Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Revisited

My review of this movie will largely be cut/paste from the review of Sorcerer’s Stone because my thoughts overlap just the same. I wish I could provide a more detailed review comparing with the originals, but simply cannot do so:

My Harry Potter collection is very dusty. That means I have not touched those in a long time. I cannot remember when I even saw this movie. I watched the latest edit that was released. I am unable to compare to my prior experience, but it definitely feels so much better based on the little I do remember.

The movie also felt visually superior and I liked the revised musical score matching the rest of the franchise. I intend to go through the rest of the revisited series when released. This one was excellent.

For those who have the movies gathering dust, this is a highly recommended and excellent way to revive the Harry Potter experience.

The second installment in the Harry Potter: Revisited saga, HP and the Chamber of Secrets: Revisited succeeds in taking Chris Columbus' view of the Wizarding World to a whole new perspective.

As per Sorcerer's Stone: Revisited, the visual editing is seamless, the A/V quality is spot on (and at times equivalent to that of an actual Blu-ray, the reworked narrative is rock solid, and the new score certainly helps to breathe new life to its respective scenes. And as far as I can tell, the oversaturated pinkishness of SS was taken up to 11 with this film, and this has thankfully been taken care of thanks to Andreas' fantastic colour correcting.

One teensy little qualm — the new score for when Harry stabs Tom Riddle's diary with the Basilisk fang is a little too loud to my ears, but I guess this is understandable since Andreas wanted to hide John Williams' original score as much as possible.

As I stated in my SS: Revisited review, if you Potterheads are looking for a darker, more mature take on the Columbus era, this beautifully-crafted fanedit is for you!

Next to Goblet of Fire this was my least favorite movie in the Harry Potter series. This edit brought new life to the whole movie! The pacing was so much better, and the tone with the music changes really brought this movie together. I liked this edit more than his edit of the Sorcerors Stone. I'm excited for more.

Same as the previous edit Andreas brings the characters to feel more realistic rather than over the top. Especially with Draco. I think the whole restructuring of Lockhart was well done as well.

First off, I'd like to say that this is a great replacement for the original movie. Andreas has masterfully rescored and regraded this movie masterfully making it fit in much more with the rest of the series. Although not staying 100% faithful to the book, making it a surprisingly darker movie.

Although this is just my opinion, I feel that sometimes Andreas went a little bit overboard with the scoring, sometimes the music is trying to make you more emotionally involved when you really shouldn't be, I'm not saying that the scoring was done poorly however, it was just sometimes a little bit too much.

Overall, Andreas is an amazing editor and deserves much credit for turning a dull children's movie into a worthy installation of the Harry Potter franchise.

This fanedit was a fantastic experience. Firstly, Andreas worked wonders with the score, which has reshaped this movie into the suspenseful, thrilling experience it could have been. Melancholy, dread, danger: all expertly created now in places that they did not exist before. Secondly, the recoloration work Andreas has done really has changed the feel of this film: he's come as close as I think possible to making this film look like the films that follow it. Lastly, his judicious cuts make for a much improved narrative experience, adding mystery where it should have been, removing exposition where it wasn't needed, and trimming unnecessary humor so that what was left was actually funny. I thought the abbreviated ending is perfect. Wham, bam, done.

My only three, and very minor, suggestions would have been 1) trimming Dobby jumping up and down on the bed on his first appearance, 2) making it slightly clearer that Harry is serving detention as a result of the Whomping Willow/ flying car incident, and 3) leaving the Hagrid/ Riddle flashback before we see Aragog fleeing the box. #1 and #3 I think would have added a dash more mystery to each of their respective scenes, by removing a little whimsy from Dobby, and by casting a bit mored doubt on what exactly Hagrid was up to. #2 just felt slightly disconnected, partly I think due to the detention being a few scenes removed from the car crash and Snape's berating. Whether or not that disconnect is worth the much improved pace in this case, I can't say.

What I can say, again, is well done, Andreas. I'm planning on having a backyard double screening of these sometime this summer for a few friends, so they too can see what could have/ should have been. As far as I'm concerned now, these ARE how the Harry Potter series begins.