Harry Potter Complete 8-film Collection ★★★
If one were to read the Amazon.com reviews, you would find to sets of reviews, those that are 4-5 stars and those that are 1 star. The 1-star ratings are offered simply because sufficient extras were not included in the set, and that certain director’s cuts were not included with the films. I have read the Harry Potter series, and it was a “cute” children’s story, which became darker and more foreboding with each episode. The movie seems to follow reasonably closely the book storyline. On a second time through the Harry Potter story, a number of thoughts come to my mind.1. I don’t think that this story glorifies witchcraft and evil too much more than the CS Lewis stories. Contrary, the greatest failure is for the series to fail to offer a true distinction between good and evil, and the source of both, other than that Harry and his closest friends were good, and that Voldemort was bad. Sure.2. Character development left shallow personalities in all, including Harry Potter. The characters were flat, and never showed evidence of advancing or truly growing up. This is especially true of the students, who were either just good or just bad. The kids are smarter than the adults, but just not as powerful as the adults.3. Filmography on DVD was oftentimes way too dark, leaving much clipping when presented on a large screen tv. Otherwise, the graphics of the film were fairly stupendous.4. Each book had its own separate storyline or challenge that Harry Potter had to face, but there was a prevailing theme of the return of Voldemort, and his eventual defeat through the “chosen” one, Harry Potter. Who chose Harry is never mentioned. Which leaves a larger question mark with the entire series. Each story of itself had a strong sense of unbelievability, with Harry and his friends getting into trouble, and just somehow coming across the solution in the nick of time. Some of the plots were very poor, such as having Severus Snape swear allegiance to Voldemort in order to infiltrate his attack on Harry. It’s not exactly what you want to teach kids, of true heroes standing up to their word, especially when their word is sworn.5. In the long term, the Harry Potter craze will wear off, and the series will be confined to the dustbins of countless other chronologically failed novels. There is no reflection of higher virtues. There is no basis for good and evil. Harry Potter is a flawed savior who passes into ignominy with time. The book/movie series has no compelling reason to be considered great other than the phenomenal graphics.
