Watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Further information: Chamber of Secrets Plot In preparation for a visit from Uncle Vernon Dursley's client, the Dursleys lock Harry in his room. There, Harry finds Dobby the house elf, who warns against returning to Hogwarts. When Harry refuses, Dobby frames Harry for ruining Vernon's meeting. Furious, Vernon traps Harry in his room to prevent his return to Hogwarts. Ron, Fred and George Weasley arrive in their flying car to rescue Harry and take him back to The Burrow, their home. Harry meets Ron's younger sister, Ginny, who is beginning Hogwarts and has developed a crush on Harry. Harry also meets Ron's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Soon after, Harry and the Weasleys travel to Diagon Alley by Floo Powder. Harry accidentally mispronounces "Diagon Alley", and lands in Knockturn Alley. Fortunately, Hagrid happens upon him and reunites him with the Weasleys and Hermione. While shopping, Harry meets Gilderoy Lockhart, a famous wizard and author, and later Draco Malfoy and his father, Lucius, who praise Voldemort and deride Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys.

At King's Cross Station the Weasley family, excluding Ron, cross through the magical barrier to Platform 9 3/4 with ease. Harry and Ron find they cannot go through (Dobby sealed it to prevent Harry's return to Hogwarts); as a result, they miss the Hogwarts Express. Harry and Ron manage to reach Hogwarts with the flying car, but accidentally land in the school's Whomping Willow, which breaks Ron's wand and causes the car to act erratically. The car ejects the boys and drives off by itself.

Ron and Harry are able to begin Hogwarts normally, but Harry begins to hear an ominous voice that no one else can hear. Harry, Ron and Hermione find the message The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware written in blood across a castle wall and discover caretaker Argus Filch's cat has been petrified. The Chamber of Secrets is a chamber which can only be opened by the Heir of Slytherin; it is said to be the home of a monsterous creature that will only obey the Heir. Harry suspects the Heir is Malfoy. To interrogate him, the three brew Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Malfoy's friends Crabbe and Goyle. They learn Malfoy is not the heir and that he does not know who it is.

Gilderoy Lockhart, hired to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, offers a dueling club. At the meeting, Draco conjures a snake which Harry finds he can talk to. Hermione explains he is a parselmouth like Slytherin, a connection which causes the school to believe Harry is the Heir and ostracize him. In a bathroom, Harry finds a book with no writing in it which once belonged to someone named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Through the book, Tom can show Harry events that happened fifty years ago, when Tom was a student. Tom's memories incriminate Hagrid as the Heir.

Over the course of the school year, several more students (Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchly, and Hermione) and even the Gryffindor ghost Sir Nicholas are found petrified and Tom Riddle's diary goes missing. Harry and Ron decide to see Hagrid at his hut, but before they can speak to him Cornelius Fudge and Lucius Malfoy arrive. While Ron and Harry hide, the visitors tell Hagrid they are suspending Dumbledore as headmaster and arresting Hagrid. Before Hagrid is taken away, he tells Ron and Harry to follow the spiders into the Forbidden Forest for the truth. They do so and meet Aragog, a giant spider thought to have killed a student fifty years ago. Aragog reveals he didn't and Hagrid is innocent.

Knowing that Hagrid is innocent, Harry and Ron find out from a piece of paper in Hermione's hand that the monster responsible for the petrification attacks is a basilisk. They also find another message from the heir and the teachers say that Ginny has been taken into the chamber. Lockhart is chosen to find the chamber and save Ginny, but he tries to make an escape until Harry and Ron catch him. It turns out Lockhart's famous past is false; He used memory-erasing charms on witches and wizards so that he could take credit for their great accomplishments. The three find the chamber entrance in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and enter to find a giant snake skin. Lockhart tries to stop Harry and Ron by using a memory charm, but it backfires because he is using Ron's broken wand, causing Lockhart to lose his memory and a rock to fall that separates Harry from the others. Harry finds Ginny's body, and Tom Riddle shows up telling Harry that he is a memory preserved in the diary for fifty years. He goes on to tell Harry that he is attempting to steal Ginny's soul, so that he may regain power. Harry learns that Tom is Slytherin's heir and is actually Lord Voldemort in his teenage form. Riddle sends the basilisk to kill Harry but Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, attacks the Basilisk's eyes. Fawkes gives Harry the Sorting Hat which contains the Sword of Godric Gryffindor and stabs the snake in the roof of the mouth, killing it. Unfortunately, a fang pierces Harry's arm.

Dying from the fang's poison, Harry destroys the memory of Tom Riddle by piercing the diary with the fang retrieved from his arm. Ginny regains consciousness and finds Harry hurt, but Fawkes heals Harry's wound with its tears. Dumbledore is returned to the school and Hagrid is released from Azkaban. Harry learns that Dobby serves the Malfoys and tricks Lucius into freeing him from servitude. Sometime later, everyone who has been petrified is now safe thanks to Harry and Ron's efforts.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a 2002 adventure movie with a runtime of 2 hours and 41 minutes. It has received moderate reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.4 and a MetaScore of 63.