It takes no sorceror to see that Harry is tops

One young middle-schooler I know was disappointed in the new Harry Potter movie , which opened Friday. Her complaint was that it departs too much from J.K. Rowling’s book. But her negative reaction seems to be fairly rare, considering that the movie earned – depending on what you read – an estimated $41 million the first day alone (and is en route to upping that amount to $116 over the whole of this first weekend).

It doesn’t make her wrong, of course. Money made has little, if anything, to do with artistic accomplishment. But it does mean that such complaints will continue to get lost in the growing growl of the box-office tiger. If director Alfonso Cuaron weren’t such a talented filmmaker, I might respond with an aptly cynical aside. As it is, I say, “Bravo, Alfonso.” I think he brings a sense of maturity to what Chris Columbus had seen solely as a kiddie movie.