Expecto Patronum!

After an extended vacation from the world of blogging, I have finally returned! Actually, I finally have some things worth blogging about! ;-) I had a fun weekend just "hangin" with the people I love.

Saturday I caught the latest installment of the Harry Potter movies, The Prisoner of Azkaban. I was expecting something much darker than the first two movies and therefore was not surprised by what I saw. Although I did have some difficulty following the story line due to my current visual and auditory impairment (thank goodness I'd already read the book!), I must say that I didn't like this film as much as the first two. The first two Potter flicks were fun, relatively lighthearted, and had a very magical, almost ethereal, vision of Harry Potter's world. However, Prisoner is much darker and "real world" than Sorcerer's Stone or Chamber of Secrets. Instead of feeling like you're in a fantastic magical world, you feel more like you're witnessing the dark side of magic. I personally enjoy the more fantastic innocence of the first two films. However, the friend with whom I saw the film thought this latest installment was better than the other two films.

I suppose it could come down to the direction. The first two movies were directed by Chris Columbus who decided to take a break from directing the Potter films and instead help produce. The current movie was directed by a Mexican director best known for "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (a movie I HIGHLY recommend you DON'T see). His style is very gritty and real so I was surprised when they chose him for a movie about a magical world. Nonetheless, if you're a Harry Potter fan, definitely check out the movie.