Absolutely Fantastic

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Besides it looking cheap, all the scenes in Portugal are terrible. There is not even one Portuguese actor. Either they have an Italian or Spanish accent. Sometimes they even use these languages, which I find outrageous. There are a lot of brilliant Portuguese actors they could have chosen. Besides the language, there is Spanish music in the scenes, and Brazilian Portuguese signs in the street, and even there they couldn't get the words/grammar right. If they wanted to depict a country or culture, they should have at least do some research and have someone advising on what is right or wrong.I wonder what JK thinks of this movie. Shameful, really.

As I saw 'Magic Beyond Words' advertised as the story of J. K. Rowling's life before Hogwarts; I was disappointed to see the majority of the film depicting the publication and subsequent impact of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. All of the film pre-Potter was hurried passed at a clumsy pace and trips over itself to get to the "riches" part of her story.Aside from that, most of the film was decent, very well acted - for the most part - and became very touching in places, about as much as you'd expect from an average made-for-TV biopic. I give it an overall 5/10 for full presentation.

OK viewing for a damp winters day when there is nothing else on the box and your DVD player is on the blink. Research is laughable (if it was done at all) Knowing Tutshill, having attended Wyedean and having worked in Edinburgh, this film shows the typical sickly sweet idealistic old fashioned chocolate box view of "little old England" (but at least they recognised that Edinburgh is in Scotland). Maybe I'm being picky, but when making a biopic (authorised or otherwise) surely they should have a far better idea of the locations? It is 8-10 miles from Tutshill to the outer edges of the forest for a start. the uniforms for Wyedean are completely the wrong colours and the badge is a figment of the film makers imagination. All it would have taken was a quick search on Google ...... and don't even get me started on the buildings!!As has already been noted by another reviewer, the linguistic differences between us and our North American cousins are very apparent (although I do note that the lead is played by an Australian) the accents throughout are either the typically clipped accents favoured by North American movie makers and the Scottish accents are woefully inaccurate. The language used is about as inaccurate as you can get whilst still speaking English one example being assistance (benefits) i'm surprised they didn't talk about grade school, high school etc.

This film is so lazy, the research is 100% Wikipedia and is laugh out loud funny for its inaccurate portrayal of Rowling's village (Tutshill), the School and, best of all - the utterly weird thing about the candy trolley on the train.....a hurricane of laughter that one.If you are going to watch a film, try one that has been researched by adults and not 4th grade students (maybe that is too generous), employ researchers that go a little beyond the www, maybe actually take a trip to the places they portray, maybe interview a few people.Don't waste your time with this film, just read Rowling's entry on Wikipedia....its about as insightful as the film.Errors - Her school is presented as an old manor house - in fact its a modern purpose built school. - The School is a high achieving school with several students a year going on to Oxford or Cambridge, and Rowling herself went on to study at a good University - hardly the trash can she describes. - Trains in the UK do not - never have - and never will have sweet trolleys....with or without tripe sweets (what?).and they are the only ones I know about..........what a waste of time and money.