by Erika Livingstone

Created on: August 31, 2009

Chris Columbus started the series of impending films out on a strong note. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was a critically acclaimed four-star film that boosted the popularity of the word-of-mouth novels by J.K. Rowling. After the success of the first and the second film, Columbus reportedly wished all the cast to be relocated to Los Angeles in order to film the remaining six films. The parents of the younger actors were against this as it would disrupt the lives of their children too much. He was replaced as director for the third film by Alfonso Cuaron. He was replaced for the next film by Mike Newell, and he was replaced by David Yates, who is to direct The Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince, and the Deathly Hallows Pt I and II.

Along with the death of Rex Harrison, the Harry Potter film franchise has been through a lot. David Yates should add new stability to the films that was lacking before, and may pull the series out of the criticism it has faced since the first film. His skills in The Half-Blood Prince are notable.

Personally, I found the lowest point in the series to be The Goblet of Fire; there were too many points of interest that toned down the colour found in the book. The quality rose again with The Order of the Phoenix, and I believe they have risen again this time.

Part of enjoying this film, and (unfortunately) all Harry Potter films is a prerequisite of reading the novels. The films make little sense without having read them, and some find that they are lost unless they have read the books recently enough to remember the connective tissue that was amputated for the adaptation. Some readers of the books may also be miffed about a few of the cosmetic changed made to the screen-play. Of course, there are a million reasons why this may have occurred, but I think viewer-readers may wonder why Luna was the one to find Harry on the train after Draco breaks his nose, and not Tonks as it was originally intended. She does appear briefly later on, so why not there? There are others, of course (Aragog is suddenly about a quarter of his initial size, Hagrid is not seen escaping from his hut, the Gryffindors do not win the Quidditch Cup, quidditch isn't really in it much full stop, but when it is, Luna's Lion hat doesn't roar...)

Pickiness aside, the film looks absolutely incredible. It is colorful, Bauhaus in spots, detailed and lush. One could hang any frame on their wall. A great deal of time went into presentation, and it came off

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