Another review - loved film. semi-disses the books

[A.E.B.Bevan at open.ac.uk]

Another review 
 with a twist.

Basically this one says the film is better than the book, and hints 
at the old 'truism' that mediocre books can make great films while 
great books tend to make mediocre films.

The URL for this one is 

Julie Myerson
Observer 11 November 2001   

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4296437,00.html

Access on your own spolier responsibility.

One extract below the spoilerspace

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Wild about Harry, the movie 
J.K. Rowling's genius lies in taking the best bits from all the 
children's classics to make the Potter books, but the real magic's in 
the film

Julie Myerson
Observer 11 November 2001   


TEXT INCLUDES
>>>
But J.K. Rowling has proved them wrong. She has simply taken every 
single book you ever read as a child and rolled them into one big 
multicoloured whole. Yet, for me, it took Chris Columbus's 
brilliantly engaging film to point this out. And yes, the film is 
wonderful - a lavish riot of magic and adventure. All of J.K. 
Rowling's quirky ideas - staircases that suddenly swing in different 
directions, oil paintings whose subjects move and speak - are 
realised with heart-stopping, million-dollar effect. Everything is 
done on a big scale and it works. The film has pace, beauty and a 
grandiose John Williams score reminiscent of every adventure movie 
you've ever seen. A clutch of famous names (Cleese, Rickman, Walters, 
Hurt) appear in crunchy character roles and the young newcomers 
playing the three kids - Harry, Ron and Hermione - make them glow 
with real warmth and genuine humour, something I found lacking in the 
books. 

I have to confess that as far as I know, with the noble exception of 
Mr Davies (my daughter's Year 6 teacher), I am the only human on the 
planet who does not really rate the Harry Potter books. I've really 
tried to like them, but I'm constantly underwhelmed. I find the 
writing terminally unsatisfying - stiff, old-fashioned and utterly 
lacking in charm or elegance. The plots alarmingly jump from one 
scene to another without proper motivation. There's practically no 
characterisation. I try to concentrate yet find I'm glazing over. 

But my kids, like everyone else's, adore them. Now at last I 
understand why. 
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