Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Revision as of 16:44, 9 August 2023 by Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (created page)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
This page needs visual enhancement.
You can help All The Tropes by finding a high-quality image or video to illustrate the topic of this page.


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the 2002 film adaptation of the 1998 novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling, directed by Chris Columbus. Like the other films in the series, it features Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as well as an All-Star Cast.

Harry, Ron and Hermione's return to Hogwarts for their second year seems, if anything, to be more fraught with danger than their first year. A legendary hidden vault, Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, has been opened, releasing a monstrous threat that leaves a trail of petrified students in its wake. When Harry is found to share a trait with Slytherin, he is accused of being the culprit. But when Hermione is petrified and Ron's sister Ginny disappears into the Chamber, Harry and Ron must enlist their fraud of a Defense professor to rescue her with the help of the ghost of an earlier victim of the creature -- only to discover more and greater dangers than they had anticipated.

Tropes used in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) include:

The tropes listed below are those specific to this film or altered from those found in the original book. Please see that page for those tropes common to both versions.

  • Adaptational Badass: Hermione. In the book, after Lockhart releases the cage full of pixies, Hermione is shown recapturing two or three of them at a time by using "a clever freezing charm". In the movie, once Lockhart flees, Hermione takes out the entire classroom full of pixies with a single spell.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Harry and Ron during the spider attack.
  • Big Eater: Crabbe and Goyle

(Crabbe and Goyle waddle down Great Hall, each carrying a huge pile of sweets)
Harry: (whispering, to Ron) You ready?
Ron: (whispering) Yeah. (Clears throat) Wingardiu--
Harry: (cutting Ron off) You know what? Better let me do it.
Ron: Uhh... right.
(The scene then cuts to the Great Hall, where a pair of cupcakes start to rise and hover above the ground as Crabbe and Goyle walk closer. Crabbe notices the cupcakes, and, still holding the wad of food, takes them out of the air and hands one to Goyle. The two each take a bite, chewing for a few seconds before falling back on the floor, unconscious.)
Ron: (with a grimace) How thick can you get?

  • Binocular Shot: The Quidditch match.
  • Blatant Lies: Uncle Vernon comes up with a slew of these in the first act, the first one being the most interesting, making it both a subversion and a straight example: When Dobby starts to bang his head on the side of the cabinet, the sound of his grunting and head hitting the furniture echoes to the living room where Vernon, Dudley, Petunia, and the Masons can hear it. Uncle Vernon, not knowing there is a house-elf, tries to cover for his nephew by stating that it's "just the cat".
  • Camp Unsafe Isn't Safe Anymore: This is said of Hogwarts.
  • Compressed Adaptation: Can't really be helped, though: there's just too much plot to stuff into a movie.
  • Couldn't Find a Pen: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE. Unlike in the book, it's explicitly stated to be written in blood.
  • Cover Identity Anomaly: Harry forgets to take off his glasses when polyjuiced as Goyle. He quickly excuses them as reading glasses, causing Malfoy to remark that he didn't know "Goyle" knew how to read. This also leads to an Adaptation-Induced Plothole in Deathly Hallows - Part 1
  • Deliberately Monochrome: Riddle's memory.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: After Harry tricks Lucius into giving Dobby a sock by accident, Lucius pulls out his wand and attempts to curse Harry. In the second book, he gets blasted by Dobby before he can say anything. In the movie, he manages to get out an "Avada—" before he's blasted. "Avada" is the first part of "Avada Kedavra", the Killing Curse. Killing Harry in broad daylight in front of Dumbledore's office probably isn't the best course of action...
  • Holier Than Thou: Draco certainly cops this attitude throughout the film.
  • "I Know What We Can Do!" Cut: "Maybe we should just go and wait by the car." "The car..."
  • Large Ham: Lockhart.
    • A rumour exists that when Kenneth Branagh was selected to play Lockhart, he, Alan Rickman (Snape) and Jason Isaacs (Malfoy) competed to see who could deliver the most porktacular performance that would make it into the final cut of the film.
  • Oh Crap: The look on poor Colin's face when he realizes that he is in the direct path of Dobby's cursed Bludger can only be described as this.
  • Scare Chord: The hand. You know the one.
  • Scenery Porn: Tt the end when the camera zooms out from the Great Hall.
  • Shadow Discretion Shot: Used when Fawkes takes out the basilisk's eyes. Justified in that Harry couldn't look the basilisk in the eyes, or he'd, y'know, die.
  • Stop Helping Me!: Harry to Dobby.
  • Up to Eleven: At the end of the second novel, Lucius Malfoy goes after Harry with intent to harm. In the film, he goes after Harry with intent to kill. This can be explained by the fact that Jason Isaacs ad-libbed the line - he probably shouted the first spell that came into his head.


Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets_(film)?oldid=2022804"