i never cared very much about this whole harry potter phenomenon. i always felt embarassed by the adults i saw on the trains reading harry potter. but when the harry potter movie came out, i wanted to go see it because i guess i accept movie hype more readily than book hype. i can't get too excited about a book (and a children's book at that), but a movie i can get excited about.
i think my comments about the movie will be interesting because i have never read the book. the whole harry potter story is completely fresh to me. sure, i've read those "know your harry potter" glossary columns in newspapers and magazines, but all in all, i've been able to keep myself very harry potter free.
so today was my first taste of this harry potter craze that's sweeping the world like an unstoppable plague. how did i find it?
i was definitely entertained, that's for sure. i heard the movie was very long, close to 3 hours, and i almost succumbed to the long hours by almost falling asleep towards the end of the movie. not to say the film was boring, my drowsiness is entirely my fault, having slept only 4 hours last night (this whole weekend i've slept a combined total of a mere 7 hours). the movie is dense with information, and i can very much see how this was adapted from a book. unlike some movies which are created entirely as a movie starting with an original written-for-the-movie screenplay, harry potter has no dead air. even inch of footage is somehow adding to the story, another detail in the life of harry potter. there almost seems to be too much information, too much going on, but i was able to get a handle on what was what. sometimes i saw things that i suspect are there because maybe in the subsequent sequels they will play bigger parts in the series.
as a harry potter newbie, do i have any favorite scenes or characters? i thought the way harry potter received his letter to attend the wizard school in the beginning of the movie was cool. i like how there are 4 groups in the school that you belong, and how these groups compete with each other. almost like a fraternity! i like how harry potter has to buy all these wizardry school gear, like a broom and a wand. i like how harry is a celebrity in the world of magic but he doesn't know it, but wherever he goes, people (magic people that is) know who he is. so actually there were a lot of things about the movie that i liked.
but that doesn't mean i'm going to read the book! i'm just going to wait until the next installment of the movie.
one thought though: what's going to happy when the actor who plays harry potter starts going through puberty and his voice changes? are they going to dub over his voice with the voice of a younger actor?