The documentary sweetly focuses our attention on the way human creativity transforms everything around it. Often in the nuttiest of ways, true. But still, it's a good thing.
A fun project that doesn't quite reach its potential, Josh Koury's doc is still worthwhile for anyone who can't wait until 2009 to see Harry Potter back on the big screen.
The filmmaker Josh Koury has latched onto a great subject for We Are Wizards, his peek at some of the more engaged fans circulating in the Harry Potter world.
Ignore the scattershot approach, however, and there's considerable pleasure to be had in spending time with these bizarre enthusiasts and watching the creative ways they find to express their obsessions.
Breakthrough film maker Josh Koury's latest documentary manages to go to the head of the parade of Potter fans, but the average viewer may not be sure why he went to the trouble.
As with most uncontrollable pop-cultural phenomena, the various groups and organizations that have popped up around the Harry Potter franchise are more fascinating than the bespectacled object of their slavish devotion.
Koury does a masterful job emphasizing literacy and purity of spirit in Wizards, assembling an often delightful documentary that celebrates the tight cultural grip of Potter and its fringe pastimes.
A better approach would have been one that focused less on a child's home movies and performances and more on why he's on stage singing about an imaginary wizard.
It shows me a world I didn't know existed - a whole music scene dedicated to Harry Potter emo rock - but doesn't compare with any prior documentaries on fandoms, and is actually quite boring. I really haven't more to say than that; this isn't Trekkies and don't expect to learn much for those
sociology/communications/media students out there who need to do a fandom paper and want some references.
I got bored and tuned out more than once while watching this flick. There were a few really good parts that dealt with issues fans had with Warner Bros over fan sites but then rest of the movie dragged on and really didn't have a direction.The music the bands played was not really all that good and only would appeal
to those fans who have let the world of Harry Potter over shadow the real world they live in. Not something to be proud of.Slow documentary that I can recommend to anyone to watch.
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