BY GERMAIN LUSSIER | When Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone came out last year it shattered box office records and had audiences clamoring for the second installment: The Chamber of Secrets. Well, the secret can finally be let out -- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets improves on the first movie in almost every way. The effects are cleaner, the story is more complicated and interesting, and the acting and even the set pieces are more elaborate than the last time. In the end though, Harry Potter is all about magic and Chamber of Secrets lacks some of the magic and heart that made the first so special. It is this one minor thing gives Sorcerers Stone a slight edge over its wonderfully worthy successor.

In Sorcerers Stone, the audience was given many instances to take a step back and bask in the wonders of this world. The revelation of Diagon Alley, the first appearance of Hogwarts, and before the Quidditch match, the film took a step back, let the John Williams score soar through the speakers and left audiences with a sense of awe. From experience, I can safely say that November of 2001 was a month of goosebumps in theaters across the country.

But in Chamber of Secrets, these moments are completely glossed over. We join Harry in the middle of a Quidditch match, Hogwarts is just another building, and the hustle and bustle of Diagon alley is completely ignored. Granted, audiences are familiar with this world from the first movie but why cant we still marvel at it? The magic of the first film is forgone for the complicated story and while this does help the pacing, this film loses the resonance of the original.

Even the new moments in this film such as the intro of Gilderoy Lockhart, the flying car and our first glance of the Weasley home fall into the same trap. They spring on the audience without any warning. The moment of reflection needed for such a fantastic movie is completely missing. To a Harry Potter reader, these are moments that have been in our minds for years, and in Sorcerers Stone, director Chris Columbus knew this. Think of the first shot of that film: a simple close up of the Privet Drive road sign. It was a signifier, a simple moment that spoke to its audience as if to say, Here it is. The world of Harry Potter. Chamber of Secrets opens, albeit impressively, with a long shot that ends up in Harrys room, immediately starting the narrative. Gone is the wink wink tone of the first film. And while, non Harry Potter fans might like this film better, I preferred how the original spoke to its core fans.

That said, Chamber of Secrets is far from a failure. On the contrary, this film has a much more professional quality and as a narrative, is much better than the original. The story starts right at the beginning and stays fairly close to the book. We meet Dobby, the stage is set, and before you know it, we are off and flying, literally, to Hogwarts.

A major problem with the first film was the sub-par visual effects. Well, the effects in Chamber are light-years ahead of those. Nothing stands out as an obviously under worked digital effect like the troll did in Sorcerers Stone. Even Dobby, the all-digital house elf, is quite impressive and his interactions are fluid and seamless. Quidditch, also, is greatly improved with more realistic physics and a faster feel.

Gone too are the pacing problems that plagued the first film. There are no scenes here, like the The Mirror of Erised in the original, that slow it to a grinding halt. This time around, the narrative is such a driving force that those moments are impossible to have, with the exception of the tacked on ending that isnt even in the book. The film is always advancing at such a pace that the running time, which is longer than the first, doesnt feel that way.

The new cast members in Chamber of Secrets are off the charts amazing. Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart and Jason Issacs as Lucius Malfoy steal every scene they are in. The casting of each was a stroke of genius and both are obviously having oodles of fun with these characters. Branagh, in particular, turns in a comic gem of a performance, and should be considered for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. With his narcissistic preening and gleeful smile, Branagh even steals the movie from the holy trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

In the end though, Chamber of Secrets does do almost everything right. There are some scenes that follow the successful formula of the film. The Dueling Club, for example. The camera slowly dips down on to the scene and audience expectation is peaked. And it's here, and a few other scenes, when Chamber of Secrets is at its best. Whenever Columbus steps back from his story for just a second to let his audience marvel at the work he and JK Rowling have created, the film is at its most magnificent. It misses the magic of the first, but the improvements in every other category down the list, and the rare scene that does it right, will make Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets a magical success.