Potter Pic Pulls Practically Perfect Praise
David Yates, now on his second adaptation of one of J. K. Rowling's cash-cow boy wizard books, will be releasing the 6th installment to the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, to what is sure to be not only a torrential downpour of box-office millions, but, surprisingly where Potter pics are concerned, near unanimous approval from the critical community. Despite the decent marks for most of the films about the bespectacled Brit with the lightning bolt scar, most critics widely regard the film version of The Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Children of Men director Alfonso Cuaron, to be the best of the lot, receiving an 89% fresh rating from the internet film oracle RottenTomatoes.com. However, at the time this article was written, HBP (that's potter-parlance for Half Blood Prince) is sitting pretty at 98% fresh, with an average rating of 7.5/10. Is this the new "best" Potter film? Could it be that the oft-stilted performances by the over-praised, yet under performing Potter trio, Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson, have finally improved? Was maybe a little love potion (or for you Potterphiles, a little Felix Felicis) mixed into the critics' refreshing beverages at the press screenings? You (and every other human under the age of 30) can will find out this Wednesday when the film hits theatres in wide, wide release.
Now I might be an exception, but frankly, I find the original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, directed by Goonies writer Chris Columbus, to be the only film that truly captures the wonder and awe of the magical world that Rowling wrote. Plus, it's the only film where you can excuse the acting of leads because by saying, "They're just children." And despite being an avid fan of the written works, the rest of the films, with maybe Cuaron's Prisoner aside, have struck me as being rather "meh." Not bad, mind you, just not magical.
Leave a comment and let us know which film ranks as your favorite Potter Pic?
Dustin Anglin