We are Wizards Reviews

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.

We Are Wizards is an entertainingly enough documentary, but the filmmaker never really seems to decide on one message he wants to say about Harry Potter fans.

[28th Atlantic Film Festival]

Follows the story of Harry Potter die-hard bands. You get Harry and the Potters (band), fansite owners, and all sorts of hypothetically intriguing personalities. I have read the books, watched some of the movies, and generally enjoyed them, so you would think I would be entertained by a film of this nature. Hey, Trekkies worked, right?

Unfortunately, as a film, Wizards is a huge failure, and this simply has to lay completely at the feet of director Josh Koury. The good thing is it views its subject matter as people instead of freaks. The downside; this film has absolutely no pacing or continuity at all. It's essentially a sequence of disconnected, seemingly never ending events. They go back, and back, and back, to each person, with little of interest happening. Five times I thought the film was about to end, but then went on another half an hour. The actual ending was also dragged on forever.

This was 90 minutes that felt more like 4 hours. I went to this with someone who was an even bigger Potter fan than me, and they felt the same way. I could only recommend this to the absolutely truly hardcore Potter fan. Not worth seeing for the 10-20 minutes of intrigue.

I find the fact that people are coming to recognize their gifts, even if they do not understand the use is wonderful. Copycatting is a sad situation though.

Recently I read all 7 Harry Potter books in one week...what can I say, I live in Canada now and there's not much to do. When my boyfriend told me we were going to see a documentary on Harry Potter fans, I was intrigued. I expected the film to focus on people who ran fan websites, maybe some fan fiction and/or live action performances of the books. Instead a got a mish-mash of people and scenes thrown together poorly that mainly bored the audience.

There were a few contributors to the documentary that could be taken seriously. For instance, I was incredibly interested to hear about the website, The Leaky Cauldron, which hosted a podcast for fans about the books. Also, the self-claimed inventors of "wizard rock", the band Harry and the Potters, genuinely seemed fun and talented. But when you saw them next to the dozens of other bands that were created to parrot their success, you couldn't help but feel that something beautiful had been destroyed.

The vast majority of the film was a disgrace to Harry Potter. I am not sure WHY the film makers chose to prominently feature an untalented, screeching 7 year old boy who had a Wizard Rock band and his family so prominently. The boy shouted garbled crap about dragons and fantasy creatures that could be loosely applied to Harry Potter over Garage band tracks and his parents thought he was this generation's Beethoven. It was obvious that his parents named the band and gave him an over-inflated self image by putting said name of band on every freaking piece of clothing the kid wore.

The only poetic justice I found in including this family was just about every scene that featured them was followed by this foul, cursing man that wrote an 'adult' commentary for the first Harry Potter movie.

All in all, I can not recommend this film to anyone and deeply regret ever going to see it.

I hate you all, now.

When people ask about why I have such a strong love for the Harry Potter community, I direct them to this documentary. It very accurately depicts why this community is important, how it supports itself, what is important to us. It didn't feel like a professional documentary in many instances, but to be honest I think that's because it was without a lot of the pretentious air that tends to get stuffed into these sorts of films. Much like the community and the people it followed, We Are Wizards is humble and warm, honest and genuine.

If you go into this movie expecting a serious expose on American consumer culture...you'll be really disappointed. This film gives us brief glimpses into the world of Harry Potter fandom, complete with interviews with Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, and Brad Neely (awesome). I learned about an entire new genre of music, known as wizard rock. Learned is, perhaps, not the most accurate of words. It would be better to say, that I was confirmed in my own Harry Potter fandom.
If you've never read the books or seen the movies, you may have no idea what's actually going on here. But the truth is, you don't really need to be a rabid Potter fan to enjoy this film. There are many references to Potter terms and characters...and if you have those under your belt, that's about all you need.
This is probably one of the most hilarious documentaries I have ever seen. Further, it is really well constructed. The editing is great, the music is perfect, and the interviews are consistently interesting.
This film doesn't really tell a story. It doesn't really give an opinion of Harry Potter one way or the other. It makes a rather interesting comment on consumerism; that is it's not anti-consumerism.
The movie has some little profundities here and there - but really the main reason I decided to watch it was because the description involved Harry Potter. I was curious about this world of Harry Potter superfans, musicians writing songs from the characters' points of view, and what, exactly, it means to be a wizard rocker.
I expected to see some perverse version of "Jesus Camp"...except instead of speaking in tongues and worshiping Jesus Christ, there would be speaking in tongues and worshiping the Holy Trinity of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. I was a little disappointed at first, when the movie opened with a bearded, glasses-clad man stuttering his way through what sounded like Harry Potter fan fiction. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this man, whom I did not recognize, was Brad Neely being generally hilarious. And, happily, he appears quite often throughout the film, to continue to be generally hilarious.
I was pleasantly surprised, overall. This movie is godda...no, sorry...potterdamn funny. It doesn't take itself seriously, nor do most of the interviewees (with the exception of speaking of copyright wars and, of course, Jesus).
Final words:
If you are vaguely familiar with Harry Potter, and you can embrace your inner (and possibly outer...if no one is home) nerd, you'll enjoy this movie.
Also, Brad Neely is my new fantasy boyfriend. Sorry, Professor Snape. You've been OUSTED.