I somehow managed to make it to age 21 without ever sitting through an entire “Harry Potter” movie. A 10-year-old version of Hannah attempted to read the series; I read Book 1 and part of the second book during one summer but was not intrigued enough to continue. This book and film franchise consumed my peers (and the world) during my adolescence, although I never understood why. My mom would watch a movie or two when ABC Family would show the entire franchise back-to-back over a weekend, but I never made it more than 15 minutes.

Now as a young adult, my boyfriend is forcing me to watch all of the movies. He is arguably a Harry Potter nerd, but not to the extent that he’s wearing a cape and waving around a wand. 

So far, we have watched all the movies through “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

I enjoyed the charms of the first couple movies where the exposition focused on Harry returning to Hogwarts from his awful Uncle’s home.

This may be a very muggle thing to say, but where is Child Protective Services? And why does Dumbledore and Hagrid send Harry back to these people when they quite obviously do not care for the boy?

Anyway, I liked the consistency of the movies starting out with the trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione reuniting on the journey back to school. This disappeared as directors changed and the franchise developed.

As a newspaper gal, I love The Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper. It is this aspect and the other little touches the directors put into the movies that make them unique and entertaining to the audience.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, is my favorite of the franchise so far. The storyline and action were excellent compared to the other movies. As someone who is not obsessed with wizardry, I rely on the other story elements to keep my attention. The cinematography and special effects were also much better.

Spoiler alert ( is a spoiler alert really necessary 11 years after it happened?): After Dumbledore’s death at the end of the sixth movie, I am curious to see how the movies continue. Yes, the movies are about Harry and his fight against “He who must not be named,” but Dumbledore was incredibly involved in the plot ­— even when the audience did not always see.

The worst movie by far is “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

This movie’s plot seemed to drag, and the action never really came. The lack of action and the whiny “Moaning Myrtle” deterred my interest away from the movie.

We have the final two installments of the series to watch — which my boyfriend vehemently says, “are not Harry Potter movies.” 

This is not encouraging, and I will be disappointed if these movies do not live up to the ones we’ve watched. I would say I will not watch the last two, but I am in too deep now. And maybe I will like them, (a little)?

My advice to those who are being forced by their friends to watch this franchise: Make sure you have lots of snacks and agree to watch one movie at a time.

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