Revisiting Middle Earth & Hogwarts

As we all have over the course of quarantine, but specifically since January, I have been watching a lot of my favorite movie series.  I am under forty in Minnesota with (for the most part) no preexisting conditions, so while I'll be getting the vaccine as soon as I can, I am likely stuck in my current situation for at least another three months.  This means that I have a lot more time to get through movie series, and have been trying to ration them out a bit.  I don't spend a lot of time watching movies I've seen before, at least I haven't had this be the case for the past 5-6 years (TV series I'm much more likely to repeat even if movies make up a disproportionate amount of my screenings), but during quarantine we do what we can to keep our minds occupied until we might achieve some sense of normalcy, and so I am trotting out any TV show or movie series I can think of that makes me escape.  And as a result, my two favorite movie series have been trotted out for the first time in years (and the first time ever that I've watched them as a collective): Middle Earth and Harry Potter.

These are not the only film series I've watched over this pandemic (Twilight was my first which I unabashedly loved, and I'm currently getting through Star Wars, which might be my last, as after this I've got three more television series I think it'd be fun to revisit, and then I'm hopeful I'll finally be vaccinated & returning to normal), but these are my favorites.  I have read all of the Harry Potter books, but not most of Tolkien's series (just The Hobbit), but have seen & loved all of the movies.  Even the ones that other people don't like (The Hobbit trilogy, the Fantastic Beasts movies & Chamber of Secrets) I've long defended, though it has become harder to be loud about being a fan of the boy wizard series in the wake of the abhorrent political beliefs of JK Rowling.

Revisiting movies you love, truly great stories, you always learn something new and the thing that struck me about seeing them together was how well they work as a set.  For Lord of the Rings I watched them chronologically, with The Hobbit trilogy happening first and then moving into The Lord of the Rings trilogy, ending with Return of the King.  Doing this was odd because the actors who play certain parts journeyed into the past for the Hobbit...of course in the process you get to see actors like Ian McKellen & Orlando Bloom suddenly become younger jumping further into the "future" between The Battle of the Five Armies and The Fellowship of the Ring.  Only Cate Blanchett, freakishly ageless, gets out unscathed.

But this chronology works well.  One of the things that people compared The Hobbit to the original movies unfavorably with was that the 2001-03 Lord of the Rings had more source material, and therefore a stronger story, and they're right.  Not only did the initial films have a stronger plot (even in the extended versions, which give you a pretty healthy 4-hour movie for each picture), but they also had a more artistic vision than the more standard-plate Hobbit pictures.  Andrew Lesnie's Fellowship of the Ring reads as much more creative camerawork than anything approached in the technically-advanced Hobbit series, and it gives the movie more personality.

But I come away with a better appreciation for the Hobbit movies because they do set up the later films so beautifully.  Gollum, Gandalf, Galadriel, Bilbo...all of these characters who are so mysterious in the Fellowship of the Ring suddenly have more weight to their arches, and while there's always risk with prequels that the mystery comes out of the story, that doesn't happen here.  It also gives us a stronger picture of Middle Earth, and the rise of Sauron, and there are elements in the Hobbit movies (specifically the dragon Smaug) that are just spectacular.  It took 20 hours to get through (the equivalent of a couple of TV seasons), but what is most fascinating to me about Middle Earth is for a movie that was criticized by some for meandering, it tells a story that television critics would dream about in terms of sticking to a central plot.

This is true to the same degree with Harry Potter.  Eventually when all of the Fantastic Beasts films are made I'll watch those chronologically within the story but as they aren't finished (and when I started these I was hitting my pandemic wall & needed immediate relief), I decided to watch these in the order they were released.  There is something so bizarre & magical about watching these movies again with years between the last time I saw them.  I know for a fact that I have seen the first three movies at least ten times each, but heading into the 4th, and especially the back-half of the series, I was struck by how familiar it was, and somehow still new with at least 3-4 years since I'd seen any of these movies.  The artistry is something I appreciate more.  Later entries in the series really invested in quality cinematography & visual effects, and it's striking just how good Prisoner of Azkaban is in the hands of Alfonso Cuaron (just imagine if he signed up for the third Fantastic Beasts movie!).  It's still too soon to tell how Fantastic Beasts will work as a companion, but after watching The Hobbit I kind of have higher hopes for this as well-I think as a general rule prequels don't work, but my opinion shifts a little bit here if you're willing to attempt a complete, cohesive story (rather than just extending for the sake of extension).  All-in-all, this revisit was warm & deepened my love for these movies, and as many of us will spend the next few months waiting & hoping for a vaccine, I suggest you take one last look at your DVD or streaming shelves, and pick a last ride through your favorite movie series.