So it’s been a long day. A few months ago when I found out that the third installment of the Harry Potter movie series was going to be released in IMAX format, my sister and I agreed we would go see it. We knew that would mean traveling a little ways, but we didn’t realize the closest theater would end up being in Tulsa. Still, we decided to go, and it became an all day event for me.

I left at 9am and picked up a friend. Two hours later, we’re picking up my sister, one of her friends, and another friend of mine in Wichita. Three hours after that (yeah my estimate of drive time to Tulsa was a little off, we’re true fans, what can I say?) we got to the theater. We still made it an hour early, and there were only about 20 or 30 people in line. So we stood around, hung out, laughed at the true Harry Potter fans wearing cloaks and Gryffindor colors. For the record, my sister was almost one of the ones in a cloak. Apparently there was some problem with a sewing machine that prevented it.

If you’ve never been to an IMAX theater, you really need to go. First of all the screen is huge, the sound is awesome, and the picture is crystal clear. Then there’s the movie…wow. It was different from the first two, which I was definitely expecting, but at the same time I still didn’t know what to expect. There were some little artsy transition type things that were obviously different, and of course all the kids are older. The story was modified to save time, but I thought it was done well. The style was great, and the scenes with Buckbeak the hippogriff were amazing. There was only a split second I didn’t believe the CG creation was real, as it takes off with Harry on it’s back for the first time. There were a few details in the story that I thought were important (namely Moody, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs and their history, the explanation of what Harry’s patronus actually is) that got left out to make room for more frivolous stuff (just my opinion). Oh, and I was really hoping to get to see the Sirius Black/Peter Pettigrew showdown in realtime, but I could live without it. There were definitely some excellent additions to the story (most are small), my favorite being near the beginning when all the third year boys are eating animal candy (animal crackers?). All in all, well worth the trip. Two thumbs up, four stars (five? depends on your scale). Go see this movie.

Currently Playing: Staind – Epiphany