Harry Pottheads UNITE!

     When I was 22, I was working at movie theater. It was probably the best job I had if not the most profitable. The best part (when I started) was that it came with free movie tickets and by 2001 I had moved to the position of Assistant Manager which gave me a perk I could never have imagined. I was actually paid (overtime) for watching the new movies before they came out. God what a dream job Roger Ebert or other paid movie critics have. The only problem was that sometimes you were stuck watching a Princess Diaries or a  Dragon-ball Z live action movie. So when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone came out, I was less than enthused to sit and watch the 2 hour plus movie but that was the sacrifice I was willing to make for 15 dollars an hour.

But the movie was good. I found myself investing in Harry, Ron and Hermione (a name I had never heard before) and wondering what the books must be like. So when the movie ended at 2:30 in the morning, I closed everything down and went online and ordered the first 4 books. Soon, I was delving into the stories coming out of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with the kind of zeal a 22 year old should not have for a kid’s book. Yet Harry Potter was more than that and by the time Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets had come out, I was ready and new these characters well. I enjoyed the performances of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who embodied those characters in ways that were familiar and different from those in the books. Therefore each film gave me new things to love about the world and characters I had become friends with in the books.

So with the films coming to an end I thought I would look back on each of the films and give you a thought or two.

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone

The first and probably the worst of the movies. Daniel Radcliffe and the gang were not really actors so you have to forgive them for not really moving the story along. Not to mention that this is the origin story and most if not all origin movies suffer  from having to explain the world to the viewer. This movie did it better than most and brought people like me to the books who could explain it better and more organically. My only complaint is the oh so gay moment when Harry wakes on Christmas Day and runs to the common room to say “Happy Christmas Ron.” Other than that, the element of danger presented to these kids keeps you engaged and wondering how someone who knows very little magic can complete the adventures they find themselves thrust into. As someone who hasn’t read the books, I was genuinely surprised by the final battle and it thrust me into reading the books which is really what a good movie made from a book should do as well as create a great retelling for the excited fans of the series. 

Mr. Unhappy sez:  For fueling my Potter lovin... I give Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 4 wands out of five.

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

The kids are a little bit older and the film is a little bit darker. Yet even as you watched this movie, the children had grown as actors, Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley is introduced and put immediately in peril, and while still a kid’s movie, the series is setting the tone for the stories still to come. Chris Columbus weaves the tale of Harry’s second year with the same level of story he used in the first; slightly immature and grounded in a world where none of the main characters are ever in any real danger. What marks this movie is the untimely passing of Richard Harris who played ultimate wizard Dumbledore. While Michael Gambon was great as Harry’s ultimate teacher and mentor, Harris set the groundwork and his Dumbledore is the closest of any character in the movies to the character in my head. He is my Dumbledore.

Mr. Unhappy sez:  Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets receives 3 out of 5 wands just because it was no better or worse than the first movie but lacked the freshness of the first. Still a great movie but a little like day old bread. ez:

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

The series comes out of the kid movie closet and gets a little darker. Chris Columbus, having set the groundwork, stepped away to allow Alfonso Cuaron to handle the directing. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson grow up immensely in this movie and the beauty that Emma Watson would grow into was first glimpsed here. Adding to the cast with the best bad guy ever Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, the movie condensed the book in under 2 hours. This left me wanting as the book was my favorite of the series so far. I think this was the only movie in the series that I exited unfulfilled. I liked the movie and enjoyed the story but the ending seemed rushed in a way that it wasn’t in the book. 

And despite that... 

Mr. Unhappy Sez: I give this 4 out of 5 wands because it broke the monotony of the first two movies and allowed the kids to become actors rather than kids who looked like the characters. See Emma Watson in HP1 and then see her in HP 3. My little Hermione is all growns up.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The movie responsible for all those Team Edward girls sighs and all the Team Jacob hissing. Robert Pattinson makes his first appearance in a movie actually seen by the American public. He also marks the first person to die in a Harry Potter movie (don’t worry, his hair was only briefly in danger. As in the book, the world is expanded to show the wizarding world outside of England. Some storylines were jettisoned in favor of timeliness and the desire to focus the story to Harry himself. Ralph Fienes first appearance as Voldemort presents actual danger to characters we love and gives the film a sense of impending doom. You knew by the end of this film that no one was safe. While I doubted that Harry himself would die, the rest of the cast was suddenly cast into a place where they could be disposed of at any moment. Also the addition of Brendan Gleason as Professor Moody gave us a character who was both scary and the one person you’d want on your side in a fight.

Mr. Unhappy sez: The Goblet of Fire accomplishes killing R-Patz for all the Team Jacob ladies and delivers a great movie. 4.5 Out of 5 wands.

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

Dealing with death, paranoia and the cost of fame, The Order of the Phoenix squarely puts Harry in the hands of adults that cannot and do not want to protect him. The pink and bubbly Delores Umbridge comes to Hogwarts and steals Dumbledore’s job out from under him and makes the great wizard a fugitive. Harry’s safety net is gone, so he has to stand on his own two feet as does Daniel Radcliffe who performs admirably. It marks the first inkling of sexuality into the films as Harry struggles with his feelings for Cho Chang (R-Patz’s girlfriend in Goblet) and leads to Harry’s first kiss. The movie is chaste (only a few snogs, as they call kisses) but treat the changing teenagers go through with better than most teen movies. One of the best features of these films is watching as the kids grow into adults, mirrors the audiences growth with them. This movie is, by me, most fondly remembered as the movie in which we see Dumbledore be the baddest wizard on the planet. When Voldemort tries to kill Harry for the umpteenth time, Dumbledore steps up and takes on the dark lord. For an old ass man, the guy can throw his magic.

Mr. Unhappy sez: The loss of Gary Oldman to the series makes me tear up a little to this day... but it gets 4.75 Out of 5 stars.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

This is Voldemort’s film. If you ever had any curiosity of who he was before he became the evil serpentine monster he is, this is the movie to watch. We see how Dumbledore came to invite him to attend Hogwarts, how he tricked a professor into telling him about a piece of dark magic called a horcrux and we learn that even as a boy, Tom Riddle (the future Voldemort) was just as sadistic as his future self would become. The romantic entanglements become more confused as Hermione struggles with Ron’s new girlfriend and Harry falls for Ron’s sister, Ginny. As the story grow more adult, the story begins to set up the final two films as Harry begins to hunt horcruxes (or the pieces of Voldemort’s soul that keep him alive) and realizes that as he fights VOldemort, those he love are put in more danger. When he finally loses for good one of the last safety nets he has left (SPOILER ALERT) with Dumbledore’s death, Harry has to trust in himself and it marks the first moments of Harry’s adult life. It is the beginning of the end and is the Empire of the Harry Potter story. In the end... 

Mr. Unhappy sez: Loss and love are all rolled into one in this movie, it is a glorious beginning to the wonderful end. 5 of 5 wands.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1

Dumbledore is dead, Voldemort is infiltrating the Ministry of Magic, and Severus Snape is the new headmaster at Hogwarts. Luckily for our lightning scarred hero he is not attending his final year at the school of magic. Instead Harry, Ron and Hermione are off to hunt down the remaining horcruxes and destroy them so that eventually Harry can destroy Voldemort. The end is near and in this movie we see the problems left by Dumbledore at the end of the last film. Harry is still a young man and maybe in over his head without the knowledge that Dumbledore was always there to give him. What I enjoyed about this movie was the simple moments of the kids together. They have been through so sh*t and in the end of the story it is their ability to stay together that gives them a chance to succeed. Also, the movie returns the eminent danger to any character outside of the pivotal three. One of the Weasley twins loses an ear and a beloved character (at least by me) is killed off screen with only a mention and this occurs in the first 15 minutes. This movie is the beginning of the goodbye and when you reach the end of the film, the sense of loss and time running out is palpable.

Mr. Unhappy Sez: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is glorious and while probably a little boring at the middle, gives you the sense that you have gone on a journey. At the end of a 8 film series, it is nice to be reminded that you too have gone on the journey with them. 5 of 5 wands.   

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2

The end is here my friends and it arrives in Part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I walked into this movie hoping for the best and expecting my expectations to not be met by the crew in Harry Potter land. Yet here is the funny thing. They exceeded them. I was blown away by how much this movie got it. While the book could carry on with telling plot, movies need to show it and this movie visualizes everything I felt and saw in the book. Granted they had to cut down on some of the secondary storylines but really isn’t this story about two characters... For you dense people I’m talking about Harry and Voldemort. No offense to J.K. Rowling but the last book could just as easily been titled Harry Potter Versus Voldemort. 

So What of it? What of this epic battle between good and evil? It is worth seven uneven movies. At the end of this movie I was able to look back on it and realize that the seven movies all served to make this movie worth it all. The movie studio created a world and gave us characters who we fell in love with. Now as the darkness grew over the story, I could feel myself beginning to root for those characters. I wanted to see my side win and their side lose. Somewhere I was enthralled by Harry, Hermione and Ron. By Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley and Ginny. Their peril became my peril and their losses (and there are losses in this one) were mine. I could feel the pain and loss of people that were my friends. It was not a cutting pain or a real loss but there is a loss there. The movie reminded me, as did the book, that when I  was nearing the final pages that I began to dread the final words on the page. While this movie may not live up to what you Pottheads believe it should be, it lived up to my expectations and seemed to live up to the audience I saw it with expectations. 

This movie is shot in 3D but it doesn’t need it. I almost feel as though the studio threw it at David Yates and said “You need to use this! It’s so awesome!” The battle scenes are great, and since I saw it in 2D, I hope to see what the 3D did to it. Yet all of this is secondary. What you need to know is that this movie, all seven of them in fact, are worth it. This film wraps everything up perfectly. You can see the hard work of the kids, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Helena Bonham Carter, and all the rest of the actors. You feel complete and when the credits rolled, I wiped a tear from my eye and said goodbye to my good friends.

Mr. Unhappy for the final time in Harry Potterland sez: When the end comes to Harry Potter, I realized that what the movies did was enhance the books. And not to sound too lame... it was magic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - 5 of 5 wands

Harry Potter and the whole damn series.... 10 out of 5 wands

It is just that good.