Christian fundamentalists had a field day trashing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for its dark, occult point of view that perceived ordinary people (muggles), as boring, blinded and biased. With the release of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, additional parental votes may be added to that concern. The second film of author J.K. Rowling’s best-selling novel series concentrates mainly on death and dying. It contains little of the first film’s exciting fantasy appeal.

Perhaps The Sorcerer’s Stone offered more enchantment because it involved setting up the world of Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), a young boy whose parents were killed by the wicked wizard Lord Voldemort when Harry was one year old. Voldemort failed to kill Harry, but his attempt left a thunderbolt scar on the youngster’s forehead that symbolizes Harry’s new psychic strength and his triumph over evil. An imaginative world of magic and fun and fascinating characters came alive as the story unveiled not only Harry’s unhappy life being raised by an uncle who loathes him but also the 11-year-old’s arrival at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets opens after a summer at Uncle Vernon’s. The evil uncle (Richard Griffiths) locks Harry in his room and refuses to let him return to Hogwarts. But a muggle can’t stop a wizard, and – even though Harry is warned by Dobby, a visiting elf who announces that danger awaits if he returns to Hogwarts – Harry is rescued by his school chum Ron Wesley (Rupert Grint) in a flying car and taken back to school.

Arriving late and crashing into the school grounds, the boys are chastised by Professor Snape (Alan Rickman). Soon, school chum Hermione (Emma Watson) and foes such as the Slytherin Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) greet Harry. As school begins, creatures and people are found petrified. It quickly becomes apparent that someone or something has unleashed an evil force upon the school. Because Harry usually makes the discoveries, he gets blamed for the acts.

The kids, along with a wonderful host of returning adults as faculty members, set about to clear up the mystery. Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), the gentle giant groundskeeper, Headmaster Dumbledore (Richard Harris) and Professor McGonagall (Dame Maggie Smith) are all on the side of good. They champion Harry and his friends whenever they can. Dumbledore –who is still a bit too focused on his idea that death is but the next great adventure – was a little difficult for me to watch knowing it’s the last time the late Harris can play the role.

As Harry, Ron and Hermione try to find the culprit of the misdeeds, they learn that answers lie, where else, in the secret chamber, which until now has remained unopened. Who has reopened it, how to squash the perpetrator, and how to remain alive are the challenges the kids face.

Among new characters appearing in the story are Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) and Ginny Wesley (Bonnie Wright). Branagh’s role as the flamboyant and narcissistic Dark Arts Professor seems like a total waste of time to me. It’s part of the reason this two-and-a- half-hour film lags. In one scene he throws out pieces of his clothing to school fans like a Hogwarts Elvis. Issacs, as Draco’s father, plays the villain well and adds a welcome mixture of intrigue and intimidation to the story. Wright, as Ron’s sister and the one Harry must rescue from the dangers of the chamber, is seen too little to make an impression.

The worst part of the film is a sagging middle with its lengthy and tiresome spider chase in the chamber, a sequence which looks like a reel thrown in from "Eight Legged Freaks." Most of the movie lumbers through such scenes as long chases down halls, thus losing any dramatic build-up, and ends up forgetting what made The Sorcerer’s Stone so enchanting – those visual sequences showing so many of Rowling’s incredible magical devices. Adding more treats like the flying car and the dishes washing themselves would have helped lift the film’s somber mood.

It’s a shame director Chris Columbus paid so much attention to overly-produced sets and dark story elements about death and dying. Little children will be frightened by most of the film, and adults – several walked out on the screening I attended – may get bored with the unraveling of this bogged-down movie version.

Naturally, good survives over evil in the end, but you will make that discovery only if you care to stay awake.

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated "PG" for scary moments, some creature violence and mild language.)