In these days when Pottermania has become a recession proof industry, carping and caviling about giving the public exactly what it wants, is perhaps the most futile of actions. The Chamber of Secrets is an even more polished film than the first installment in the franchise, but it is so utterly predictable as a film there is something awesome in such purity. We have read the book and seen the first film, so what does this venture have to offer that is not essentially more of the same? The movies will make money, as will Rowling, but they will never move into cult status. Once the Potter bubble bursts, they are going to be as dated as the Happy Days gang and everybody will be left wondering what all the fuss was about.

Everything is done on a scale that is bigger than ever as befits the success of the last film. The Quidditch match is even zanier, faster and more violent than ever before, there is a flying car taken AWOL by the boy wizards, there is the peculiarly funny scolding letter called a 'screamer' - the letter hauls off and let you have it verbally - there are computer generated mandrakes, the whole movie is a triumph of special effects. But these are not the 1970s where such things alone carried a movie to cult status. The books are written for children and logical questions may be bypassed, such as why do the great ones in magic leave Harry alone all the time when they know that the Evil One is out to kill the boy? For children, that their hero is perpetually in peril and wriggles out anyhow each time, is part of the unconscious contract they make with the storyteller to be thrilled and scared. In a movie, the blithe manner in which Harry is left to his own devices to cope with the most powerful force of evil magic in creation, makes us think the authorities are either insanely incompetent or even worse using Harry for their own ends.

In this inherently implausible scenario, the impossibly pretentious Defense against the Dark Arts teacher played with over the top charm by Kenneth Branagh is about the only bright note. That he exemplifies a childhood suspicion that adults claiming expertise are usually frauds is perhaps unintended. His role is metaphorically significant of Harry's reality in the adult world. They leave him on his own against the forces of evil, but nevertheless severely penalize him if he breaks any of the gazillion regulations that fence the school in. Apparently he should not feel 'special' or entitled in any way because of his abilities and his accomplishments; it is also about the stupidest thing you can expect, except that the English have always been given to self-deprecation as a virtue for some reason.

The house elf Dombey is a fine example of the use of CGI. His master is the rankest cliché', a platinum blonde magic nazi with an equally obnoxious son to boot, playing off the dynamics of privileged rich kid versus stoutly working class hero and friends. The magic people hold themselves off from the 'corrupting' influence of the Muggles, but on the evidence their society is less evolved and more cruel than that of those whom they despise. They keep elves in abject disgusting slavery for centuries, they have a racist disdain for 'Mudbloods' - Muggle inheritance in the genes - and they bribe their way into the team by providing superior equipment for all the other players. These are magical people? Harry's foundling prince status, the Hero in Obscurity as it were, is wearing thin as he could fix his obnoxious relatives any time he felt like it. That he does not use magic upon his tormentors is supposed to be proof of his sterling qualities - it also seems to indicate he is a silly ass.

Harry develops an ability to speak to snakes this time round and the sibilant hissing sounds he makes are sufficiently creepy to thrill. There is a basilik wandering around the school, turning people to stone with its glance, and Harry and his friends brave enough dangers and take sufficient risks to ensure a good time is had by all. The franchise however had better come up with a rabbit out of its capacious hat if it wishes to rise above the banal. The law of diminishing returns is some thing even magic is helpless to fight against.