The final "Harry Potter" movie has opened, which means a film saga has closed. There has been one given throughout throughout that saga -- the near-demented fecundity of J.K. Rowling's highly Dickensian imagination -- and two near-constants. The first has been the identity of the actors in recurring roles (really, it's the beard and hat you notice with Dumbledore, not whether it's Richard Harris or Michael Gambon). The other has been the screenwriter. Steve Kloves did the scripts for all but "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
Simply on the level of craft, that is one remarkable achievement. As an example of ingenuity and sheer staying power, it doesn't rank with Jim Dale's coming up with literally hundreds of different voices for the "Potter" audiobooks -- if there's a hall of fame for the human voice, Dale's plaque there is in close proximity to Mel Blanc's and Don Castellanata's -- but what does? You may or may not think the "Potter" movies are a great accomplishment. You may quarrel with what did or did not get retained from the novels. But think of how many beloved books have been bollixed by the movies. The "Potter" series wasn't.
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