Pros:
a. Acting, especially on the part of the main characters, was at its finest of the series. Not that I have any special connection to Daniel Radcliffe or anything, but just look at the progress he has made over the eight films. I think the actors pretty much all have a chance to succeed in the real, post-Potter acting world.
b. Special effects. The movie's big battle scenes didn't disappoint. I was especially impressed with the big "protection dome" that the professors constructed to cover all of Hogwarts, and the ensuing attack from the Death Eaters.
c. A separate entry alone for the fight between Snape and McGonagall. Grown-up wizard fights are the best.
Cons:
a. The epilogue. One of my least favorite parts of the books, and now one of my least favorite parts of the movies. The aging technology they used on the actors was...not aging enough. As my husband put it, it seemed that the main way they aged Hermione was to put her in a sensible blouse. Ron grew a beer belly. Ginny got a mom haircut. But they all had roughly the same faces, allowing for the disconcerting conclusion that Ginny and Hermione became pregnant immediately post-Battle of Hogwarts. I guess the victory was cause for celebration, but come on now, keep your pants on until the dead are buried at least.
b. The lack of Grindelwald, and really any explanation of the whole Hallows vs. Horcruxes dilemma that Harry struggles with. Along with that, the lack of the do-we-trust-Dumbledore-or-not subplot. There were just some key story elements missing that, in the book, added cohesiveness to the entire plot. Without them, we got the main action sequences--find Horcrux, destory Horcrux, fight Death Eaters, rinse, repeat--but we missed the resolutions of some story lines I was looking forward to and the whole thing felt a little jumpy.
With that, I close this review and eagerly await the release of Pottermore so that the world of HP will continue and I don't have to feel like my childhood has abruptly ended.
Totally agreed about the Dumbledore/Hallows subplot - leaving those out left out the true climax of the story, where harry sees the flqws of those he considerd omnipotent, and begins to make his own decisions
ReplyDeleteAlso, the fight scenes felt too cramped and chaotic, using one giant scene rather than several separate scenes with different characters. Mostly I felt jilted about (spoilers) Fred's death, and Neville's plant flinging scenes.
I'm terrible at guessing people's ages, so I just naturally assumed that at the movie's end I was the one that was just miscalculating how old/young everyone looked. I'm glad that I'm not the only one. They could have have said '15 years later...' before that future scene, or '7 months and a 2 pack a day habit later...' and Harry would have looked equally appropriate in both.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point about the fight scenes--I do feel like it went by rather fast, considering it was the climax of the entire seven preceding movies' story. And I agree that Fred never got his due, even in the book, but much less so in the movie.
ReplyDelete@Dusin--ha. You're funny, sir. And I feel like it wouldn't be unreasonable for Harry to take up smoking in a post-trauma sort of way, although I do hope he keeps it away from the children.
ReplyDeleteSmoking should be the least of his worries. Let's be honest here; any kid named Albus Severus Potter is going to be a cocaine dealer for a few months in sophomore year of college, at very best.
ReplyDeletei finally saw it last night. i was extremely disappointed. my mom, who has not read the books, was so lost and confused. i realize that MANY of the movie go-ers have read the books but that doesn't mean that the people who haven't should be like 'WTF is going on?'.
ReplyDeletealot of people say 'well it's alot of info to make into a movie'. okay people, you can have that argument for the first 6 books, but book 7 had TWO movies. i felt like they could have gotten it all in.
also, was it me or was albus severus extremely cute for an 11 year old? lolz.
ReplyDeleteSasha--give him like 6 more years before you put him on your desktop k? haha. Also, fair enough re: lost and confused. I totally would have been confused too but I have read the books approxmiately 1,002,987 times so it's hard to remember that sometimes...
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