Harry Potter Is A Great Movie... Your Kids Will Like It, Too
12.03.2001
While this is a movie review, I will be making the greatest attempt not to give anything away about the movie. Before seeing any movie I personally attempt to know as little as possible about it (I HATE trailers), so that the plot can be revealed to me as the author intended. So if you haven't seen the movie, read on, as this review should be spoiler-free.
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone opened with much ado, and for good reason. This is truly a great movie (and, quite honestly, was everything the ill-fated D&D Movie should have been). It has friendship, danger, suspense, laughter, romance... okay, well, maybe not romance, they're only 11 after all. But it has all the other things! :)
While it is to some degree a kids movie, it was fully enjoyable to me at 31 (though I do consider myself a kid at heart). It had a good, solid story (kudos to RK Rowling for her book - I haven't read it yet, but I will!) with plenty of plot twists and puzzles to keep you guessing. The plot moved along at a nice pace, while still spending time to stop and smell the magical roses and have some fun along the way.
The special effects were well and cleverly done. They were very nice looking and highly effective, without going overboard, and truly helped to emerse me into the world of these magically inclined children.
I have always been a big fan of what I call 'attention to detail,' little details of a book, movie, video game, or what have you, that help draw you in and help you suspend your disbelief, helping you to make believe the fantasy world you are experiencing is real, if only for a time. One really nice touch that I especially enjoyed about this movie, therefore, was the fact that there were often things happening in the background that had nothing to do with the plot whatsoever, but let you know that there was life going on among and around the children in the movie's mystical setting, making their world seem alive and breathing.
I furthermore found the acting to be very good. Even with such highly acclaimed actors as Alan "Hans Gruber" Rickman, Richard "English Bob" Harris and John "Dead Parrot Sketch" Cleese in the film, the kids do an excellent job of acting as well, proving to me that there really are some very good child actors out there - if one is actually willing to look (yes, Mr. Lucas, I'm talking to you!). Now I have seen some reviews saying that the children aren't in awe enough about the strange things that are happening around them, but I believe that children first of all are better able to handle strange things and second of all (hopefully this won't ruin anything) that these children have been brought up to understand that magic is real, so that perhaps it's not so wonderous to them as it is to us.
The theme, or moral, if you will, of the movie is nicely portrayed, handling one of the greatest life lessons there is (in my humble opinion) in an intelligent way. I won't give it away, as it is a nicely integral part of the story, but once you see this movie you should pick up on it yourself (and if you don't, Hermione Granger, one of Harry Potter's close friends, spells it out to you at one point - no pun intended, of course).
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the movie is this: it held the attention of a room of children betwen the ages of about 3 and 13 (or is that 3 through 31?) for two and a half hours. I expected to go to this movie and enjoy it, but in and amongst a bunch of yelling, fidgeting children. Either the parents these days really are teaching their kids better manners than we seem to think, or this movie was well written and produced enough to keep children of all ages captivated for its lengthy entirety.
Lastly, I want to comment not so much on the movie, but on the idea that this movie and the book(s) upon which it is based, are evil, a plot by the devil and his minions to lure children to witchcraft. First of all, in my (albeit non-religious) opinion, anything that gets children to read is a good thing. And from what I understand these are not light books; the fourth book is almost 750 pages long in hard cover. Secondly, regardless of whether you believe in or distrust the power of witchcraft, the 'magic' in the Harry Potter movie is nothing like that practiced by real world witches, such as practiced by the well meaning Wicca movement, or that practiced way back when by evil men like Hitler's buddy Aleister Crowley. And lastly, those who believe that fantasy stories in general are evil and of the devil should remember that English literature begain with a Christian slant on a telling of the fantastic story known as Beowulf, that Santa Claus is pretty fantastic himself and must use some kind of magic to get his jolly self down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve, and perhaps most of all that fantasy authors such as C.S. Lewis (the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe), J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and Lewis Carroll (Alice In Wonderland) were all devout Christians.
Agree? Disagree? Think I'm full of it?
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