Where's Teddy Now?

I Miss Ed Harris (A Harry Potter Review)

There is one scene, and one only, in which the Dumbledore of yore makes an appearance. The headmaster and Harry are at the pensieve, and for one brilliant, understated moment, the noble, flawed, yet strong old man makes an appearance.

Strength is not borne of bellowing “Silence” five times in one movie.

Now undertand that I am what they’d call an early adopter of the Harry Potter franchise. I bought the books for my kids when they first came out, and before the raging popularity overtook us all. I’ve kept up too, and both I and the kids have our own individual copies. The girl also has her own copy.

By no means great literature, they are still somehow endearing. And moreable.

I’ve been at the premieres of the first two movies, and caught the Prisoner of Azkaban two summers ago, in Beograde. I’ve never been disappointed. And I wasn’t last night.

Much has been said about the darkness, the gritty edge of the new movie, and yes, it is. Grittier and edgier. And (I’m ashamed to say this) sexier too. When the Beauxbatons march into Hogwarts, Ooh La La indeed. But why is it that none of the adult characters are any fun to look at? I mean, McGonnigal might have been a looker in her day (say, 247 years ago), but really – all the adults are ugly and malformed in some way. A little more eye–candy for us ‘dolts, please?

Entertaining? Indeed. And as I said, I wasn’t disappointed. And yet, it’s not what I imagine a wizarding world to be like. There’s a lot less nobility to the craft, and things seem arbitrary. If Harry can Achio Fireball in one instance, then why not other things when needed? The broom flying scenes continue to look silly (and in fact, remain one of my biggest complaints of the whole series so far). And why all the silly little medievalisms? It seems like a lot of the design decisions are made for the sake of visual appeal. But that’s also a criticism of the books, too.

Character–wise, a mixed bag. Mad–Eye Moody is really cool. Just keep an eye on his eye, simply hilarious. Voldemort comes across exactly as described in the books, down to the two slits for a nose. But the rest? Harry is gangly, Ron is downright gittish, Hermione is coltish (her ballroom appearance nothwithstanding). Mind you, the Patil sisters and Cho (oh, how I love Irish accents) are pretty hot. Well, for fourteen year olds. You know what I mean.

Two and a half hours went pretty quickly too, so obviously the pacing and script decisions were well made. And there are some truly, outstandingly hilarious moments too, mostly involving male-female interactions. “May I have your hand” asks one of the Bulgarians of Parvati, at the ball. “My arm, my leg… anything” she replies. Anything to get away from Ron.

But when push comes to shove, it simply wasn’t believable. Harry comes across not as a great wizard–to–be, but as a hapless lucky sod, who succeeds only because of outside interference. Portraying a character as flawed yet great is one thing; Harry unfortunately, merely comes across as hapless.

And I miss Ed Harris.

3 thoughts on “I Miss Ed Harris (A Harry Potter Review)

  1. hmmm… could you perhaps flesh out them bones there -b? What particularly said “suck’d” to you?

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