Potter - Reviewed

I'm very excited today. My son's school is hosting a viewing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this coming Friday as part of a fund raiser for their Kids Creating a Cure initiative. I'm a huge fan of the Harry Potter series of books. I'll probably cry a river when I finish reading Book 7, since I know that will be the end of the Harry saga. The movies, on the other hand, have me quite torn.

Movie #1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Considering this was the first movie in the installment, and the actors were quite young and green, they did a very admirable job with it. My only beef was the need to change the name of the US release to "Sorcerer's Stone". Why?

Movie #2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - The actors matured a little here, chronologically as well as professionally. Overall, a pretty good movie.

Movie #3: Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban - What were they thinking?! I quite understand the need to deviate from the book when turning it into a film. This movie took it too far. It wasn't a matter of editing for time or changing some aspects of the plot to allow the movie to flow better. This director felt the need to butcher every aspect for the sake of "Hollywood-izing" the movie. I mean, come on, he moved Hagrid's house! Put it on the edge of a cliff! Since when is Hagrid's house on the edge of a cliff? It's supposed to be on the edge of a forest! And what was with that were-wolf? I thought people were supposed to have a hard time distinguishing them from real wolves (according to Hermione, it has a slightly longer snout, etc...). This were-wolf looked more alien than lupine. I'm still trying to figure out the purpose of the shrunken heads. Ugh! OK, so I bought the DVD only to complete my collection, but you can bet it will be the least-viewed of the set.

Movie #4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Now here's a truly great adaptation. What a brilliant idea, to hire an English director to help depict life in an English boarding school. Bravo, Mr. Newell! Yes, they changed a lot of aspects and deviated from the book quite a bit, but it made sense this time. It worked. Every minute of it held me completely captivated. The actors performed exceptionally well in this movie, too. No doubt thanks again to Mr. Newell's directing prowess. I'm counting the minutes until it's released on DVD (March 7th, 2006), at which point I'll have to buy two copies since the first one will probably melt from over-viewing.

I can't wait to see how the new director (David Yates) handles Movie #5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You've got quite the act to follow, Mr. Yates!