Tired and bored

Rating: 5/10 (12 December 2001)

In a few words, I found this film too long, too dark (in the literal sense of the word), too childish and too tiring to watch overall. The technical merit is obvious but apart from that I see no room for serious criticism. Some extraordinary twists in the plot are made in order to make things... as Harry-friendly as possible and the whole thing seems more like a pop-icon celebration than like a... normal / average tale that I could have actually liked. It's as if we're supposed to go into the movie-theater already being in love with the damn kid! The fact that some things are... over-explained is perhaps suitable for the film's intended audience but tiring to an adult and I must also add that I could not help noticing a rather... sexist tone (female characters have a supporting role while the real heros are all male). I'm not one of those politically correct wackos but it's a rather unpleasant surprise when you think that this is the first major tale-movie of the 21st century!