Harry Potter and the .... Oh, Who Cares?

Today the last film in the franchise opens in theaters. If you're a fan, you probably checked it out at midnight last night. Perhaps you were in costume. But personally, I just can't take it anymore.

Today I watched the third film in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Honestly, it was as tough to sit through as the first two. Actually, it was just a little bit tougher because I knew nothing of consequence was going to happen until the last 30 minutes or so. The movies are big on magic tricks, to the detriment of story. It's like when you go to bad action movies. The car chases go on for five minutes while you start yawning in your chair and trying to remember if you paid the phone bill yet.

The core story in the Potter series is really a great one. No one can deny that. A baby wizard defeats the dark lord that murdered his parents. The line between good and evil is unclear and in constant motion as the boy tries to stay alive against all odds. But I find the emphasis on tricks and tales distracting and pretty dull. I'm sure--in fact I'm quite positive--that all this would play much better on the page than it does on screen because the connections between these seemingly disconnected stories are free to be explored there. 

For those reasons, I'm ending my journey here. If ever I'm curious about Potter again, I'll pick up the books. Let's go see some movies made for grown-ups!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the original journey blog.