I don’t feel quite as ecstatic about the first two movies. They are true to the books and fun to watch, but lack the books’ freshness and humor. Perhaps the fun in reading Rowling’s books is in using my own imagination to create the world she describes. Perhaps the true attraction of the books are her word choices, which except for some dialogue, don’t make it to the screen. Perhaps the actors chosen to play Harry and Ron aren’t quite as convincing as I would like.

I do enjoy watching the third HP movie, the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). The change in directors to Alfonso Cuaron seems to have infused the movie with more energy. Our orphan Harry is always Brave and Lonely and Good (except when he has to break the rules to save someone’s life, of course.) In this book/movie he is given a respite from vanquishing He Who Must Not Be Named and faces a mere murderer. He finally gets a little help from the adults in his life in the form of a new and very nice Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, suggestively named Remus Lupin (what were his parents thinking!). Never mind that this teacher eventually puts his students at risk and has to be chased away. Before he goes, he teaches Harry to produce a corporal patronus! I do regret that this advanced magical skill goes unappreciated by the movie producers and is reduced to something that looks like a force field rather that the shining echo of Harry’s father that it is meant to be (I doubt that the Latin root pater in patronus is a coincidence). At the end of the movie, Harry is given something for which he has long hungered.

The visual scenery of the Highlands of Scotland makes whatever disappointment I suffer with the patronus charm worth enduring. Steep hillsides, soaring spires, stone cottages, and shining lakes are all in place now to add to my enjoyment of the books at next reading. Airborne, Harry soars over it all on several occasions. My favorite is his ride on the hippogriff. Half horse, half eagle, and said to be a favored mount of the knights of Charlemagne, the hippogriff is a beautifully computer animated fantasy creature. One only wishes they had found a way to animate the werewolf in such exquisite detail. The transition from man to werewolf is handled well (salute to Peter Jackson and Gollum’s evolution here) but the werewolf itself is two-dimensional. I suppose they had to downplay it to retain their PG-rating. The werewolf is scary enough that it will no doubt take up residence under the beds of some unfortunate small children whose parents weren’t quite discerning enough to wait a few years for this movie.

A welcome deviation from the book is the performance of the school choir on Harry’s arrival back to begin the year at Hogwarts. Music is hard to include on the printed page so video triumphs here. The chorus of “Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, something wicked this way comes” with bass part performed by bullfrogs adds perfectly to the parody of school life.

A favorite part of the book that was well done but slightly disappointing to a fan as rabid as I am, was the Knight Bus. The Knight Bus exists as “emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard” by leaping magically and violently from place to place. Its style is somewhat like a taxi in Rome as it recklessly weaves at breakneck speed through traffic. It has the advantage over Italian taxis of being able to elastically squeeze between oncoming traffic. While this was a great special effect, in the book houses and mailboxes are described as leaping out of the way of the bus. I was disappointed to not be treated to that visual spectacle. Stan Shunpike (the pimply conductor) and the beds sliding around the interior of the bus all lived up to my expectations, however.

What do I say to Christians who object to the world of witchcraft and wizardry depicted in the Harry Potter series? I have not yet spoken with anyone who has turned from occult practices to Christian faith, but I can see how even the parody of witchcraft in these books might offend them. If you think that reading these books might cause you to sin, either by wanting to engage in witchcraft or to live paralyzed by fear of Satan and his demons, then please don’t read them. If a spiritual authority figure in your life has forbid you to read them, then you shouldn’t. You should know, however, that JK Rowling has cleverly used magical creatures from old British folklore that very few of us now alive have ever believed in. If fear of Latin incantations, hinkypunks, grindylows or werewolves keeps you up at night, then steer clear. Just like worshipping Zeus or Diana has never been an issue for most of us now alive (and therefore eating meat that was offered to them wouldn’t bother us), the fanciful creatures and models of witchcraft she has chosen are so far from the practices of modern witches and warlocks that most of us can enjoy her creative alternative universe without stumbling.

There is no suggestion that Harry and his friends derive their powers from spirits. They are just born that way, like the X-men. Good and evil are clear, the battlefield is drawn, and magic is just one of the tools used in the conflict. Rowling has managed to keep the stories on a fairly superficial theological level so far. Death is real and final for most, but there is an afterlife. Evil is real and must be resisted, even unto death. What the origin of that evil is, or whether or not there is a Greater Power active for good behind the scenes has not yet been definitively revealed. God’s existence is hinted at by the prophecy regarding Harry and his destiny in HP5. We know that Someone knows how it will all end. How Rowling explains the meaning of Harry’s life and the sacrifice of his parents’ lives will play a large part in developing her “theology” of this magical alternate universe. We wait for all of this (and much more!) to be revealed in the next book!