(Rated PG, 152 mins.)
From the J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, Potter finally flies into theatres, destined to become America’s largest franchise ever. And you don’t have to be a bookworm of the series or partial to chocolate frogs to love it! It’s the story of the bespectacled orphan kid, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), condemned to a life under the stairs in his aunt’s home until he learns that he is in fact a wizard. Soon off to Hogarts School, Harry begins to unravel the mysteries of his parents’ death with the help of two pals Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson). The cast is rounded out by veterans Richard Harris, John Cleese, Dame Maggie Smith and Fiona Shaw. The child actors are adorable and delicious, special effects pure wizardry, tantalizing suspense, magnificent soundtrack, with a hypnotic storyline consuming every long fly-by-152-magical-minutes, leaving big kids (parents) and their little kids hungry for more. Age gage? If they’re old enough to read the book they’re old enough to see this. The violence is captivating but not Tim Burton style gore. This will be this century’s “Wizard of Oz” meets “Willie Wonka” with much more sophistication and grandeur. (side note: story of the cast/crew is as magical as the movie. Nobody thought they’d get the roles and director Chris “Home Alone” Columbus only landed it when several heavy weights including Spielberg passed to direct “A.I.” Big mistake.) Warner Brothers is sending out 6500 prints this week to theaters, the largest release since “Godzilla” and they’ll need everyone of them as this movie is destined to sink even “Titanic.” Now that’s power, but not of the magic sort.
