on the window to Harrys room, and three of Harrys friends from
Hogwarts, including the red-haired Ron Weasley and his brothers, rescue Harry
from the clutches of his muggle relatives in a 1950s flying British car. After
several adventures, Ron and Harry make their way back to Hogarth and find out
that some strange things are happening at the school, all of which point to a
curse that will be unleashed if the ancient Chamber of Secrets is opened. Harry
finds a book with no writing that speaks to him and tells him about a boy named
Tom Riddle, who found the Chamber of Secrets 50 years before. One by one several
people are petrified. Harry unlocks the Chamber of Secrets riddle and ends up
in mortal combat with a monstrous snake and the person behind the plot. After
this, there are several curtain calls, which tie up loose ends in the story and
promote great feelings about each one of the previously harmed or incapacitated
characters.
It would be foolish to think that HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER
OF SECRETS won't do well at the box office. Although there are some plot holes
and loose ends and dramatic flaws, the movie has enough vim, vigor, and melodramatic
moments to make it a very popular film.
Cognitively, HARRY POTTER AND THE
CHAMBER OF SECRETS still fails on the same merits as the first movie. At the end,
Dumbledore tells Harry that hes broken at least a half a dozen school rules,
then awards him the school's highest award. Anyone whos studied the influence
of television and film on children will realize that this will send a clear message
to children in the imaginative stage of development that they can break the rules
and be rewarded for doing so. Since Harry is an attractive and well meaning hero,
this role modeling is even more powerful. Also disturbing from a cognitive
perspective, there is a slight suggestion of infanticide when the mandrakes are
taken screaming from their pots and the students are told that they will kill
the mandrakes to produce an antidote to cure the petrifaction of the people. On
the other hand, there is a clear refutation of racism in the movie and even a
refutation of an incipient National Socialist/fascist group of wizards who want
to wipe out all mixed blood wizards. HARRY POTTER is certainly a spiritual
movie, but it is not a movie that conforms to a Christian or Jewish theology.
Furthermore, it gives false messages and imputes false beliefs to those who see
it, although with its grab bag of myth-conceptions, allegory and illusions, HARRY
POTTER can be used to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Dumbledore
calls Harry to make a wise choice, the Chamber of Secrets lies beneath a baptismal
font, snakes and those who command them are seen as the source of evil, and there
is self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. Furthermore, there are elements of
good over evil. There are even suggestions that Harry is speaking in unknown tongues
when he talks with the snake. These are just a few of the many spiritually redemptive
and incarnational moments. They follow the redemptive pattern of heroic tales
where the hero descends into a dark underworld to do battle with the forces of
evil and returns victorious to the world above, where he presents a boon of some
kind to those who have been oppressed. These elements can be used for evangelism,
will please those who want to like the film, and may be used to claim that the
film has some Christian merit. However, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF
SECRETS has not divorced itself from the nominalism (or virtual unreality of all
that exists) that is so abhorrent to believing Jews and Christians. The Judeo-Christian
tradition believes in real pain, real suffering and the real need for a real savior,
though Jews and Christians differ on who that savior is. In HARRY POTTER AND THE
CHAMBER OF SECRETS, witches and warlocks can create substantial things (food,
spells, monsters) out of nothing. The world is not real, but merely a great thought,
and the key to manipulating that nominalistic reality is merely saying the right
words in the right way at the right time. Thus, those with superior, or Gnostic
knowledge, become the wizards or witches who can manipulate reality. In effect,
they can become as gods. This, of course, is abhorrent to Judaism and Christianity,
just as the opposite extreme that everything is material and doesnt matter
is abhorrent. It is interesting to note that the story involves a book
that has the power to destroy, a book that is based on nominalism. Thus, the movie
itself has the same problematic potential as the book in the story that causes
all the trouble. The best thing that could happen is for parents and children
to decide that there are better ways to spend their time. If they like fantasy,
try the first episode of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, which does cohere to a Christian
worldview. If children do see HARRY POTTER, and many will, remind them
that Jesus Christ is always ready to liberate them from fear and witchcraft if
they call on His Name, and try to get them to think through the various elements
of the movie. Here are a few media-wise questions you can ask them:
- Is
it good that Harry is rewarded for breaking the rules?
- Would
you want your friends or enemies to be able to cast spells on you?
- Would
you want to live in a world where reality changes frequently (stairs move, passageways
disappear, animals change into goblets)?
- Would you want to live
in a world where other people could change your reality?
- How
is Harry a hero? What makes him a hero? Is he a good role model?
- Do
heroes disobey the rules? If so, when and why?
- Who is the villain?
Why?
- Does the movie honor God or the Bible? Why or why not?
- Why
does the movie include an image of a Christmas tree with a star on top? What does
this image mean?
- Were parts of the movie scary to you? Why or
why not? Is it good to be scared?
"Let no one be found among
you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or
sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a
medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is
detestable to the LORD." - Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (NIV) Please address your
comments to: Barry M. Meyer, Chairman/CEO Warner Bros., Inc. 4000
Warner Blvd. Burbank, CA 91522-0001 Phone: (818) 954-6000 Website:
www.movies.warnerbros.com baehr, 2002 Learn
more at CBN.com's Harry Potter Debate page The
previous reviews are a selected sample of informative reviews from MOVIEGUIDE:
A FAMILY GUIDE TO MOVIES AND ENTERTAINMENT, a syndicated feature of Good News
Communications, Inc. To subscribe to MOVIEGUIDE, which includes a complete set
of at least 10 reviews of the latest movies as well as many informative articles,
please visit their Web site at http://www.movieguide.org/,
or write or call: MOVIEGUIDE P.O. Box 190010 Atlanta, GA 31119
(800) 899-6684 DISCLAIMER: "The publications that carry MOVIEGUIDE and the
organizations that distribute MOVIEGUIDE are not responsible for these reviews,
nor is MOVIEGUIDE responsible for the opinions and positions of those publications
and organizations."
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