July of Potter

If you're on the internet, or watch the news, you know that this July's been Potter-mania. Between the new movie (Order of the Phoenix) and the new book (Deathly Hallows), we muggles have been laboring under a shower of Rowling's magic. Ultimately, it's not a bad thing!

I really enjoyed the new OotP movie. I think it's the second best of the movies, yet, after Prisoner of Azkaban. The pacing feels a little funny, but the story is portrayed well, and the fights are awesome. It was even more enjoyable on a second viewing! I think that's because you get over the differences with the book, and enjoy it for the adaptation that it is. The absolute best moment in the movie is the confrontation in the Hall of Prophecy. I love the way the Death Eaters are shrouded in darkness as they surround the children. I also loved Neville's lines. Bellatrix: "Another Longbottom! How are your parents?" Neville: "Better now they're about to be avenged!" Helena Bonham Carter was the right choice of Bellatrix Lestrange, without a doubt. She's terrifying.

More exciting than the new movie, however, was the new book. Deathly Hallows finally relieved us of a long felt anticipation, and did it well. I think the best thing that can be said for it is that it answered all of our questions well. We know what happened, now, and why, and we know about Snape, and we know about Harry, Dumbledore and Voldemort. It was also as exciting as could be anticipated.

It's far from perfect. Some of the details are overly confusing in a bad way (feels mushy), and there's a stretch of the book that's just boring and just not fun to read in a way not one of the other books ever was. It picks up really nicely right afterward, though, so that's forgiven.

My worst complaint is that now that the books are over, there seems to be very little about them to think or talk about. Great literature can be enjoyed for long after you are done reading the book - the Harry Potter series just isn't great literature. It's good, and there are some nice over-arching themes that are well expressed, but it doesn't have the kind of subtle insights into our condition that the greats have.

I did really care about the characters, though, and was happy to see how they turned out in the end. Goodbye, world of Harry Potter, and thanks for the ride!