We Are Wizards (2008)

Billed as an entertaining documentary, I expected We Are Wizards to be to Harry Potter as Ringers is to Lord of the Rings. WRONG! This 79 minute freakshow is boring at best. The subjects showcased here give Potterheads a bad name. Focusing mainly on kids and middle-aged white males who have formed garage bands inspired by J.K. Rowling’s characters (Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, Hungarian Horntails, etc), this documentary isn’t interesting and these people are pathetic. Each interviewee comes across a derelict with poor hygiene. They have passion for their respective weirdness, but none of it truly applies to Rowling’s series.

We Are Wizards doesn’t explore the origins of inspiration or what binds us to the phenomenon. Nor does it make its case for or against Harry. Opening with a few comments from a fundamentalist muggle that believes Harry Potter will inspire our youth to engage in Dark Arts thus bringing about the fall of society, the doc shows promise. Then it gets weird. A brief interview with the founder of The Leaky Cauldron fansite gives hope. Then it gets weirder. And finally a brief foray into Warner Brothers attempt at squashing fansites spirals into stupidity.

This documentary is a poor representation of Potter fans. This muggle will pretend it doesn’t exist. You’d best served to do the same.