Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story (2011) Reviews

• Laughably inaccurate locations and childish script

  thompson-622012-01-02

  This film is so lazy, the research is 100% Wikipedia and is laugh out loud funny for its inaccurate portrayal of Rowling's village (Tutshill), the School and, best of all - the utterly weird thing about the candy trolley on the train.....a hurricane of laughter that one. If you are going to watch a film, try one that has been researched by adults and not 4th grade students (maybe that is too generous), employ researchers that go a little beyond the www, maybe actually take a trip to the places they portray, maybe interview a few people. Don't waste your time with this film, just read Rowling's entry on Wikipedia....its about as insightful as the film. Errors - Her school is presented as an old manor house - in fact its a modern purpose built school. - The School is a high achieving school with several students a year going on to Oxford or Cambridge, and Rowling herself went on to study at a good University - hardly the trash can she describes. - Trains in the UK do not - never have - and never will have sweet trolleys....with or without tripe sweets (what?). and they are the only ones I know about..........what a waste of time and money.

• Cultural Shame

  abrantex-12016-09-28

  Besides it looking cheap, all the scenes in Portugal are terrible. There is not even one Portuguese actor. Either they have an Italian or Spanish accent. Sometimes they even use these languages, which I find outrageous. There are a lot of brilliant Portuguese actors they could have chosen. Besides the language, there is Spanish music in the scenes, and Brazilian Portuguese signs in the street, and even there they couldn't get the words/grammar right. If they wanted to depict a country or culture, they should have at least do some research and have someone advising on what is right or wrong. I wonder what JK thinks of this movie. Shameful, really.

• Tells a nice story, but plagued with inaccuracies.

  thebluemarlin5652015-01-19

  Possible Spoilers: "Magic Beyond Words" tells the story of J.k. Rowling's life leading to the Harry Potter novels. The overall presentation is nice, giving us some insight on Rowling's life. However, there are many inaccuracies and clichés that makes some of the research questionable. The inaccuracies include incorrect portrayals of many of the settings in the movie like Wyedean School and London itself, some cultural mistakes like having sweet trolleys on English trains, and many more. The clichés include over dramatic portrayals of some life events like her time with her first husband, and some usual clichés like when she says "Do you think we'll ever see Harry Potter in that window display? Not bloody likely". On the other hand, it Poppy Montgomery gives a very charming performance as J.k. Rowling and the film has a rather nice atmosphere when giving telling it's story. In conclusion, it feels like a quick scroll through Wikipedia, giving the main build of Rowling's life but having some frustrating inaccuracies and leaving some crucial parts out like Rowing's dealings with depression. If you want to learn a bit about Rowling's life and can deal with some inaccuracies and clichés then watch this at your own risk, if you don't like inaccuracies or clichés then maybe keep on looking.

• It was all right, except they got her personality wrong,

  neptunegalaxy2012-02-24

  I loved Poppy Montgomery acting, but I think they got J.K's personality all wrong. Any fan of J.K.Rowling that ever read some of her interviews, watch documentaries, maybe read a biography or at least bothered to know more about her besides the single-penniless-mother-writer slogan that came attached to her name would realize that she is not quiet like that. Sure, they got her hair right, the sets, the atmosphere was great, but regarding other things (her personality, her reaction to things MOSTLY) I believe they just came up with. Like, they would look into a certain situation that we know for a fact that happen and just wonder what she would have done, instead of what she did, and by doing that they changed her personality completely. Its entertaining, but its not biographical. For example, she wasn't at all somebody that would go around screaming I WANT TO BE A WRITER for everyone everywhere, she said many times she never felt like she could tell someone that. I don't remember much about the movie but I remember that at one point she screams with one of her teachers for some random reason... Every fan knows J.K.Rowling was an observer person, quiet as a kid and melancholic as a teenager, listening to The Smiths, always with her head in books, an eccentric person, with hysterical laughs and fun but also very introspective, had a serious depression after she came back from Portugal, etcetera. Its part of the common knowledge that fans have of her, and their J.K.Rowling is not like that at all.

• Engaging, but Comically under-researched

  velvoofell2012-01-02

  This made for television feature caught and held the attention one New Year afternoon for all the wrong reasons. A dramatisation of how Joanne Rowling discovered the idea for Harry Potter then became JK and rose to international fame is filmed like a particularly cheap perfume ad. The director's apparent obsession with flashes of cleavage aside - at times you think you are watching the feature through dirty-old-man-on-tube Cam - the main actor has been cast for her resemblance to Rowling and little else. The director again seems to be at fault for not allowing his star to re-dub her lines but this is perhaps a trait of this rushed-to-shop production. The whole early section, juggling a parental death with Rowling's teaching experience in Portugal, affair with a Latin lover and subsequent pregnancy, makes the Mediterranean hi jinx of 'Mamma Mia' look like Chekov. When Rowling returns to the UK with her daughter the real comedy ensues as the script hangs around the rumours and misdirection Rowling fed press junkets regarding her formative time writing Potter while placing the action in an Edinburgh that makes Diagon Alley look grittily realistic. Canadianisms pervade the whole telling of this section. A single mother doesn't receive "assistance" in Scotland as the film insists, but 'benefits". Rowling's experience as a teacher in Leith Academy is grimly unresearched, with what looks like a Kindergarten in Hobbiton being her workplace. What in real Edinburgh is called "interval" or 'playtime' is erroneously referred to as "recess' by the Mcgonagle-like Headmistress. Even by TV movie standards this is cynical stuff. The creative process is explored in clichéd montage, at once displaying Rowling as a lucky, remotely eloquent Bimbo - her child and relationship with her is laughably never believable - while never exploring the fact that Rowling lightly thieved from Dahl, Tolkein, Rattigan and Lewis in her development of the bespectacled Potter. There are some that may say this insanely chocolate-box representation of Rowling's life and Britain is all she deserves for a biopic. Her vision of Hogwarts and intrinsic social classes in her novels is adolescent in its reflection of UK life and also posits an ideal school system that is rare in the UK and patrician and exclusive where it does exist. That aside, this is camp Lambrini party viewing, provoking unintended laughs and hilarity, especially if you live in the UK. Watchable in that vein!