My wife works for Scholastic, so last night we got to see a special employees' preview of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. As a viewer who was less than impressed by the first movie, I have to say that I found this one thoroughly delightful. There were a few flaws, of course, but overall this one was much more entertaining, much darker, and much scarier. It's also somewhat more stylishly shot. There's more of a vision to this one than there was to the first one, where the overriding aesthetic seemed to be just to point the camera and the book and try to keep it all in the frame. Altogether an enthusiastic recommendation.

The odd thing is that Harry and Ron seem to be, er, growing up rather faster than Hermione is. Must be that wizardly testosterone.

Oh, when you go, be sure to stay through the end credits for the brief easter egg in Diagon Alley.