HP II fails to hit the mark

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Kenneth Branagh, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs, Miriam Margolyes, Julie Walters, John Cleese, Fiona Shaw, Richard Griffiths

Cert: PG.

Wow!

The return of young wizard Harry Potter is overwhelming ... alas, it is far too overwhelming.

The action and the set-pieces arrive with a relentless enthusiasm to excite and entertain and amaze us, they do not stop arriving, they do not give us time to catch our breath.

Young H.P. fans will, of course, love every second of the second film in the series, but the adults in the audience will wonder why such a high-octane film could be so unsatisfactory.

With the young stars - Radcliffe as the central character, Grint as his pal and the under-used Watson as the female companion - growing up before our very eyes it becomes more and more difficult to accept them as the inmates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It will soon be time for them to graduate and get themselves proper jobs.

It is actually the adult actors who shine here, none more so than the wonderful Branagh as the vain and foppish Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. He brings to the role a proper sense of humour as a man with a preening self-regard allied to a good heart. He is matched by the likes of the always-watchable Margolyes, Rickman, Harris (what a sad loss) and Smith.

Director Columbus has gone for non-stop action and special effects - excellent though they are - over any concern for a strong storyline and at 159 minutes he tries our patience to the extreme.

The Chamber of Secrets isn't, then, nearly as good as the first offering, The Philosopher's Stone. It's too long, it's less interesting than it could have been, there is simply too much going on, it is desperate to be loved.

Star Rating: 3/5