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Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story

July 21, 2011.
Magic Beyond Words: The JK Rowling Story
Magic Beyond Words: The JK Rowling Story
Paul A. Kaufman, Poppy Montgomery
2011

Magic Beyond Words is the first J.K. Rowling biography made into film. The film has a big production, so it’s surprising the amount of mistakes it has.

It starts with her childhood, and we see Jo’s life until the release of the first book of the series. Full of errors from the start, we can see a blonde young Jo, when we know she was brunette as a child. As a smart teen at high school, good at Math class, even when she said in an interview she is very bad with numbers. It seems the writer didn’t do his research.

When Poppy Montgomery appears on screen and we finally reach 1990, the movie seems to get better. It does, actually, but it’s not enough. The story never feels real, it looks like a sum of random scenes based on some interview excerpts, if not invented.

But unlike The Deathly Hallows Part 2, this movie gets better if closer to the end. The last half hour is emotional. It’s worth watching just for these last few minutes, which coincide precisely with the finish of the first book.

The final taste that the film leaves is strange, because although the end leaves a good feeling, the beginning fails to convince.

6.5/10