BrownSuga's Sweet Spot: Do You Believe In Magic

Ok so I’ve waited as long as humanly possible and I don’t want to wait anymore. If you don’t already know everything well, it’s not my fault. And in fact I probably won’t even tell anything you don’t already know just from being alive during the month of July in the year of 2007. So I’ll start with the less liked of the two, in my book….

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the movie – What hurts the most about this movie is that it was my favorite book and I knew that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. Of course I read the hundreds of comments/reviews from those who keep spouting the “But it’s a movie, editing for the largest of the series was absolutely necessary.” And that is the reason I wasn’t excited about seeing the movie. After all the addicted movie goers had their chance to see the movie, I began to read reviews about the movie, how it was the best of all five, how the new characters of Umbridge and Luna were wonderful additions to the series so I got a bit more excited. And then I was disappointed again. I will agree that the character of Dolores Umbridge was just psychotic enough to be a great asset to the franchise but I wasn’t impressed with the way Luna Lovegood was played. This is nothing bad against the actress who played her but really the direction the movie was taken. My imagination created Luna differently, not so wispy but more in her own world without seeming like a flake. And until they replace the man who plays Dumbledore now, I’ll never really enjoy any scene he is in. The worse part of the movie was the horrible way the scenes were thrown together. It felt so blotchy and separated. There was absolutely no flow or storyline. I’ve always known that I prefer books to movies and this is just more proof of that. I enjoy taking an author’s words and creating my own “movie” in my head and I hope that never changes…

So now….

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- The last installment of the Harry Potter series was highly anticipated. I was at my (new) local Borders at midnight and I was a proud owner of the final book by 12:15am. Unlike all the previous books that had a midnight release, I did not immediately start reading the book. I think I was a bit sad about it being the last book. There wouldn’t be anymore adventures at Hogwarts, no more wonderfully colorful characters like Dobby or Moaning Myrtle. JK Rowling did not let me down. Although there were deaths that I didn’t like or want to understand, I wouldn’t have wanted anything changed. The Deathly Hallows brought us a host of new adventures. The best part for me was the chance to change how I felt by characters that I’ve been reading about since book one. I, like Ron, became a sympathetic supporter of S.P.E.W. And I cried like a baby…at least the first time I read it. With book 6 I cried for maybe the first 5 times I read that infamous scene in the tower and following scene out by the lake (a few times I just refused to read it). Because this series was originally intended for a young adult audience the inclusion of an epilogue seemed fitting. And the kid in me appreciated it.

Unlike many other fans of the Harry Potter series, I am simply a fan of the books. I appreciate and respect the attempt at the movies but since the death of Richard Harris or as I like to call him, the real Dumbledore I’ve been sorely disappointed.