In 2002, I wasn’t following the Harry Potter series when Chamber of Secrets first hit theaters. I didn’t actually watch it until around 2010, on DVD. I’d genuinely loved the first film, so naturally, the second one was a must-watch. Chamber of Secrets, though, ends up being my least favorite entry in the entire franchise.

It’s also the last movie that feels genuinely cute, family-friendly, and lighthearted, even as darker undertones start creeping in. This is also the film where simply getting to Hogwarts becomes its own little adventure, since Harry and Ron get magically blocked from boarding the Hogwarts Express and instead take a flying enchanted car, narrowly avoiding expulsion in the process.

This was also our introduction to Dobby the House-Elf. Interestingly, this was around the same era Peter Jackson was bringing Gollum to life in Lord of the Rings, and both Gollum and Dobby earned widespread praise as fully CGI-driven creations, a genuinely novel achievement at the time. CGI is essentially the industry standard now, for better or worse, but back then, examples like these actually left audiences awestruck rather than rolling their eyes.

Since every Harry Potter installment comes with its own notoriously questionable Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, this one gives us Gilderoy Lockhart, played by the wonderfully talented director and actor Kenneth Branagh. He’s a genuinely inspired casting choice, playing a character you love to hate. Lockhart is meant to be a celebrated hero wizard, arguably as famous as Harry Potter himself, except his fame is entirely fabricated. He built his reputation by wiping the memories of the actual wizards who accomplished his supposed feats and taking credit for them, since no one could ever contradict him. I love that Dumbledore reportedly hired him specifically because the role would gradually expose him as the fraud he truly is.

This is also the first film to feature Draco Malfoy on the Quidditch team, unlike Harry, who was already playing “wizard-soccer” in the first movie. Both make little sense playing when you consider the noticeable size difference between older Hogwarts students and first-years. Harry, despite being a wizarding celebrity, really had no logical reason to be placed on the team so early, though it worked out thanks to him proving to be a genuinely skilled and confident Seeker. Malfoy, on the other hand, only lands his spot because his father’s deep pockets at Gringotts buy him the position. This also ends up being the only film (I think) where Malfoy gets significant Quidditch screen time, since the sport largely gets sidelined in later installments due to time constraints.

My favorite part of Chamber of Secrets is easily the presence of Tom Riddle’s spirit, living on through his diary. I’ve always had a soft spot for flashback-driven prequel storytelling woven into a standard narrative. Some prequels fall flat, but this kind of brisk, simple reveal never gets old for me. I genuinely had no idea about the massive twist: that he was the Heir of Slytherin, the one who opened the Chamber, the one responsible for Moaning Myrtle’s death, and literally is a young Lord Voldemort.

My stepdaughter recently watched it and didn’t come close to piecing it together either, which honestly made me feel a lot better about missing it myself. And that Basilisk might genuinely be the scariest creature in the entire franchise when you really think about it, especially considering Harry has to fight it without even a wand, only receiving the Sword of Gryffindor partway through the confrontation.

Also worth highlighting is Jason Isaacs’ portrayal of Lucius Malfoy. I’m not sure how familiar people are with his other work, but he’s a phenomenal actor, particularly in villainous roles. It’s hard to imagine anyone else nailing Draco’s father quite as well as he does. Harry Potter had no shortage of excellent casting choices, but he easily ranks among the top five.

Also worth noting, having read all the books, is that Dobby plays a much larger role in the source material than the films initially suggest. In the movies, aside from his brief return in the final installment’s first half, this is really his only major appearance, whereas the books feature him more frequently, likely making him easy for younger fans to forget by the time he resurfaces in Deathly Hallows – Part 1. And oddly enough, this technically stands as the longest Harry Potter film by runtime. You’d assume that title would belong to Goblet of Fire or a later installment, especially Order of the Phoenix, but it’s actually Chamber of Secrets that holds the record. And frankly, it didn’t need to run nearly that long. That’s probably a big part of why it ranks as my least favorite in the series. While plenty of the other films arguably cut content they should have kept, this one could have genuinely benefited from tighter editing to trim some of the slower stretches. Still, it remains a fantastic film overall.