A little too much magic

Sometimes you watch movies by yourself because you don’t want anyone else to know you’re watching these movies. I don’t mean porn. I’m talking about Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. I recently reactivated the old Netflix DVD queue and for some reason stuck Part 1 on there, along with a few other recent titles I couldn’t be bothered to see at a theater.

It’s embarrassing when the wife walks in and these grown-up kids are talking in deadly earnest about horcruxes and swords and magic books and talismans and so forth. Then there’s tons of stuff flying around on the screen and none of it can be easily explained to a wife who’s home for lunch after a hard morning at work.

It’s not J.K. Rowling’s fault, I know. It’s mine. By now this universe of hers has become so crowded with magical characters and artifacts that a man who misses several of the books and a couple of the movies has no idea what the hell is going on. Hate to say it, but I think this movie could use the stabilizing influence of a few more muggles. For this reason I’m going to give Harry and Company two and a half stars, and I’m going to reconsider whether I really need to see Part 2.