 As a very large Harry Potter fan, I was really looking forward to the 20th anniversary, returned to Hogwarts Celebration on HBO Max, and they didn't disappoint. Let's talk about it for a little bit. First things first, this isn't a short reunion. The thing runs an hour and 45 minutes. It's kind of a quasi-documentary slash reunion of sorts, and I really dug the approach. The presentation goes through all the milestones of each movie. It's broken into chapters. We get to see a ton of fan favorites from the films. Obviously the main trio's back, Harry, Hermione, and Ron. A lot of the friends, Neville's there, the twins are there. For a film property like this that went over a decade and spanned a ton of characters and actors, we are missing a few prominent ones, but I mean I'm sure with scheduling conflicts or whatever the case is, there's still enough here. There's still enough to make people smile. I watched it with my wife and two kids. We had a blast. Well, my son who's nine, little too young for this. I mean it is, it's not the most exciting thing to watch if you're a kid. So if you're, if you have a young child, they might not be appreciating it the way you are. I'm gonna talk about spoilers here, so if you haven't seen it, I mean watch the movie first, then come back and you can hear me talk about it a little bit if you want. Spoiler though, they finished all the movies and they're all charming, lovable people. I guess I should address the hippogriff in the room, and that's the fact that JK Rowling is not in this, but she is at the same time. They took interview footage of her from 2019, sprinkled it throughout, kind of spackled it around, and a lot of the actors and directors do reference Joe a lot. So it's not like they swept her under the rug and pretended she doesn't exist. She is very much a part of this celebration, even if they didn't invite her back per se. If you've been living under a rock or don't like Twitter, good for you. Unfortunately, I know all this crap, so I'm familiar with JK Rowling and her stance on the trans community. She's very openly against it. It's a weird hill to die on, if you ask me. I personally don't get why she's so obsessed with it. She's constantly trolling and asking for a hate back her direction, especially when in the past she was kind of the open-minded author who celebrated all walks of life. And she also went out of her way to kind of reinvent her stories and be like, oh yeah, Dumbledore's gay. Hermione could have been black. I never wrote her as any specific color. It was almost annoying how much she pretended to be progressive in her tweets, but then she was just like all in on, okay, now I'm gonna piss everyone off. I just don't know what she's up to, why she's choosing to go down this road. Like, I have enough going on in my life and I have enough shit to worry about. I don't care what my neighbor down the street's doing. Like, unless they're doing something that's harmful to my kids or my well-being, they can be whoever they want. That out of the way, the celebration does kind of feel tainted because of this whole shenanigans going on Twitter and in her personal life. It would have been just so nice to see her back with the whole family. It just would have put a bow on the whole thing, but life's not perfect. Life's ugly. And the fact that all these other actors and people came together to talk about Harry Potter and they're not in and out of jail and, you know, beating people and shooting up bars and all this stuff you hear about from a Hollywood actors growing up in the industry, that was refreshing. It's nice to see some young adults conversing, talking about how much they love the property and each other. Yeah, it was just a, it was a great experience to watch, especially with my family. The whole thing's really a celebration of what a milestone this was in cinema. The fact that we've seen them grow up on screen, something that's rarely done. I don't know if it's ever really been done. Yeah, on the small screen. TV shows, sure, happens all the time. But big movie properties that take years to make, billions of dollars on the table, getting all these actors signed on for eight films. I mean, what a, what an ordeal to manage that, to keep the connections tight, to keep people from walking out. I mean, it really is an achievement that should be celebrated, especially when these movies are so great. It doesn't shy away from talking about its roots either, which I loved. It goes into the phenomena that was the Harry Potter book series and how it brought a new generation of kids to the table to read. Kids that normally would have no interest are picking up books and celebrating the magical world of Harry Potter. The fact that it entranced Douchebag High School Adam was an achievement in its own right. I remember when the book series started popping up and I was rolling my eyes, thinking, Harry Butt Potter, who cares about that? Come on guys, let's go play Halo. To eventually going to the first couple movies and thinking, eh, they're fine, whatever. But then being blown away by the third. Then being really blown away by the fourth. Then just completely being excited by all of it, picking up those books, falling in love, listening to the audio by Stephen Fry, who's phenomenal. And I'm pretty sure he narrates some of this show. I can't remember. It sounded like him. It doesn't do what the other reunions have been doing either, the drama. No dwelling on that stuff. There's brief little moments talking about how Emma Watson was maybe not going to come back for one of the films. But it's not uncomfortable or schlocky. It's just really well handled. It's honest. At least as honest as I could see it being. They do a great tribute to some of the actors we lost over the years. Obviously Alan Rickman was a really tough one to see. But yeah, I had a really great time with this. It was a nice way to start the new year. I wasn't sobbing uncontrollably. It wasn't this emotional, spiritual journey by any means. But it really was like connecting with friends after all these years. Seeing them back in these iconic locations, whether it was the Great Hall or Dumbledore's quarters, it was just great to be in these places. I'm also really glad they brought back all of the directors. Christopher Columbus was there. He seems so awesome to work with. Alfonso Caron for the third movie. Obviously David Yates and the later ones. It was so interesting getting the different insights they had into these pictures and just how much thought they put into it. It really stands out from films like Space Jam 2 these days, doesn't it? You just know there's so much more passion and thought put into the property. Overall, this was a great experience and once again a phenomenal reminder of just why I love films so much. How you can escape into a completely different world, have new friends and experiences to enjoy. That's what I do this show for. To talk about the movies I love, the movies I hate, and just share some common ground with people in the comments. Strangers. That we can all at least come together and watch a couple hours of a movie. So bravo to the cast and crew. I enjoyed every minute of this and hopefully we get another one down the road. Hell, maybe even J.K. Rowling will come to her senses and say, you know what, this is so petty and useless. Let's have some fun. Let's be friends. Let's talk about some good times. She could also maybe fix those fantastic Beast movies while she's at it. All right, let me know what you thought of the anniversary in the comments below. Like the video if you had a good time, subscribe if you haven't. It would be nice to have you here and hopefully I'll see you around. Hey, since I still have you, did you know I'm also on Patreon at Patreon.com slash AdamDoesMovies or right here on YouTube you can join via the join button and just say, you know what Adam, I appreciate your honesty. I appreciate you not holding back anything. Here's a dollar a month. I'm supporting you. Keep going. Keep speaking your mind. Don't be scared to be honest and I like hearing your thoughts.