Cool, funny, and way better than the first film. That's how Canadian kids are receiving the new Harry Potter movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which opens in theatres Friday.

Professional film critics have generally given the flick, the second in what's sure to be a long series of installments, mixed reviews. It's been called entertaining but, at more than two and a half hours, much too long.

CTV's Canada AM convened a panel of Toronto kids to get the low-down straight from the movie's target audience. The consensus? Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is "way" cool.

"The graphics were really amazing," says Danielle Gallant who along with friends Nicholas Yim, Richerd Kivioja and Robbie Murden previewed the flick five days ahead of its official release, much to the envy of their school friends.

"The flying car was so cool. I've never seen anything like it in a movie. It was so amazing. And the serpent! Everything was so cool," Danielle says.

Robbie says it was "way better" than the first movie based on J.K. Rowling's memorable characters, adding that he found the acting "way better, too."

He said director Chris Columbus was able to deliver a final product that was just as he imagined it would be.

"Like, you pictured in your mind, and then on the screen it looked like your mind pictured it," Robbie says.

Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, returns for a second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But studies soon come second, as Harry tries to solve a dangerous secret that has everyone at the school petrified.

The red-haired Ron Weasley, played by Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, who stars as schoolmate Hermione Granger, help Harry on his quest to find out about the Chamber of Secrets that has everyone horrified.

The film combines a livelier humour and a darker tinge than the first, something CTV's young film experts appreciated.

"The funniest scene was probably when Ron's owl went right into the window," says Richerd. "He missed the open window and had to go into that other window."

Robbie chimes in: "Like Richerd said, when he came into the window it was kind of funny because he just walks into Dumbledore's office, and all of a sudden Dumbledore's phoenix goes on fire."

Nicholas, however, apparently appreciates a more sophisticated kind of humour.

"There weren't many funny scenes in it. Not really," he says.

Cameron Bailey, a professional Toronto film critic, told Canada AM he was surprised that the children didn't find the long length of the movie more of a stumbling point.

"Kids with a belly full of pop don't even want to go out for an intermission," Bailey says.

Like his critic counterparts, Bailey found Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to be "long and dark, but it's really entertaining."

"The effects are really good, much stronger than in the first Harry Potter, I think," Bailey says. "Great action sequences, chase sequences. Great stuff!"

One warning for parents thinking about taking their Pottermaina-charged kids to the theatre, though: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is not for the those kids easily creeped out by bugs and other insects.

"If you have kids who are sensitive to spiders, or big fat scary snakes," be careful, Bailey warned.

But Danielle thinks Bailey might just be a tad squeamish.

"I've seen a scarier movie," she says. "It wasn't that scary."