If you want to be a kid again... see it.

Rating: Null/10 (5 June 2004)

My wife and I saw the new Harry Potter movie on its opening day, while most kids were still in school. I have fallen asleep each of the many times I have tried to watch the two previous movies in the series, much to my granddaughters' amusement. What with strep throat, penicillin, and a monstrously full work week, I fully expected to do so again.
Didn't happen.
The first two movies, to me, were essentially Classics-Illustrated-Comics versions of their respective books, pleasant but not engrossing, illustrative but not illuminating -- picturing the events in the books, but not bringing them to life. This one is a MOVIE. It starts off with Harry doing something wildly out of character at the Dursleys, and then begins a wild ride that never looks back. It's by turns exciting, funny, heartbreaking and ennobling. The new director, Alfonso Cuarón ("A Little Princess," "Y tu mamá también"), never lets it be anything less than an old-fashioned adventure movie.
The three kids in the leads have matured into quite good actors; Daniel Radcliffe as Harry now has spine; Rupert Grint as Ron is hilariously hapless still, but you can see the wheels turning in his depths; Emma Watson as Hermione is bright and funny and absolutely adorable, and will be heartbreaker too soon.
If you want to be a kid again, if only for two hours or so -- even if you've never read the books -- see it.