The critics have finally been won over, and the final installment in the Harry Potter film franchise is receiving rave reviews, including the one by Manohla Dargis in today’s New York Times.

 http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/mov…

The movie, the eighth, is tightly focused and as somber and unsettling as it should be considering its apocalyptic events. It’s also often beautiful, washed in gray and so drained of other color that at first it looks as if it’s in black and white. It’s no wonder: Mr. Yates has kicked into Manichaean mode — and it’s the fight of good against evil, wizards against Voldemort and his hordes — so the director can be forgiven for almost overplaying the fascist overtones (the students rhythmically marching in the opener are nearly goose-stepping) if not for the juvenile St. Crispin’s Day speech at the end.

Oh wait, not everyone has been won over.   Here’s columnist Frank Bruni, who sees the books and films as the obsession du jour:

As for Potter, I saw 10 minutes of one of the movies, and can’t recall if it involved a goblet of fire, a deathly hallow or neither. Hogwarts was mentioned, so I’m now up to speed. It’s like Exeter, but with a different kind of spelling test.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/opinio…

Bah, humbug, although I admit that it took me more time than I want to admit to be won over by the books.  Inspired by the discovery of all seven volumes, orphaned in a large box put out for the trash on the streets of Cambridge, I began re-reading this week.  And now I am intoxicated as never before by the mysteries of the world that opens up in your mind as you move from chapter to chapter.  It is no wonder that the series has quickly moved from bedtime reading to cultural myth.  And here’s my favorite passage:

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry.  “Is it real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”

Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it’s not real?”

Everything about that passage is brilliant, but what I like best of all is the “bright mist” that envelopes Dumbledore, both concealing and revealing him.  The oxymoron acts as a wonderful literary device, enabling us to see Dumbledore even more clearly at the very moment that his figure is obscured.  It gives the entire passage what I call ignition power (in Enchanted Hunters)–the capacity to make something from nothing, to visualize worlds made from nothing but words.  And we get a shot of the aural mingling with the visual as Dumbledore “beams” at Harry all the while that his voice sounds loud and clear in Harry’s ears.

Addendum on July 15:  Here are some scary Harry Potter fans.

 http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/07…