1805 Twelve year old critiques new Potter movie

Yesterday my daughter took the afternoon off work so she could take her girlfriend's kids to see the new Harry Potter movie. Her friend, Jennie, has been ill. But, as it turned out, Jennie felt well enough to go along, and so did her friend. . . and seven additional little friends of her kids. My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan, and I suspect she was looking for a good excuse to see the movie with children.

"So, was it good?" I asked (I sat through about 10 minutes of the first one, but that's about it. I don't like fantasy.)

"I think the book is the best in the series, but the movie is the worst," she said. "The first 14 chapters are covered in about a minute, and they were too good to be left out. It's so complex that I'm sure it's difficut to translate it to film."

After the movie the three women took the nine children to "Old Bag of Nails" for dinner (I find this very hard to picture). She then had a discussion with the 12 year old who definitely gave it a thumbs down. She is a huge Harry Potter fan, knows every character and plot and detail, and was able to monopolize the dinner conversation with her critique of the movie, scene by scene, disappointment by disappointment.

So I went on-line and read a few very enthusiastic reviews, most thrilled that some boring details were left out. Then I checked Movie Mom, whom I trust, and she gave it an A-.

"As Harry gets older and the stories get more complex and intricate, hints of themes from earlier chapters becoming deeper and more resonant, the series is becoming one of the most reliably satisfying in modern movie history. And that's what magic feels like.

Parents should know that as in the books, Harry's adventures and reactions become more complex and his challenges become more dangerous, the series has moved from a PG rating (albeit one that was right up at the edge of a PG-13) to a full-on PG-13. The bad guys are scarier, both in looks and in the threat they pose. There is a great deal of intense peril and some scary monsters. An important character is killed and the movie, even more than the book, makes you feel how searing a loss that is.Characters use brief strong language ("bloody hell," "piss off") and there is some very mild adolescent romance (a crush, concerns about who is going to ask whom to the dance and the jealous consequences thereof)."

So obviously, this would have been way to scary for me. But my daughter loves this intense, scary stuff. And what could be more scary than taking 9 children to an adult restaurant on a Friday night?

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