After nearly the whole world has watched Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire, I set out to watch the movie on a Saturday morning. By the time, I walked out of the theater, it was freezing cold outside and I couldn’t believe that there were still cars running around. Not because it was freezing cold outside but I was in a state of trance for the last couple of hours that made me believe that when you aim a wand at something it can transform into a monkey or a donkey or even an IIPM Ad. Who knows. Harry Potter isn’t Rajini to get you transfixed during his on screen presence. Still, Harry Potter has a magical aura around him. And even if you never liked, with people around you cheering, ” Harry Harry Harry”, you can’t just hate him. And I was one such odd man out.
Harry Potter and I have a love-hate relationship. Before I go on to state what the love is, here’s a secret. I haven’t yet read any of Harry Potter books. One reason could be that before I set out to read book one, I saw the first movie. After then, year after year, it’s a custom to walk into a theater where Harry fights Voldermot and succeed every single time. Hence I am not a major Harry Potter freak to whom you could ask, ” Which spell makes the Dark Mark appear ?” and I would readily shout, Morsmordre. From the first time, I always have a feeling that I haven’t understood the entire thing about Hogwarts and Harry as compared to someone who has read the book(s). Generally, I would love to read a book and watch the movie but I am not used to read a book series like Potter and watch the respective movies on screen. Not just me but millions of people around the world aren’t used to this kind of book-then-movie-book-then-movie stuff. Thats probably one reason, why I believe Harry Potter is a major phenomenon and would be talked about until at least the next century. I ain’t awestruck at Harry Potter’s movie but I I truly believe in this.
Even as I purchased the ticket, I knew that Harry Potter wouldn’t die in the hands of Voldemort. As the print media is already selling Harry’s sixth book, one would know before hand Harry Potter is going to succeed even in fifth and the sixth movie. That certainly distances you from getting involved with the movie. This is where my interest never gets even as as Harry gets a wild card entry in the Tri-Wizard tournament. So I have to say if there are major changes to the climax of the next Potter movies, my energy levels would soar and would make people like me, get involved. I wish that happened much against the wish of Harry Potter fans.
In this serving of Harry Potter’s Adventure at Hogwarts, Harry’s hormones work overtime even as Harry is thrown into a deadly challenge for which he isn’t mentally ready. As he makes a lengthy stare at his school mate Cho Chang, you know Harry has grown-up. This is clearly innocence lost. From just being a children’s fantasy story, Harry Potter grows up into a teenager flick. I am not sure if this is what J K Rowling originally intended to be. There is a huge possibility that she just allowed the character to shape it by itself and hence from being just a chandamama story hero, Harry Potter gives a feeling of being a real human being. This is the biggest plus in creating a fantasy story. You could make just about anything in a fantasy story. Even in the next story, JK rowling could take Harry Potter back to his first year at Hogwarts.
I have to ramble here. Harry Potter isn’t James Bond or Spiderman or Superman or any of the super heroes. If this Harry Potter like growth had happened, year after year, James Bond should have turned into a 70 year old man now, going by Ian Fleming’s initial description of James Bond. Or Superman would be a retired old man, sitting in a recliner and reading NY Times. But it never happened. Superman is as young as he was, when first introduced. Watch out for the young Superman as he returns in the summer of 2006. My Paati created a fantasy hero for her grand children. So the same Darling Rajakumaran is still fighting the Mahendrapuri Raaja as he was during my childhood days. My nephew heard the same story a few years back. Just that the latest Darling Rajakumaran drives a Maruthi 800 while mine had only a karuppu horse. May be this growing up is what makes Harry Potter a saga. An epic that could stay for decades to come. None can answer now and its for time to answer how Harry Potter would be carried into the future. Probably 50 years from now, like Peter Jackson, some could give life to the forgotten Potter story and re-take it for the movie standards of that day. The reality is, Daniel Radclife would have enough beard like Dumbledore and would be resting in a recliner like the above said Superman.
Goblet of Fire is a so-so movie. There are some fantastic CGI scenes but the movie is more realistic than other Potter movies. The Quiditch World Cup had breath taking special effects. Made me wish if only there was a real stadium like that. Someone said the whole quiditch stuff ran into more than 50 pages in the book while it was reduced to 5 minutes on-screen. Quiditch was one thing that made me sit-up in the first potter movie and I felt let down as the whole chapter ended up so fast. Still, the movie by itself was filled with competitions. It had 3 races and some story in-between the three competitions. While the dragon episode was the grand one, the other two were pitiful counter-parts. Especially the maze competition for climax, reminded me of the final scenes of Kubrick’s Shining.
The screenplay has a many yawning places which made me slide down the chair and yearned to go to sleep. Of course there are also sensational scenes in the story. Though reading the whole Yule Ball episode might be sleep inviting, on-screen it was short and sweet. Harry asks for a girl to dance with him during the ball. Since she is already going with someone else, he finally settles down for an Indian girl. And why would they want to symbolically represent Indians as brown skinned by choosing darker girls while there are thousands of fairer Patels and Shahs in England. Spontaneously, Harry hugs Granger while he is about to start for the second round of competition. Thats probably a highlight of this Harry Potter episode. I’m waiting to see if Granger would marry(?!!) Potter or Weasley, as Wesley also sights Granger as much as Harry. The ending was sober with the death of a friend but there is an entire sequence before that seems like the mummy awakening, which is exciting.
There is absolutely no reason to write a review for this movie. Its become like a sort of social thingy for Harry Potter movie to release and the world waits for their turn of tickets in long queues of theaters to watch him do magic. They still cheer, “Harry Harry and Harry !!”. More reasons to love this movie than hate it.
kirukkal.com 
26 responses to “Harry’s Hormones”
It’s refreshing to read a Potter movie review by a non-reader. I always wanted to find out how the “muggles” felt about the movie! You dont ve to tell us you ve nt read the book. The spellos in Quidditch, Granger, Voldemort and Weasley screams it aloud. What a sacrilege 😉
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Boo, 🙂 You are right.
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well well… the movies never live up to the book and so is the case with this one.
The book is a very fine work of imagination(and as I always say read it)
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not a big fan. may regret it someday but at the moment I am not planning to watch this movie.. havent seen #3 and dont even remember the stories of #1 and #2 ( needless to say I cant remember any of the movie names too).
the first 3 coincided with LOTR and so the ineterest level in this waned for me.
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To truly feel the “magic” so to say, you must read the books. The movies don’t even come close to the books. Since the series ends at 7, which would make Harry 17 years old he is unlikely to marry anyone at that age, ie. if he actually survies at the end of book 7. At this time his prospects of survival don’t look too bright. The movies also don’t potray the characters strictly as they are written in the book, for ex. An over excited Dumbledore or Volermort is very movie. In the book Voldermort is actually scary. Similarly, when you read the books you know that Hermione is like a sister to Harry so all the hugging and concern is that of siblings. The movies also omit incidences that go on to be important later in the series so I can see how confusing many things would be to muggles who have never read the book. Anyway, I’d better stop here. Suffice to say that as a fan of the books I don’t care for the movies.
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Sorry, don’t mean to spam but
“As he makes a lengthy stare at his school mate Cho Chang, you know Harry has grown-up. This is clearly innocence lost. From just being a children’s fantasy story, Harry Potter grows up into a teenager flick. I am not sure if this is what J K Rowling originally intended to be.”
In the books Harry ages quite realistically each year and has characteristics that befit a person his age. The books begin when he turns 11 and will end when he is almost 18 and Harry as a character ages well.
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“It has been said that the gift of a true writer happens to be his talent for saying, describing, exploring, and lauding every single topic but the point he really intends to make.” but lazy, i really wish i got the point of this review !
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FYI. Harry doesnt have interests towards Hermoine. Granger and Weasley have the thing for each other !
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Sudha,
Except that it’s classified under film reviews(for which I don’t have another category), this is just a rambling of a muggle, i accept. this aint no crtical analysis. i think the first line of last para explains that 🙂
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All u noticed abt the Indian girls is the colour of theor skin??Why wd u want India to be symbolically represented by fairer skinned girls when there are darker girls too.
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Hi LG,
I watched Harry potter – ?? which one I don’t know. But I understood but seriously saying I am wondering how people read it in book confusing for me. The tricks & pricks are got to watch visualy. But as a book reader I am wondering!!
BTW who is the chik to left of the hero. She looks familiar and pretty with Indian look. Wonder if you know the details can you pass it on to me??:-)–Thanks
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Didn’t like the 4th one as much as the 3rd, which I consider the best. It felt like reams of pages were left out. It was an okay movie, but I wish someone with the vision of Alfonso Cuaron would direct the 5th one.
I only read the first two books, FYI.
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LG,
I love LOTR than HP. But that is not important now, my query is who is the Indian gal on the poster 🙂
Regards-Raj
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I was shamelessly cheering and hooting while watching the movie in Sathyam RDX! That too it was the equivalent of a tharai ticket in Sathyam. Like Boo said, I love to read what non-readers (muggles) think of Harry Potter books and movies. And since there are already enough spoilers around, one more won’t hurt. “Granger” won’t marry Harry, because they ARE platonic friends, Harry is too busy “sight-adichufying” Weasley’s sister to notice Hermione Granger. 🙂 And Harry not being a super hero character – sort of some one who is always around to save the world, that’s precisely why more people get involved with the series. Makes blunders as anybody else, hesitates in asking a girl out, although he is stuck inside a fantasy book.
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For me HP is no more than an ambulimama story.
(I was forced by one of my friends to read the first in the sequel and I could not go through more than 10 or 12 pages!).
Donno why it is being much hyped and glorified-“HP awareness” has become a culture among the kids!
I was really disgusted when I saw ppl swarming Landmark and other book stores since 4 or 5 in the morning -most of whom were kids – for the latest HP & the half-blood prince-I wonder how many of these parents encourage their kids to read Ramayana or Mahabharatha or for that matter any Indian tale.
Probably they would do so if those things had JKR stamping.(I am not against the author here).
Also I am also a bit worried that HP is becoming the “mega-serials of the young”!
And as far HP movies go – I wud rather settle for vittalacharya films(padala bairavi or jagan mogini!).
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Vikram, I guess you are being a little harsh here. I’d suggest any prospective readers of Potter not to judge the entire series by merely 10 or 12 pages. For that matter, it is completely wrong to trash a book by reading a chapter or two. Such “trashings” only reflect the ignorance of the reader. I do belong to the “group of kids” who stand in front of Landmark at 4 am to get the book. And FYI, people associate more with Potter that *snorts*Ram or Bhishma or Krishna (I don’t intend to blaspheme) because he is one among them, not demi Gods who do magical things. And IMHO, when it comes to reading atleast, people shouldn’t be so narrow minded about the choice of books. I love “The Kalevala” more than Ramayan and “The Lord of the Rings” more than Mahabharat. I don’t know what is so wrong about that. What JKR does is add sugar coating and witty dialogues to basic fantasy stories of Good Vs Evil. As long as kids get the essence, why does it matter if the source is from JKR or Valmiki?
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You are a jackass – the colour of the Patel girls is not something worth mentioning and as one of the previous posts indicate – India is made up of both fair and tanned skinned women. I think that it was well represented … what is up with this illusion that fair = beautiful anyway …
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Good to know that I belong to a gang! Gang ‘not-too-impressed-by-Potter’. Call me conservative, but, I still strongly believe, kids should grow up reading Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys. I also believe, ‘Baadhala Bairavi’, ‘Manaalane mangayin baakyam’ belonged to the same genre minus the technology and marketing strategies!
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Mr.PB who swears me jackass, here’s my explanation. i don’t say India is only made with fair-skinned. my one question is what’s with them to always potrays that we are dark skinned. there’s nothing wrong but just a question. just to understand what pleasure they derive.
and btw, why don’t you ask an explanation before you jump to conlusions.
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never too late. read it from the first book 🙂
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Good review as usual, and I agree with Lazy, that as a non reader of Rowling’s books, I largely enjoyed the Harry Potter movies.
Jut a thought about the “dark skinned” argument. When did being fair and being not so fair, become an argument in a blog, run by an indian and read largely by indians”.
Without creating further problems. I believe, it is pretty easy for a movie maker to potray a dark, aryan looking girl as indian, and the audience around the world would readily believe that she is an indian. On the flip side, a very fair indian girl could sometimes be misinterpreted as being from the West.
I live in the chinese world, and I’ve been questioned several times, that how can indians be fair :).
The answer to them is always at the tip of my tongue.. “grow up”. I just give it a slip, anyways.
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All we apprectaite is only a boy running behind a girl as in all Tamil movies as we Tamilians cant speak English and this is a good example of us not appreactiating any language
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LG, Reg color of the skin, Navi Rawat plays an Indian characterm,Amita Ramanujan in the TV series Numb3rs. Shes fair. There are so many other occassions too. It is in bad taste to say the least, to concentrate on the clr of the skin of the patil sisters.
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Itend, Where is bad taste here. I don’t have a clue how you could sort this under bad taste because it was just an observation.
Please explain.
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lazy.. i have been reading your blog for sometime now. I would suggest you to watch ‘Apaharan’. It’s a realistic movie after a long time from Bollywood. Nana Patekar and Ajay Devgan rock together.
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Kubrick…Great Kubrick
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/2001/index.html
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