Reducio! Harry Potter fan Tim Stiefler seems to know a spell for turning nearly 20 hours worth of magical movies into a snappy 80-minute recut titled "Wizardhood."
His edited version, which posted over the weekend on Vimeo, is shorter than any single film in the franchise but still covers all the important events from "The Sorcerer's Stone" (aka "The Philosopher's Stone") through "The Deathly Hallows: Part 2."
This is like Cliff Notes for Harry Potter. Stiefler doesn't just run headlong from key scene to key scene. The magic is still there as candles float near the ceiling at Hogwarts and we get some fun Quidditch action. It all just happens so much faster as extraneous subplots are left behind.
It's strange to see the main characters as young children in one scene and then pre-teens the next, but the plot flows right along. As Entertainment Weekly points out, the "Wizardhood" title is a nod to director Richard Linklater's "Boyhood," a coming-of-age film that covers 12 years of a boy's life.
"Wizardhood" isn't the full-on Harry Potter experience, but it's a fascinating experiment that cuts to the heart of the series: the relationship between the trio of main characters, Harry, Hermione and Ron, and the ultimate battle with Voldemort. It's Harry Potter movie essence, distilled into one brisk film.
By the way, you may want to check this out sooner rather than later in case Warner Bros. wants it taken down.