Culturebox: Harry Casts a Spell

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movies Harry Casts a Spell How Deathly Hallows won the heart of this Potter skeptic. By Dana Stevens Posted Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010, at 3:27 PM ET Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (Warner Bros.): the mere title fills the heart of a non-Potter-lover with preemptive dread. Chapters of a long-running film franchise that exist in temporal limbo, like the one-generation-too-late prequels to the Star Wars series, often feel static and irrelevant. In the case of this adaptation of the last of J.K. Rowlings' Potter novels, the book was so weighty it had to be divided into two movies. And yet Harry Potter 7A, as it's been dubbed by my colleague Dan Kois, was one of my favorite Harry Potter movies so far, precisely because it takes a break from the magic-and-monster-crammed busyness of its predecessors. For much of this movie, the three young protagonists of the saga--Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson)--exist in suspended animation, camped out on a series of picturesque British heaths as they flee the Death Eaters, minions of Harry's archrival Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). That very immobility gives the movie a chance to slow down and concentrate on the relationship among these three young people, whom we've watched grow up as both actors and characters since the first Potter movie in 2001. To continue reading, click here. Dana Stevens is Slate's movie critic. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Obama Can Get the Senate To Ratify the New START Treaty. But It Won't Be Easy. Soccer Has a Long, Illustrious History in America. Why Does MLS Ignore It? For God's Sake, Please Listen to Ron Wyden's Wild Ideas About Tax Reform	Advertisement
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