It was just too boring.
Yesterday, I went to see the movie. I had high hopes, because it was highly recommended to me and I thought that perhaps the novel transferred well to the screen.
I was stunned by what a bore it was. I mean really stunned. I was constantly thinking "Won't this movie ever end?". It looked to me like many of the children in the theatre were restless, too.
I tried to understand what its appeal might be.
Here is my hypothesis: A lot of people see themselves as losers and outcasts (like Harry Potter) and fantasize that they will someday, somehow, have something happen that will confer on them great power without the trouble of having to do anything to achieve it. (scholarship to Hogwarts). They demonize those who work for a living (the muggles), while believing themselves to be spiritually greatly superior but with their unique gifts unrecognized. Harry Potter taps into this "I'm a loser feeling" that many people have and, hence, the popularity of the books and film. Think about movies that have most inspired you. Wasn't it because they said something that closely touched on your own life and aspirations?
Personally, I am a lot more worried about what this says about the state of the US and the UK spiritually and intellectually then the possibility that people are going to take up witchcraft. Why do so many see themselves as losers even though by ordinary standards they are not?
Like that nasty little dwarf Alberich whose ring you took? Little ba$tard deserved it.