Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Grade: A+ 

Profanity: One or two... not bad

Graphic content (sex, murder,etc.): A little more gruesome than the previous ones... some blood and lots of dead bodies



** BIG SPOILER ALERT ... YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE OR READ THE BOOK **

Okay, so... wow! It was sooooo good!!! I ended up going to the midnight showing after all, and it was worth it! : ) And I've already seen it two more times. I went Saturday w/ my cousins Summer and Heather, and I went last night w/ my hubby, Matt. And it was just as good the 3rd time as it was the 1st! I also saw it in both 2D and 3D, and I actually preferred it in 2D... I didn't think the 3D effects made the extra $$ or headache from wearing those glasses for so long worth it.

Matt said he thought this was the best movie of the whole series... I'm still thinking about that one. It would be easy for me to say that right now and wholeheartedly believe it, but to be fair to the other movies, I'm going to wait a little while for the excitement of this one to wear off. ; )

I was a little worried about some of the key points in the book changing in the movie, but it stayed pretty true to it. Some things were changed a little, and a few things were added, but I thought everything flowed well for the most part. I did notice the 3rd time I watched it that the young Snape had bright blue eyes... But doesn't Snape have brown eyes??

And I wasn't that crazy about how Voldemort died. In the book, Harry has figured out that he's the master of the Elder Wand, and he tries to talk Voldemort out of doing anything stupid because he knows the wand won't work for him... but Voldemort tries to kill Harry anyway and the spell backfires, killing Voldemort. So ultimately, Voldemort kills himself. But in the movie, Harry and Voldemort cast spells at eachother, which causes those connected Ghostbuster Proton Pack-like streams, then the Elder Wand is propelled out of Voldemort's hand and lands in Harry's. For a moment, I was worried that Harry was then going to use the wand to kill Voldemort... I would not have liked that at all. Harry wasn't a murderer. But instead, Voldemort just turned to ash... I didn't think it was made clear enough what had killed him. Matt, who hasn't read the books, confirmed that when I asked him. He figured the horcruxes were Voldemort's life force, so that when Nagini was killed (the last horcrux), Voldemort automatically died too. So again, I thought that should have been made more clear.

I was also worried when Neville first pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat. In the book, he kills Nagini right then and there... So in the movie when that didn't happen, I was nervous that he wouldn't be the one to kill Nagini. That wouldn't have sat well with me either, since that was one of my favorite parts of the book. But Neville did kill Nagini, so it all worked out. I also liked the part they added where Neville admits he has a crush on Luna. : ) What a great couple they would make!

I bawled in all the places I knew I would the 1st time I watched it, and I surprisingly cried just as much the 2nd time... but I was able to hold it in while watching it w/ Matt. He's not a big crier, and I didn't want him making fun of me. ; ) The biggest cry came, like I knew it would, when Snape died, along with when Harry sees all Snape's memories. That was such a touching part of the book, and I always cried while reading it, so I figured I'd do the same when seeing it on the big screen... Other parts that I knew would make me cry: when Fred, Lupin, and Tonks died and when brave little Neville stood up to Voldemort and killed Nagini. What can I say... I'm a softie.

I loved that they ended the movie the way the book ended as well. I know there was a big controversy a while back when scenes from the ending were leaked, and people thought the makeup used to make the actors look older was horrible... I can't remember if I checked out the leaked photos, but I thought they did a pretty good job in the movie. (Although I believe they reshot that scene after all the bad feedback.) Matt liked that ending too. He thought it brought a sense of closure to the Harry Potter series. And even though I hate that it's all over now, I agree. : )

So, hopefully if you've read all that, you've already seen the movie, or else I completely ruined it for you... But on the off chance you haven't seen it yet, you really need to!! And if you have seen it, what did you think? Did I get all my book vs. movie facts right? It's been a while since I've read them...