I watched the movie, out of boredom

if you watch it as it is meant to be "faery tales" it is quite good. but it is in no way serious stuff :D

For the above negative comments on Harry Potter books/film:

There's alot of hype (positive and negative) regarding the H.Potter, books and the film.

What I would say is: Borrow one of the books and read it! If you don't like it, give it back in disgust. If you find that DO like it carry on and read the others (& possibly watch the film).

It just seems to me that people are hating it because it's seen as
A) for kids
B) it's 'popular'
C) it's not serious
instead of "because they read it and don't like it." (which is a legitimate reason for dislike).

I generally dislike books that fall into A and C categories above, but I was coerced into reading them by the rest of my family. Even my dad liked them! (definately NOT a fiction/fantasy/scifi reader).
Didn't think the film measured up to the books fully, but films never really do (still worth watching, though).

Anyway, please don't discard/hate what you don't know. [img]smile.gif[/img]

First off: I'm a great Lord of the Rings fan, one of the best books ever written. I first read it about 15 years ago and re-read it this summer in preparation for the film.

For perspective, my favorite authors/books are probably:
Asimov (all 15 or so in the robotic Foundation series) - Absolutely Brilliant, beats all the others hands down.
Tom Sharpe (all) - again brilliant; if you don't laugh out loud (or make a suppressed noise of some sort) then you probably don't have a sense of humour.
Tolkien (lotr, hobbit, silmarillion etc) - Superb, just not enough of it.
John Wyndham (all) - first rate scifi, especially some of the lesser known works.
Terry Pratchett - the early Discworld books are very funny, the later ones often get a bit samey. Truckers/Diggers/Wings/Carpet People were all pretty enjoyable as well.

Up until about a month ago I wouldn't have dreamt of reading Harry Potter. "It's for 12 year olds", I thought, "probably consists of short sentences with 2 or 3 syllable words. Why bother?".

But I was laid up, injured, with nothing else unread in the house, so I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about.

All four books were *great* - I couldn't read them fast enough.

OK, they're not "real" serious fantasy, lacking the depth and substance of LOTR and others, but they're hugely enjoyable - the most enjoyable I've read since Eddings: Redemption of Althalus.

If your normal reading matter seems to be a bit heavy going, unrewarding, more drawn out with each successive book in the series, or whatever...

Why not take a break and have some light hearted fun and enjoyment for a change - try Harry Potter, it's great!

(If you're too ashamed to be seen reading it, do it secretly and don't admit it)

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by dominions:
For the above negative comments on Harry Potter books/film:

There's alot of hype (positive and negative) regarding the H.Potter, books and the film.

What I would say is: Borrow one of the books and read it! If you don't like it, give it back in disgust. If you find that DO like it carry on and read the others (& possibly watch the film).

It just seems to me that people are hating it because it's seen as
A) for kids
B) it's 'popular'
C) it's not serious
instead of "because they read it and don't like it." (which is a legitimate reason for dislike).

I generally dislike books that fall into A and C categories above, but I was coerced into reading them by the rest of my family. Even my dad liked them! (definately NOT a fiction/fantasy/scifi reader).
Didn't think the film measured up to the books fully, but films never really do (still worth watching, though).

Anyway, please don't discard/hate what you don't know. [img]smile.gif[/img] <hr></blockquote>

I have read the books. Up to about chapter 3 in one of them and threw it away in disgust.

Because:

A) It was a chessy plot line

B) Ah f*** it, I have explained it enough already.

But I HAVE read the books. And I still hate the serries.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AzureWolf:
Actually I have made a vow to myself never to watch the movie or read any of the books. Yeah I know Im "one of those" ;)
But I am a fan of more serious fantasy anyway<hr></blockquote>

I have to agree with you totally there Azure, I read one chapter because someone convinced me too, and it was all they could do to stop me burning it there and then (j/k)
But seriously, I really didn't like it, and Big Red, I would take it into account that it may be good for a light read, but I hate light reads, I usually just find it so boring if a book is just there to skim through, it's not really worth it then.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by YeRFDoG:


I agree totally...... harry potter is "baby" and I don't think it's worth the effort of reading the books or even seeing the movie.
I'm anticipating seeing LoTR at the movies and I'm *praying* it does better than HP ;) <hr></blockquote>


Aaaarrgghhh!! Comments like this drive me mad, however "humerous" they are meant. I agree with dominions when he says you can't dislike something without trying it..This applies ESPECIALLY to books!

About HP. First off, I thought the film was poor..I felt the characterization was poor and the special effects too noticable....ON the other hand I did enjoy reading the books, yet I can't call them classics as many people do, they're not that good.

BTW I work in a library, and IMO you CANOT compare HP with LOTR as they are set in two different genres. HP is Child Fantasy, whilst LOTR is Adult Fantasy....Any person serious about Fantasy should be able to (at the least) be able to put up a more reasoned opinion for disliking a book than "it's baby" or "it was a cheesy plot line" (all stories have cheesy plots at some point!)

Finally FYI I've read both HP and LOTR (+hobbit, silmarillion & Lost Tales) as well as all Discworld, Dragonlance Chronicles (+others), Wheel Of time, Raymond E Feist, T. Goodkind, Salvatore, Steven Erikson...the list goes on and on!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Grand-Ranger:


I have read the books. Up to about chapter 3 in one of them and threw it away in disgust.

Because:

A) It was a chessy plot line

B) Ah f*** it, I have explained it enough already.

But I HAVE read the books. And I still hate the serries.<hr></blockquote>

If you've read the the books and dislike them then, fine, I can respect that. Everyone has different tastes and likes/dislikes.

I read the books to find out what the hype was about, and was surprised to find they were excellent! While I thoroughly enjoy "adult" and "serious" fantasy like Lord of the Rings, I also enjoy light hearted stuff like the Xanth and Myth books. I'd put Harry Potter in the category with the latter two - it's light, and funny, and a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an hour or two.

I would have absolutely ADORED them as a kid!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Reeka:
I haven't read the book but I saw the movie on Saturday and I thought it was very good. I might be inspired to read the book now. :D <hr></blockquote>


I'm on book 2 now, TRUST me, if you liked the movie, you'll love the book! And Book 2 is better, because you don't know what is going to happen! ;)

Well, I've read the first book, and though it was amusing, I never felt the urge to read the other parts. Half of the family is crazy about the books, other half including me is not.

In my opinion (this is rant mode BTW), the Hogwart world is practically an insult to other fantasy (yes, I know, strong term). If we look at it from that certain point of view, Rowling simply ripped open twelve cans of fantasy creature mix and tossed it in a kettle. Add a bit of editing powder, and there you go: fantasy

It does not work like that. A lot of writers try to be original, to think up something new. In Harry Potter, it's one cliche after another.
(off rant)

I know the story itself is okay, that it's not all lacking in originality, that there's a bit of hidden sarcasm directed at our society and so on. But as soon as the first 'can' was opened I thought Rowling was taking it a bit too far. The second can did it for me.

As to the merchandising, which I think is extremely irritating, that's not JK's fault. Warner Bros. can only be expected to turn hype into cash the minute they get the rights. The movie was only seen by the 'other half' of the family, and it seems they enjoyed it. I won't go off ranting about that too. I think Joanne must have done at least something right to earn all te money she did and drive all those children crazy. But the charm spell didn't work on me.

Strange though, as my father and my sister are into fantasy almost as much as I am.