Move Over Star Wars, Harry Potter is King of Movie Series Now

Last night, I watched and very much enjoyed the latest installment of the Harry Potter movie series (based off of the books), "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". After viewing it and thinking about it for a little bit, I have now determined to myself that the Harry Potter movie series (now with this 6^th film) is the best movie series that I've ever seen. Better than "The Matrix". Better than "Spider Man". Better than "Lord of The Rings". Better than the "Bourne" series. And hell, even better than my previously favorite movie series of all time in the original "Star Wars". Yep...I said it...Potter is better than Star Wars. So let me explain why a person like myself who have never ever read any of the Harry Potter books nor am a professed "fan" believes this.

I consider myself a big-time mega movie buff. Not the kind of person who obsesses over films and knows every movie from every single genre from A-Z. I am the kind of person who tends to watch every type of movie when I can and enjoy a lot of different types of film (from "Singing in The Rain" to "Kill Bill"). I might not be able to reference barely any movies before the 1970s, but I tend to hit the local theaters every other week and am, like many, a die-hard user of Netflix. While I tend to watch more comedies and action flicks, I am always drawn to a film that tells a great epic story.

When I first heard of Harry Potter, I was like some others in dismissing it as a story "just for little kids". Whenever I heard of an older person in their 20s/30s talking about Potter like it was the greatest thing on this Earth, I tended to roll my eyes a bit and laugh at the thought. Even though I used to be a hardcore comic book reader and current pro wrestling watcher, I offensively and snobbishly had the opinion that some of these Harry Potter were more "dorky" than me. When asked, I said that I had absolutely no interest in reading the books or seeing the films in fear of not enjoying them. But when the third Potter film, "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire" came out, my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time and am a big Potter fan) convinced this hard-headed person to check it out and give it a chance. Once I watched it and my wife explained all of the other details to the overall story that I was missing, I was instantly hooked. I found the characters in this film to be really cool and interesting, the story here was excellent (particularly with the confrontation at the end with Potter and Voldemort, played brilliantly by the scary-looking Ralph Fiennes), and the style of the movie was very unique to say the least. It never really dipped too much into the usual typical trappings of a "fantasy/sci-fi" film and never appeared too much like a film directly made for little kids (as I once assumed).

After this, I watched the first three films and been anticipating every film afterward since. So again, the question is why would I claim that this movie series to be better than the other seemingly good ones mentioned above. The answer is simple: the story. Even since I first watched the original 'Star Wars' as kid, I noticed in my increase of movie watching that many people have attempted to create another great movie "trilogy" for people to follow. But even though these films were considered pretty good, they don't hold a full candle up to Potter. Despite the first two of their series being good, I thought both the "Matrix" and "Spider Man" suffered big time by having a universally disliked ending in their third installments. I loved the "Lord of The Rings"when it first came out, but realized in watching the third film "Return of The King" again that there was way too much going on with all of the main characters that I really didn't care what happened to them in the end. And the precious "Bourne" series with Matt Damon as agent Jason Bourne was (and still is) so damn awesome, but I realized that the movies aren't for everyone, especially younger kids. So with my thoughts back to my once cherished "Star Wars", I debated on if I loved it more than my new love for the Potter films. And came to the realization last night that the answer is a resounding "Yes".

While the epic and well-known story of "Star Wars" will always have a place deep in my heart, the depth of the tale in Potter completely blows it away. Without going into any more details (cause this column is already long enough as is), after seeing 'Half-Blood Prince' last night, I think that Potter is the best movie series ever because of the story being surprisingly much more mature and much more complex (even with many details cut from the book...according to my wife) than any series-based films that I've ever seen. Period. Sorry Chewbacca.