Farewell, Cheerio and Ciao Harry Potter I hate to see you go. Over the past ten years we became accustomed to seeing movies about this engrossing young boy turning into a teen and finally a young man. Harry is no ordinary person, he’s the kind of kid you root for, support and befriend. Slyly written the character found his way into many hearts and now he has vanished. Except for his past exploits in books and on DVD, there’s nothing much more to look forward with the culmination of the last film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. Kind of a bummer, don’t you think?
When Harry first came into our lives he’s this pre-teenage orphan who we find living with his Uncle, a muggle (ordinary human). But Harry we find out is the son of powerful wizards James and Lilly who challenged the dangerous wizard Lord Voldemort and died doing it. But we don’t remember Harry for all that messy past; it’s the future that counts.
And what a life he has had going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, making friends with Hermione and Ron, playing quidditch, learning to cast spells with his wand, playing detective sneaking around the school with his invisibility cloak while evading the strange professor Severus Snape, doing the bidding of his school master Albus Dumbledore, traipsing off to his half-giant friend Hagrid and fending off Voldemort with the Philosopher’s Stone.
Moving through his second, third, fourth years at Hogwarts Harry delves into the Chamber of Secrets fighting off a ferocious monster, trying to save his uncle Sirius Black, enters the dangerous Triwizard Tournament nearly dieing in the process, all including skirmishes with his arch nemesis Voldemort.
Duri ng his fifth and sixth year at Hogwarts Harry gets involved in the secret order of the Phoenix and starts to form loyalties with several members all of which despise Voldemort and gets involved in teaching a special underground class of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry takes the NEWT test and later finds a letter in a book written by the Half-Blood Prince and he arms himself with new potion formulas and spells. Here he learns about Voldemort’s magical Horcruxes that will be his puzzle to solve in order to have a final showdown with him.
The last events of his life culminate following Harry’s resignation from school and the last stand with Voldemort at the Deathly Hallows.
Wow, what a ‘magical’ life Harry has had and one that won’t be easily forgotten. His trek was something all filmmakers won’t forget either as during the nearly 10 years the films developed into a great adventure with battles that are amazing through the progression of Computer Generated Images (CGI). As new computers got faster, held more memory, improved the technology, and bigger programs allowed quicker animation making the monsters increasing believable, fighting between Harry and Voldemort became more realistic and magical trickery astonishing.
Thank you Harry and the many filmmakers should thank you for becoming the most Magical series ever made. I know I will miss seeing you up on the big screen, but still have your past on my DVD shelf.
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
