HBO Max's Harry Potter "Return to Hogwarts" Review - The 20th Anniversary Special

 

I had been waiting on this Harry Potter special for weeks. Rewind to Thanksgiving weekend when I was sitting in our comfy living room with my girlfriend as we watched the "sneak peek" for the upcoming special with excitement. With a release date of January 1st 2022, I couldn't help but think about watching our old friends together on screen again after much time being apart. As many other Potter heads out there, the magical books and movies in this series have been a staple in my upbringing and hold a dear place in my heart. Like most of the world, re-reading the books and re-watching the movies regularly are simply a necessary part of my adult life. Saying that I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter world would be an understatement. There was no way I was going to miss this. No way.

Fast forward to January 1st and as I'm sitting in the same comfy living room waiting on my pork and sauerkraut dish, I was reminded on our tv's home menu that the special was available to watch. "No better way to bring in the new year" I thought. 

Return to Hogwarts tugs at the heart strings in multiple ways

Now, don't get me wrong, I did find myself having to fight back some tears there throughout the special and I'm not even an emotional person really. It was the vulnerability, mainly, that was brought to center stage by everyone involved that set the tone for the entire reunion. Oh and of course, the heartfelt nod given to those actors who could not be present due to having passed away in the last twenty years. The tribute to Alan Rickman at the end of the special in particular was beautiful, giving the famous line "Always" the honors of closing out a much needed 20th anniversary reunion, twenty years after the release of The Sorcerer's Stone. Seeing as Snape has always been one of my favorite Harry Potter characters, not having Rickman present was gut-wrenching. But it was the culmination of these excitement-filled and sad-filled moments that also felt heart-warming, which I'm sure is what the creators over at HBO were shooting for when the idea began to come into fruition.

The strength of the content within Return to Hogwarts comes from the balanced sense of reminiscing with the films combined with understanding the "real life" impact these films had on the cast. Not everything was rainbows and unicorns from their perspective and we get an inside look on the mental and emotional tolls they had to endure navigating the aftermath of being on such massive, world-wide films. What HBO does well throughout Return to Hogwarts is that they get perspectives from not only the cast, but the directors as well and an intricate picture is painted of the manner in which the films came to be such a huge hit. The blood, sweat and tears were quite real. By taking this angle, HBO is able to explore the details of the film-making process (and it's intricacies) as opposed to how the world of Harry Potter came to be, which would have needed much more of J.K Rowling in the mix. This formula proves to serve a couple helpings of fan-service as Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint , in particular, display the vulnerability the audience needs, breaking down the years in a "behind the scenes" angle. I wouldn't have wanted anything more than that.

Final Rating - 8/10 - Twenty years in the making

All in all, the first fifteen minutes of the special should give all viewers a general idea of the level of interest they will hold for the 103 minute-long episode. While non-Harry Potter fans might not find the material interesting enough to keep watching or enjoy the pacing of the special, fans of the series (like myself) won't be able to get enough. At its core, Return to Hogwarts produces laughs, expels confessions (okay Emma) and is filled with revelations that are meant to connect internally. From the moment the acceptance letters to Hogwarts hit the hands of our beloved characters again, we are taken on the same spin we went on as kids all those years ago. 

If there were to be one disappointing detail in my book, I'd say that I would have loved to see recent footage (and even more footage) of J.K Rowling's perspective in relation to the topics discussed throughout the special. Not having those details impacted Return to Hogwarts in the sense that we were missing something. A missing piece to the bigger picture behind the films. However, given recent events and Rowling's stance on the Trans community, I was not surprised that she was not on board for the special.

Nonetheless, HBO rocked the house in every aspect of a successful reunion and I look forward to catching the next one: hopefully the 25th Anniversary Special? If you haven't checked it out by now, you are missing out. If you are a Harry Potter fan and haven't checked it out, are you even a fan? Serious question. Quit reading this and open up your HBO Max account. Don't care enough to get an HBO Max account? Check out the biggest reveals below.