I don’t know about you, but standing outside in 40 degree weather when the wind is blowing is not my idea of a good time.      Losing feeling in my hands is quickly followed by losing my sense of humor.   An hour and fifteen minutes of standing outside waiting in line to see the latest Harry Potter film meant that I was ready to do violence to anyone who tried to be cute or smart aleck about, well, anything.    This is not the best frame of mind to be in when entering a theater that is sure to be sold out and where jockeying for seats is serious business.

Thank goodness the theater was warm and the movie was great.   How is it that the Harry Potter films, all directed by different people, have each managed to be within the good to great range?  What other series of films can say that?  (What other series boasts 8 films?  None, I think)   The secret, I believe, is in the brilliance of J.K. Rowling’s novels.   Those who would denigrate the books and films for promoting witchcraft have clearly not read or seen them.   Good should triumph over evil;  morals and ethics are important.   Harry’s quest is to save the world for the side of the good.

Even if this type of story is not your cup of tea, you have to appreciate and applaud the fact that Rowling single-handedly got an entire generation of kids (and many adults) reading again.  Reading in a way that is delicious, where you stay up too late and can’t concentrate on anything else because you are so involved in the story being told on the page.   The movies are great companion pieces and seeing them is like greeting old friends,  but they  could never replace the written works.

So hurray for great books.  Hurray for J.K. Rowling and her Harry.  And hurray for the film-makers who knew these great books deserved great film-making.

And thank goodness the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will open in the balmy month of June.