Andy Finally Watches… Harry Potter I

Andy’s back! This time he’s getting stuck in to the Harry Potter series. If you read the About page for this site, you’ll see where I said that you wouldn’t be getting any Harry Potter reviews here. Well, that was when I was the only mug writing for this site. Andy just writes what he wants to, and this is what he wants to write. Take it away, big yin…

Howdy y’all, I was determined to hold out reviewing Harry Potter, just so Mr 5-Word would have to do it, which he didn’t want to, but after finally watching all the films, I decided I would save him from it. I’ve seen the first 4 films but then Mrs Andy got the box set recently so I could watch the rest. I thought doing a review on just the last four would be a bit nonsensical, even for me, so I’ll do the lot for your unamusement. I reckon that since I have saved Ryan from it then he has to review the Twilight Saga (I can hear the expletives in response to that statement despite the 20 mile distance from him!)

Never. Gonna. Happen

And so we have it, the highest grossing film franchise of all time (I think. I didn’t check that, I just assumed) reviewed by a rambling Scottish lad with a mild addiction to chicken.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or Sorcerer’s Stone, for my American friends)

Lots of made up words

A young lad, conveniently named Harry Potter, lives under the stairs of his despicably annoying relatives and is made to do all the chores, and basically be a slave with a woolly jumper. One day a letter delivered by an owl comes for wee Harry, to the bemusement of his relatives. The letter is confiscated and destroyed, but that is not the end of it, oh no. More and more letters start coming, none of which Harry can open in time until a strange event involving letters coming down the chimney, prompts Papa Dursley, that’s their surname, to get the family the hell out of Dodge, I mean the house. Safe, or so they assume, in an undisclosed location, Hazza P draws himself a cake and pretends to blow out the candles as he turns 11, in the darkness while his arsebag relatives sleep. The ambience is shattered as the door gets kicked in by a big hairy chap called Hagrid who utters the now famous words ‘You’re a wizard ‘Arry!’ And so begins Harry’s seven-book/eight-film journey through wizardy adolescence and made up words.

I need to be careful with this and the subsequent seven reviews, with the amount that goes on in the Harry Potter films, that I don’t ramble on too much. So I may overcompensate by being slightly vague but lets not kid ourselves that we don’t know about Harry Potter. My kids know about Harry Potter and they haven’t even been conceived yet. [I don’t know much about Harry Potter -Ryan]

They all look so young!

Now I have never read any of the Harry Potter books, but I knew when they released the film adaptation of it, I would do my best sheep impression and follow the flocks to see it. And I must say, I wouldn’t consider any of the films to be baaaaaad! Sorry.

The first film follows Harry’s first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. From coming to terms with being a wizard, learning the ways of the magical world, and dealing with his status as a celebrity. Turns out that in the magical world, there is a big bad man who killed a lot of people but Harry survived, gaining a snazzy wee scar in the process, and because of this, his name is known throughout the wizarding world, with great things expected of him. With his pals Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, they get up to mischief, make friends and enemies, but form quite a formidable team for a trio of first yearers. The title refers to an object that can grant immortality which would allow the bad man to return. Harry takes it upon himself to make sure this doesn’t happen. Will he succeed?

There is so much to take in from the magical world created by JK Rowling. We are introduced to the teachers such as Snape, Professor McGonagle, Head Teacher Albus Dumbledore, the houses within the school of Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin (boo, hiss). We see Diagon Alley and discover Platform 9¾. The joys of Quidditch are revealed to us and I find out I want an Invisibility cloak.

Where’d the rest of him go?

Visually it is stunning. To see the other world come to life is something to marvel at and the score gives us the first listen of some now instantly recognisable notes. Allow yourself to get swept into it and it will give you a warm feeling inside. If anyone tries to tell me they watched Harry Potter and didn’t like it, then that person is a liar.

I suspect that I like it so much because I have a very wild imagination, and I can appreciate the detail that JK conjured up from within hers. One idea I have is an adaptation of The Hangover involving a group of hedgehogs that get drunk by eating fermented apples. That’s a winner right there!

Like I said, a lot goes on, and to explain would take longer than the film itself. So just watch it if you haven’t and discover it all for yourself. And for those of you that have, EXPELLIARMUS!!! till next time.

Andy Young