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I
have never picked up a Harry Potter book in my life (and I wont
after  seeing
this movie) but the amount of hype surrounding this movie had me
excited, I felt I was about to witness a milestone in movie
history, the beginning in a saga of movies that would run for
years, a star wars for the 2000 generation.
I
obviously wasn’t the only one spoon-fed the hype, UGC cinema's
in Dublin have Harry Potter playing on the hour, right up until
midnight, proving that it is not entirely a kids movie. The movie
is being released in America at the same time, a very rare
occurrence and is usually done to stop bad reviews spreading
across the Atlantic, it was last done to cover up the mistakes
with 'the Avengers' and I have a feeling Warner might have had the
same fears because I'm afraid to say this years potential
blockbuster 'Harry Potter' is RUBBISH.
Harry
is one of the most un-likeable characters in movie history, he has
the personality of a broomstick and absolutely no sense of humour,
at no stage does he build a relationship with the audience, I feel
it's assumed we all know the character from his books and those of
us who have not read the books are missing out.
The
movie opens with Harry living with his auntie, we're meant to feel
sorry for him because he lives in a small room under the stairs,
but Cinderella and hundreds of fairytale characters before Harry
lived in worse conditions. I couldnt share Harry's hardship,
infact i'm a little surprised at his amazement when he discovers
he is a wizard, he's able to talk to snakes and has owls
deliver post down his chimney, yet he expresses surprise when
*shock horror* he discovers he's got magic powers.
To
escape the owls posting letters down the chimney, Harry and his
adopted family move to a lighthouse on a small island, only to
have a big hairy ogre kick the door down in the middle of a storm.
Harry decides his life is too hard so goes off with the big hairy
ogre, as any eleven year old would.
Just
what is it that makes Harry great? I've seen better magic on the
Paul Daniels show, he can fly on a broom but so can the rest of
his class, who by the way were hired from the stereotype school of
acting, we've got the evil bully, the nerdy best mate, the
meddling know-it all girl.
The
special effects are nothing to write home about, considering the
budget that director (Chris Columbus) had to work with. The chess
game in the movies final act is lifeless - in fairness Chess is
hardly the most of exciting of games, so why are we forced to sit
thru a full chess game at the movies "climax". (yawn)
I
cant think of anything good to say about this movie, it's too long
and too boring, some sub-plots are introduced and simply go
nowhere, for example what was the point of introducing the Dragon
Egg? I know theres a dragon on the cover of one of the Harry
Potter books and I was left waiting for something to happen with
it.
You
might have got the impression by now that I hated this movie and
you'de be right, the worst part for me tho' is that it's just the
first of a seven part series, theres six more to go, there is
roughly fifteen years worth of Harry Potter hype yet to come.
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