Contemporary clichés dictate that the standard quota for a good fantasy story is a chosen one, an

overpowered villain with a low hissing voice, and a cast of secondary and tertiary characters who would otherwise
put shame to the hero if they weren’t in there in the first place. Meanwhile, Hollywood dictates that the standard
quota for a good fantasy story is bright lights, orchestra music and complex, if not over-exaggerated, special
effects. Just as you’d expect from the “motion picture event of a generation”, you’ll find both quotas, and more I
hope, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

From what we learned from popular books like Twilight, filmmakers tend to cram hundreds of suspense-
filled pages into a movie with a screen time of no more than two hours. Though amazing how directors Chris
Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates manage to pull of the feat with the previous Harry Potter
titles while generating strong, positive reviews in the process. Previous films in the franchise were notoriously
known for their witty humor, powerful drama and cool, solid special effects. Which is why much is expected from
Deathly Hallows considering the fact that director Yates will once more the direct, not one, but two films as
Deathly Hallows will be split into two parts. Which means more screen time to cram all the scenes from the book
into the movies and, sure enough, it will be twice the fun.

In Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) with his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and
Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) leave the relative safety of the Hogwarts fortress-turned-wizarding academy in
order to defeat Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) via the destruction of his horcruxes where fragments of his soul
are conveniently located. The films will have a darker theme to them as more dangers will arise, friendships will be
tested, and grudges will be resolved, whether in a good way or bad. You can count on the fact that there will be a
lot of emotionally intense moments. Although a “to be continued” ending for the first movie may not seem like
enough, rest assured there will be plenty of fights and drama to in the first part alone. Sadly though, the second
part will not be shown until July 15 of next year. But still, it will be worth the wait.

Strange enough, movies that didn’t start as books like James Cameron’s “Avatar” and Pixar Animations’
“Toy Story” franchise and “Up!” are the kind of films that tend to garner well-received and excellent reviews. The
Harry Potter series is one of the few rare jewels that manage to pull of awesome special effects while still holding
on to excellent casting, emotional performances and funny, out-of-the-blue humor. Although it’s still too early to
say much about Deathly Hallows, you can see for yourself just how well it turns out when it comes on to screens in
theatres nationwide on the 18th of November. That is, assuming of course that our theatres will be on time. Still, if
you luck out, I suggest you view it in 3D when IMAX theatres start screening it. But then again, we don’t have those
here.