I actually read the original seven Harry Potter books and
did a blog about them in 2007, around the time of Order of the Phoenix (#5) and before Half Blood Prince (#6) and the pair of “Deathly Hallows” films,
which cover book #7 but serve as movies 7 and 8. I haven’t read anything after Deathly Hallows.
I was pleasantly surprised by “FB” and also liked
“Grindelwald”. Both are prequels and
neither feature Harry Potter himself.
Younger Dumbledore makes his appearance in “Grindelwald”, played by one
of my favorite actors, Jude Law. Johnny
Deep plays Grindelwald himself. Warning,
Dumbledore describes his relationship with Grindelwald as “closer than
brothers”, meaning, “they’re gay, but don’t worry, we won’t see them kissing.” [“Not that there’s anything wrong with it.”]
Both focus on Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne,
and here’s why I like it: almost all of the characters are adults AND the movie
takes place in New York City. FINALLY we
have some acknowledgement that the United States exist. As for adults, I suppose had I been a kid
when the Potter books came out I’d have liked them more. But no, I’m an adult, and to me these are
kid’s stories and movies. So pushing the
focus on adult characters really pushes it more into my preference range.
The third thing is PARIS.
“Grindelwald” starts off in NYC again – 1927, so even the Chrysler
Building isn’t around yet – but gives us some London (ZZZ) but lots of
Paris. And this is a Paris rich in Art
Nouveau. I’ve gone off about Paris
umpteen times, mainly because I used to live there. The Paris angle I DON’T LIKE is this 1920s
“American in Paris” crap with Hemingway, Stein, and all the pretentious
expatriate writers hanging out there after World War I. And “Midnight in Paris” with Owen Wilson was
all about that – except when his female friend Adriana (Marion Cotillard)
dragged him to 1890s Paris. Anyhow. Fortunately the movie makers give us more Art
Nouveau than Art Deco and spared us Hemingway and his friends. Thank you!
Part of the fun is giving us young Dumbledore (Law) and
many of the writers of the Hogwarts textbooks as actual characters in their
youth. While I can’t say I have the
patience to re-read the original 7 books to catch up, many of the names sound vaguely
familiar.
Note: there will be a third film released in 2020, for a
total of five films. I have to wonder
where the next three will take place, because we’ve hit NYC (Fantastic Breasts)
and Paris (Grindelwald). May I suggest
Rio de Janeiro? And what about magic in
communist countries? Dare we see what
Moscow looked like in 1928, with Stalin and Trotsky still battling it out for
control of the Soviet Union? What does
the MagiCheka look like?
Better yet, if the series continues into the 1930s, in
particular past January 30, 1933, perhaps Berlin could be a setting. Because we all know that the Nazis’
fascination with the occult is a topic which is long overdue for a movie,
right?
Stay tuned.
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