For instance, I thought I *was* Hermione Granger.....

It's impossible for me to think of much else while Potter-craze is dominating our lives. I keep thinking over its influence on my generation with such pride - I started reading the books when I was about 7 or 8, and the last book came out when I was 15 - so there you go, a series of books that literally spanned my childhood as I knew it, and I couldn't be grateful for better role models. Who didn't want to be brainy like Hermione, witty and irreverent like Ron, everlastingly kind and sensitive like Harry, with the occasional rivalry or loss of temper (especially when it was in the name of defending your loved ones)? I mean, I see a gang of girls at a movie theater (for 127 hours, unfortunately, not for Harry Potter), and before I can dismiss them as shallow as evidenced by their overly processed appearances, I see a dorky Gryffindor scarf or a drawn-on scar or their shining, eager eyes and I can't help but beam after them like proud parents.

Um, really what I meant to say is, I really love this elegant New York Times review of the seventh movie written by A.O Scott, the first review I've read that's incorporated what Harry Potter has meant to us into the movies' longstanding value, unlike other reviews that's just blathered on about its cinematic merits and production values.