Reviews

I used to think The Boy Who Could Fly was the dumbest, most absurd movie I’d ever seen. It was my lowest common denominator for movie quality. There may have been others that were worse — but that one always sticks in my head. Then, I saw a movie preview that shouldn’t be. It just shouldn’t be. Read on:

I have lots of names for the Bratz dolls. Pink Harlots, Little Hoes, Pedophile Playthings (ok, that last one was pretty bad…) Here’s the deal — Bratz dolls with their big eyes and full lips are designed to look sexual. Add their brainless, ditzy personas, and you have a full line of products that should insult any woman worth her intellectual salt.

Am I reading too much into the Bratz phenomenon? I hope so. I just know I don’t want my daughters to consider aesthetic beauty to be king. My hope is that after seeing the movie, I have to retract my comments here. Hopefully the movie will counter some of the image that plagues the Bratz dolls.

I’m not optimistic.

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I didn’t really like Harry Potter 4 (the movie). It was too dark, and I thought Harry was a crybaby teenager with an immature angst that was downright annoying. Plus, I disliked several of the other characters as well, so it was just a cruddy movie for me. I was expecting much the same or worse with this one.

I was quite happily wrong.

The Order of the Phoenix, which I just saw with my wife and brother in law, was in my opinion better than the last. Here’s a short list of the whys:

1. Harry, while still mad all the time, finally realizes he’s mad all the time. In the words of G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle.
2. Hermione (yeah, had to look that spelling up) is no longer portrayed as the cleavage induced eye candy that she was in movie 4. She’s back to the cute, down to earth kid that everyone likes as an actual person.
3. The kids actually do some, you know, MAGIC. This has been a frustration with the books as well as the movies. If Harry is this all incredible bad guy slayer — why is he always such a weenie when it comes to the wand? At least there was some sign that he might be an advanced wizard. I was really frustrated when Hermione always showed him up in the last movies.
4. The older Weasley boys are always great — but they shined in this movie.

It was really a good flick. I’m looking forward to the last book, which comes out in a week or so. The timing is really nice. And no, I’m not camping outside my bookstore, and I didn’t wear a cape to the movie tonight. I don’t want to be that guy.

UPDATE: Since I confessed to not reading the Harry Potter books on another blog, I guess I should clarify that I’m looking forward to the 7th book so I can read the spoilers online. 🙂