re: Harry Potter movies and JK Rowling plagiarized Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

I hate to burst your bubble Killz... but this pretty weak sauce. Now, if you want to say that Rowling... borrowed... the look and concept of Harry Potter from Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic series then you probably would have some solid ground to stand on.

Movies, especially those with young characters, tend to be fairly similar for good reason. Now I won't deny Young Sherlock Holmes is the bomb, it is a great movie, but there really aren't any smoking guns connecting the two other then the well established teen hero story.

Whereas Rowling has admitted she was reading the Books of Magic comic books when she first started writing the Harry Potter stuff. It is out there, you just have to look for it. Its like when the late Terry Pratchett bitch slapped Rowling when she claimed she didn't know she was writing fantasy until after the first few Harry Potter books were published. It is a bit sordid, and funny, but if you look online you can find it.

So, yes, Rowling was "influenced" by other people's works. Gaiman was influenced by Pratchett. Pratchett was influenced by Tolkien. Tolkien was influenced by Beowulf and the Kalevela. Those writers were probably influenced by psychedelic reindeer urine.

No. Really. It is revolting but true. Best to not peer too deeply into that abyss though.