I can’t say if I’m a Harry Potter fan or not. At least one of the kids is, as he’s read the books (even if he’s not supposed to have read all of them yet). The other one is, because his brother is, but he’s actually getting at the age where he’s starting to be contrary about it, so I’m not even sure how to classify him.

Whatever the case, I think the movies in the series are starting to fall into a bit of a rut. Either that, or I am. I can certainly admit to enjoying the first, second, and probably even the third in the series. But by the time the four came along, it was getting to be a bit much. I think it had to do with the size of the stories. The Sorcerer’s Stone was three-hundred something pages. The Order of the Phoenix was nearly 900! At some point, it’s just too much for my brain to handle.

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The fourth movie in the Harry Potter franchise continues to raise the bar.

It’s not so much that the story gets any better – that stays pretty constant. The acting does as well. But the effects are what really see an improvement. Where we first saw just glimpses of brooms that resembled stick people from a distance, now flying scenes actually look like someone flying – or at least a close approximation.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) returns to Hogwarts for another year of magical instruction, only this year it seems there is a new twist – the Tri-Wizard tournament, where champions of each of the major schools of magic compete for the Tri-Wizard cup and eternal glory (and face possible death in the process). Champions must be 17 to compete, but of course you know that Harry will be involved somehow.

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