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

Read the book!!! There were a few minor details left out that make the book better. The movie was very well done!!!

I think I'm going to let myself in for some hate mail here [img]smile.gif[/img] , but here goes...I found the film to be OK but nowhere near as good as the hype suggested.

The books are brilliant, though!

I'm going to see the film in the Christmas holidays. I can't wait!{jk}

I've never read the books. I always prefer either real stuff or old style fantasy like Lord of the Rings.

Umm wait. I am joing to see it. The joke was on 'I cant wait'
I am looking forward to it though.

I have also been inspired to buy the book after seeing the movie, but guess what? The store's stay sold out. I'll have to order online.

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

<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>

Me too. No matter how many people tell me how good it is, there is no doubt in my mind what THE movie to see will be.

<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>


Same here, I have a very strong, un-controlable hatred for Mr.Potter

<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 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 ;)

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.

I have just come back from a debating competition in which the first motion was: "This house views Harry Potter as a Clear and Present Danger.". I was first opp and:

I haven't read any of the books,

I haven't seen the film,

I knew absolutely nothing about them (at all),

The funny thing about this debate was that only two people out of eight had actually read any of the books. Even the judge has never read them. Possibly a bit of a bad motion I think.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Legolas:
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.<hr></blockquote>

You summed it up pretty damn well IMO Legolas.

I bought the first Harry Potter book about 2 years ago, for my kid, and at the time there was no hype about it. Believe me or not, I had trouble finding the second book in stores.

Anyway, my kid loves the HP series, and I read it and loved it too. Of course it's not Fantasy in a Robert Jordan scale ! [img]smile.gif[/img] But :

- For once I had found books for my kid aged 8 that were more than 50 pages long ! My kid was and is a book-eater, and he was starting to feel really frustrated with books that end as soon as they start ! [img]smile.gif[/img]

- It was the very first book that both my kid and I could read and enjoy - it's a nice story to read on the beach during summer vacation. [img]smile.gif[/img]

- It is a great series to have a child enter into the Fantasy world. One of the very rare books aimed at kids that does not treat them af is they were stupid.

We went to watch the movie this morning, and we had a great time. The movie is good, the characters from the book are very well transposed into the movie. And its' not frequent to find a movie that both the kids and their parents both enjoy. Unfortunately, as we are in France, the movie was dubbed and the kids voices were awful. :( So now we are impatiently waiting for the DVD. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm completely indifferent about Harry Potter. I'm not going to see the movie, nor reading any of the books, but I'm fair enough not to yell "it sucks" in return either. But I must admit the hype around it is ridiculous, there's even more Harry Potter merchandise around than was the case with Pokemon and Teletubbies for instance... :(

I saw the movie but not read any of the books. My wife had read one and two before the movie came out. Let me tell you, my wife was so thrilled about the books that I went out and bought her the entire 4 book collection in hardback. She read three and four in less time than I have ever read a single novel! So, I asked for a book report. After hearing what three and four are about, let me tell you....I am going to be the first one in line at the movies when they come out! She has got me so interested in them taht I vow to reead all four books before the fifth one comes out so that we can read 5, 6, and 7 together as a couple. I know that they are not Forgotten Realms typ books, but the story really keeps you interested throughout the entire series.
Ziroc...you HAVE to get book 4!!!!!!!!!!
My wife ws crying because of a sad part in it, yet she says that it is the best one yet!
Why am I here...?
I should be reading it right now!!!!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Legolas:
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)<hr></blockquote>

You guys are taking this WAY too far.. it's JUST a book, enjoy it or not, this thread was for people that LIKED Harry Potter, not to turn into a Hary Potter flame war. geez guys.. It's a book. A story. nothing more.. It IS a great book series, hell, WHY is it selling so well? :D It's not just for kids either, book 2 got pretty dark at the end.. I was kinda surprised...

I haven't read the books but bought my girlfriend them for her *21st*!! I know more adults that have read these books than children, and none of them feel that the series was written for children alone. J.K. Rowling has an amazing imagination, and having seen the film I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. This is not and was never meant to be serious fantasy, it's comical and entertaining and very cleverly done and whilst it may not be the best film in the world ever, it's great entertainment and I recommend those that haven't seen it see it.

Can't help but agree. Somewhat same-y as the Potter series is, I've liked the way the background story slowly evolves, allowing you to see more and more of the world and the events of the past, and generally piece together the events that have set the story in motion. I found them good fun; bought all 4 books at 9pm one Wednesday, and by 8am Thursday I'd read them all. Easy to digest, surprising enough to be entertaining, cheerful enough to enjoy with a light heart.
As for Ziroc's comment about the books getting darker - an understatement there. The plot starts out innocent enough, but gets more and more gruesome as things go on. There's an evil ritual involving blood-sacrifice in 'Goblet of Fire', for crissakes.

Tancred

Hello, It's Me Again

<font color="silver">I am telling you!
Book four rocks like hell!!!</font>

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Larry_OHF:
<font color="silver">I am telling you!
Book four rocks like hell!!!</font><hr></blockquote>

Do I spot some bias? :D

The day that book five comes out will make me as happy as the day that I bought tickets to see Lord of the Rings.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Larry_OHF:
The day that book five comes out will make me as happy as the day that I bought tickets to see Lord of the Rings.<hr></blockquote>
I still haven't been to see LotR. I take it it's quite good?

<font color="gold"> The first book is fairly boring, and the plot line is poor, until u get to abut chapter 4. After that it is an exelant read, almost as good as Agatha Christie and LOTR, so if u read past there, u will be likeing or disliking it for what it is, not what its meant to be.
Remember, it is popular- books only become popular for one reason- They Are Good. So try it, ul enjoy it, I guarentee it. </font>