Harry Potter? Bear with me

I believe there comes a time in every man's film-watching life when he needs to take a break from all the von Triers, Aronofskys, Leighs etc... (I carefully didn't mention Gilliam). I came across such time recently and was struggling with myself not knowing what film to watch that is suitable for my current sensibility. So, a thought came to my mind - that little wizard guy and that whole bunch of films I never cared much for, why don't I watch that? It seemed rather light and utterly benign in just the right amount.

Well the first film with that stone and stuff came rather annoyingly to my mind; I was on the verge of giving up a dozen times, but I pulled through. In all the duration of the film I was faced with this joyful, enchanting (mind the vocabulary) world that I really couldn't care less for. I noticed some famous faces but it just seemed to me they were forcefully dragged into appearing in this awfully childish realm. And so, I advanced to the next film, equally unimportant and containing again just a hint of darkness...

And then comes the third film, in comes David Thewlis, a figure from my past film-watching experience; as if he came to drag me out of this adventure merely for children and back into the sphere of some serious (not Sirius) film-making. Then in comes Gary Oldman, a marvelous actor, one of the greats and delivers his usual high-quality performance... Although some parts of the film were again childish and naive, a new power emerges from it, something more adult and profound, as if by accident placed in there...

Fourth installment, a rather boring competition that I found yet again childish and over-joyful. Even though Miranda Richardson appears, an actress that has shaped most of my childhood with her appearance in the Black Adder, and delivers a suitable performance, I was still unable to see past this festivity of a film. All that being said, near the end comes a rather fantastic surprise; Mr Ralph Feinnes comes in, triggering in my mind his performance in Schindler's list, as well as in the Red Dragon, and delivers a combination of those two fantastic performances... I was quite stunned. The whole franchise advanced to a new level...

All other films were done pertaining to that achieved level, more or less, with some brilliant moments that I was surprised to find in such a "light entertainment". For example the scene in which Gary Odlman's character mistakes Harry for his old friend, his father James, during a fight is a timeless one. It summons something between the lines, approaches you with a specific emotion that you need to discover yourself by connecting in your mind the situation at hand, a man who lost his best friend, and was wrongfully accused, convicted, and now obliged to take care of his godson - Harry, and in that one moment, he recalls his past, and I can't but give in to his marvelous performance...

Those moments are what makes this franchise worth watching, although most of the films were naive and childish, together they form an interesting mix, that leaves you with some fantastic scenes that won't go away. I've come to watch something light, to relax and rest my mind, but I came across a much heavier undertone overall...

Any thoughts?

I guess not

Nice write up.

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You are no Vader. You are just a child in a mask.

Sorry, but most folks on this site don't like to travel offsite to read/watch content. Catch up on the forum tools and methods we use here, and you will most likely get more responses.

Post a review here, and people will read it. Post a link, and they will most likely just move on to other content. You can create your own review thread if you wish, and load it up with reviews, or post in one of the many Harry Potter threads that already exist. Make sure to use the search function before creating threads to help keep the number of dupe threads down.

Thanks!

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Thanks for the suggestion, it's just that I've already put it into a blog so I though it was better than placing a mile long text here... Guess I was wrong

I've copied the blog post into the post. Only took a few seconds.

And yeah, people prefer to see the video/images/text/whatever right on here, ideally.

On to the reviews....

I agree on some points, but i can't agree about "childish" and "awful" being somehow inextricably linked in regards to these films. One of the biggest draws of the Potter stuff for myself, and I think many others, is that the material has a knack for making people feel like a kid again. I enjoy the fact that I feel like one of the kids, along for the adventure.

That said, if each film relied on that fact as a main driving force, I think the franchise would have sputtered and died after about the 4th book/film. It's the growth that is achieved in both character and theme that sets this stuff apart for me. Some of the issues approached in the series shouldn't be handled in a child-like way, so as things grew darker and more adult, we are able to shed the naive viewpoints on life along with our intrepid adventurers.

Like you, I was more impressed as the series went along, and I also feel like the 4th film dipped a bit in narrative thrust, picking up again in the fifth film, which happens to be one of my favorites, if just for the fact that we finally get to see people battle with all this magic we have been involved with for a few films.