Okay, young kids will love it, but I'll take The Two Towers!

Rating: 1/10 (13 November 2002)

A couple of minor spoilers are ahead:
Working for the film industry, I, along with my young nephew, were among the first people in the world to catch an advanced screening of the new Harry Potter movie. Now I'm not a Harry Potter fan in the least, (Sorry, but I prefer the Lord of the Rings books) and, while this IS a better movie than the first Harry Potter, I didn't think it was THAT spectacular.

Once again, in the beginning, Harry is picked on by his aunt and uncle until a small elf like creature named Dobby warns him against going back to wizard school at Hogwarts.
Sure, the three kids are a likable trio of magicians, but, it seems that Ron, the redheaded fellow, has little to do in this film until the end. And, I also found Kenneth Branagh's professor character to be quite silly, not to mention that there is this REALLY annoying computer generated character in the movie, named Dobby which is nothing but a huge pest, always warning Harry about bad things to come at Hogwarts complaining to him about bad things that happen to his fellow students, after a few of them have turned to stone.
While the film has some great effects, (The flying car ride to Hogwarts, the kenetic Quidditch match which is done better than in the first film, a wizards duel between Harry and this blond headed bully, I can't remember his name, and the ending within the Chamber of Secrets,) I still havn't been able to discover what so many children and teenagers find so fascinating about these books. And, like the first film, it's too long.
These films seem to follow the books too closely, and while children may love the idea of how the films match the books neatly, it gives filmgoers no surprises in seeing them.
To be fair, my nephew who is 9, loved the film, even more than the first, and he says he will see it again on opening weekend.
As for me, I'll be waiting until December 18th, the day that Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers hits theaters, THAT'S the film real fantasy purists REALLY want to see this holiday season! (Maybe it's a generational thing, with younger people prefering Harry Potter, and young adults prefering The Lord of the Rings.) However, as I stated earlier it is a better film than the first one although barely.
Sure, this film will make LOTS of money, but The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring proved that it can also make lots of money, AND earning numerous film awards while being a great book AND a great movie at the same time. Sadly this is not true for the first nor the new Harry Potter film.
An average 4 on a scale of 1-10.