BEFORE: Again, it's tempting to go off my schedule, and follow up "Gulliver's Travels" with something like "The Incredible Shrinking Woman", but I've reached sort of an interesting point with my list. Now that fantasy films, followed by superhero films, have percolated up to the top of the list, I'm really looking forward to some of the films coming up - maybe 10 out of the next 20 or so are making my expectations run high. It's an odd feeling, after so many films that I felt I HAD to see, it's a real switch to watch films that I WANT to see. Yet, some people choose films all the time based on their whims, what an odd concept.
I have seen all the films in the "Harry Potter" series so far, but I've never read the books. Still, this is the children's lit chain, and this counts, so let's roll with it. Linking from "Gulliver's Travels", Billy Connolly was in the great comedy film "Still Crazy" with Bill Nighy (last seen in "Pirate Radio") and Timothy Spall (last seen in "The Last Samurai").
THE PLOT: As Harry races against time and evil to destroy the Horcruxes, he uncovers the existence of three most powerful objects in the wizarding world: the Deathly Hallows.
AFTER: Again, I'm not a Potterphile, but I do appreciate these films, the same way that I appreciate the James Bond series, sort of from a distance. I don't memorize all the details, and I just need to know who to root for, I don't need to know how all the gadgets work. Bond's always got the right gadget at the right time, and Harry Potter and friends always come up with the right magic spell, or the magic totem at the last second. Oh, and both film series tend to have characters with funny names - Bond's got his Miss Moneypenny and Pussy Galore, while the Harry Potter series keeps bringing in new people with names like Luna Lovegood and Frumious Bundersnatch. I can't keep track of them all...
Just give me the main story points, and I'll be fine. What are we looking for this time? Five horcruxes, magic sword, check. Various potions that do impossible things, flying broomsticks, wands, I don't know what all you kids are into today. In my day we rolled dice and tried to outwit a dungeon master, and these days you what, practice spells together? I don't get it.
I won't get into the major (or minor) story points, because they're already widely known among those who go for this sort of thing, and if not, I'm not going to be the spoiler. But I wish these teens with funny accents would speak more clearly, and more slowly so I can understand them - particularly that Hermione girl. I think I've missed a third of her lines over the course of this series - does she mumble, or is my hearing starting to go?
It's a very action-packed film, but there were still some breaks in the action. I suppose that's what you get when you split a book into two movies, and you need long expositional dialogue scenes to pad out the first film. Really, this is two hours of set-up - I suppose releasing it as two films is not just more profitable, but also prevented a four-hour running time? Today's kids can't sit still that long, obviously.
NITPICK POINT: Didn't they make a big deal in the earlier films about people choosing the right magic wands? Or, rather, letting the wands choose them? There's quite a bit of wand-swapping going on in this film, so is the magic in the wand, or the words of the spell, or the person casting the spell? Tell me what the rules are, and then please stick to them. There's also a bunch of wand-shooting without any spellwords at all, so at that point, the wands might as well be guns, right?
NITPICK POINT #2: Regarding the Ministry of Magic, it always seems like it's been corrupted, or at least easily taken over. I suppose that's what you get with a Ministry - but in the long run, wouldn't a two- or three-branch form of government be a better way to go? You know, some checks and balances in the system? Or is that too American for you people?
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint (all last seen in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"), Ralph Fiennes (last seen in "The End of the Affair"), Helena Bonham Carter (last seen in "Sweeney Todd"), Rhys Ifans (last seen in "Greenberg"), Alan Rickman (last seen in "Michael Collins"), Fiona Shaw (last seen in "Three Men and a Little Lady"), Richard Griffiths (last seen in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"), Robbie Coltrane (last seen in "Nuns on the Run"), Brendan Gleeson (last seen in "Far and Away"), David Thewlis, John Hurt, Imelda Staunton (last seen in "Taking Woodstock"), Julie Walters, Michael Gambon (last heard in "Fantastic Mr. Fox"), Jason Isaacs (last heard in "Cars 2"), Miranda Richardson (last seen in "The Hours"), Warwick Davis.
RATING: 6 out of 10 death-eaters
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