The books...
I still remember the first time I saw a Harry Potter book. It was Christmas break 1998 and I was back in NJ visiting. I was 21. I walked into the Borders near the Bridgewater Commons Mall. This was a time when I still walked into real Bookstores and would spend hours just looking at books. At the time The Hobbit was my favorite book (still is), and I had just had a class in Children's literature at college. I was an Elementary Ed major at that time, a time before computers would become the central focus in my life, and I was on the look out for a new children's book in the fantasy realm. And there it was. Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone, sitting on that first table of books they have right as you walk in. It had been out for a few months by then and I had never heard of it, but the cover art by Mary GrandPre got my attention. That was it. The cover art is what drew me into something that would become bigger than any of could have imagined.
June 1999 - 22 years old, living in Michigan, I spent an entire Saturday afternoon reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on my couch.
September 1999 - 22 years old, still in Michigan, another Saturday afternoon spent reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on my couch
July 2000 - 23 years old, back in NJ, living in Ewing, another Saturday, same couch, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. First time Harry Potter book made me cry (Cedric).
June 2003 - 26 years old, Bridgewater, NJ, on a cruise, Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. Second time Harry Potter book made me cry (Sirius)
July 2005 - 28 years old, Neptune, NJ, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I couldn't wait to read it so I was reading it on the train each day back and forth from NYC. I had to take the dust jacket off because everyone who saw me reading kept almost giving away the big secret. I avoided all media so as not to know what the big reveal was. Third time Harry Potter book made me cry (Dumbledore). I think I also threw the book.
July 2007 - 30 years old, Asbury Park, NJ. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I spent an entire weekend shut in my house reading this book. I cried a bunch of times, since Rowlings was just killing things off all over the place. When I was finished, I remember feeling sad. 10 years I'd been reading those books, most of them more than once, and that was it. There were still movies to come, though.
The Movies...
We've watched these kids grown up, some have grown up with them. 10 years. That's a long time. These characters are so real to me. Through the books and movies, they are living, breathing beings that for over a third of my life have been part of my life.
I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 last night. ***SPOILER ALERT***If you do not wish to know about the movie, stop reading!!!
I'd like to start by saying that I think they did a great job with all of the movies. It's easy to sit back and say "I would have done this differently or that differently". It can't be an easy task to take something with such a rabid following and put it out there as a film, knowing that every frame, every word, every decision will be scrutinized. That being said...
The Good
The two main parts that I was looking for in this movie was the visit to Gringott's and the redemption of Severus Snape. Of course I expected to see the battle at Hogwart's but I couldn't imagine they would skip that, so I was assuming it would be there. I figured they wouldn't skip Gringott's because they had to get the Hufflepuff horcrux, but I wasn't sure how they were going to do it. It was pretty well done. Of course, watching it, it became obvious that they would never have skipped such a great opportunity for parts that would look great in 3D. I did not see the movie in 3D, but I could imagine that when all the treasure started multiplying and the curses where blowing up rock, and the dragon was flying, I bet it looked great in 3D. (Special Applause goes to Helena Bonham Carter for some of this. Hermione has to drink the polly juice potion to look like Bellatrix Lestrange and so Helena Bonham Carter had to act like Hermione acting like Bellatrix. She was AWESOME.)
Snape. I honestly believe that Alan Rickman deserves an Oscar. He has spent 10 years on this character, making us hate Snape and wonder who's side he's really on, the way that Rowlings meant it to be. 10 years and in a matter of moments, turning it around perfectly to make you understand that he's the real hero in all of this. The knowledge of who he really was and his motivations and why he did all the things he did and what it all cost him was one of the greatest parts written by Rowlings. Alan Rickman conveyed all of it so convincingly and perfectly, it was almost as if he was actually Severus Snape and that Rowlings simply wrote about him. I love Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, but Alan Rickman steals the show for me. I was very pleased that they kept this key part in the movie and really did it justice.
"Not my daughter, YOU BITCH!" - The crowd went friggin' WILD when Mrs. Weasley opened up a can of Whoop Ass on Bellatrix Lestrange. It was great.
Neville (the actor looks about 35 in this movie) has his moment.
Ron in the epilogue part. It's too funny how they aged him.
The Medium
They changed some of the Hogwarts stuff. Like not showing how Hagrid gets captured by Voldemort. You don't even see Hagrid until suddenly there he is, tied up in the woods with the Death Eaters.
There is no woo-hoo moment when Harry defeats Voldemort. They battle alone, Harry wins, and then he's walking around the great hall in Hogwarts and it's obvious everyone knows it's over because they are drinking coffee but no one really says anything. It was sort of weird. I sort of got it, but still sort of strange.
I think they changed the part a bit about how Harry figures out where the Ravenclaw tiara thing is but it was ok.
The very dramatic things that happen each time they destroyed a horcrux was obviously for the benefit of 3D and not for any other real purpose. If you remember, when they destroyed Tom Riddle's journal with the Basilisk fang in Chamber of Secrets, only a bunch of ink poured out. In the last two movies, everytime they destroy a horcrux, craziness ensues.
The Unfortunate
Not a single thing about Kreecher (the Black's house elf) becoming all good and happy and leading the house elves to help defend Hogwarts is included.
No Neville's grandmother. I really wanted to see that.
Barely any Aberforth Dumbledore stuff. He's in it (and played by a reletively big actor), but there's nothing to tell us why him and Albus were at odds at all. Just him helping them into Hogwarts then showing up to help fight.
No Teddy Tonks snogging with Bill and Fleur's daughter on the train at the end.
So what's my opionion...
Near the end of the movie, after the battle of Hogwarts is over, Voldemort has been defeated and it's just Harry, Hermione, and Ron standing in the ruins of the stone open hallway/bridge place that they seem to end up at in the end of many of the movies, the three of them are looking out. I have to assume they are looking out at the ruins of Hogwarts because the scene never actually shows what they are looking at. The camera is on the three of them, standing together as they always do. It could be my imagination, but it's like you can see the sadness on their faces as they look at maybe the Hogwarts set or whatever, like they are actually realizing that not only is this the last time the characters will be looking out over Hogwarts, but also the last time they as actors would be together in this place that they have spent half their lives. It's got to be an odd feeling for them. I feel like that's what got conveyed in that moment. Again, I could have been imagining things.
I think they did a great job with this movie. I was moved by all the parts that were supposed to move me, which is always a tough thing to do when I already know what's going to happen. Though this movie was by far the most graphically violent and sad (Rowlings went on a killing spree, as any who have read the book knows), it was also the one with the most moments of laugh out loud humor. I felt that balanced things out well, so as not to drag the whole thing down into some very dark sad place. It was sad to walk out of the theater, knowing this would be the last time.
The world of Harry Potter is not the first world created for those who wish for magic, nor will it likely be the last. From Norse Mythology, to Tolkien's Middle Earth, to Rowlings Harry Potter, there have been writings all throughout time that impact our imaginations and open our eyes to wonders that don't exist in the real world. Tolkien brought us the world of Middle Earth with his words. He brought alive in our imaginations the hobbits, and elves, and trolls, etc. It was Peter Jackson who brought a vision to middle earth. For Harry Potter, we have JK Rowlings to thank for a rich world of magic, brought into our minds with words, old and new. But Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, and David Yates brought that world alive in ways that went beyond my imagination. And I'm sure it was not simple job for Steve Kloves to cobble together from so much, screenplays that made sense while being limited by screen time. I think he deserves an award for that task. And then there is every single person cast in those movies that made the character real. Gary Oldman's Sirius Black, Emma Thompson's Professor Trelawny, David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith as McGonagall, Ralph Fienes as Voldemort, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid, etc. The list is long and I honestly believe that every single person played their part perfectly. I can't think of a single member of the cast that I thought "Why did they pick this guy/girl? They totally don't make sense for this part." Just great. I can't imagine them going back in time and doing it all again and getting it more right.
And so it ends...
Jenn - He'll always be The Boy Who Lived...
to start. I had no idea who this band was and upon seeing them wondered exactly how old the members were. The guitar player looked to be about 75 years old. If you look Yes up in wikipedia, the picture is from 1977. That also happens to be the year I was born. So they are pretty old. They are all in their 60s. So, anyway, I didn't know any of the songs until they sang Owner of a Lonely Heart, which I recognized from very early childhood. The guitar player could still jam out, but the lead singer had seen better days, for sure.
