SO LONG, AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FISH, HARRY POTTER

It's been ten long years since the very first Harry Potter book (HP and the Philosopher's Stone) was thrown on my lap. I picked it up, a bit reluctantly at first, and the rest, as they say, is history. The movies on the other hand have been a different story altogether. The first movie was just 'alright', whereas the rest just got from bad to worse as they ignored important plotlines, leaving readers and fans of the books seething and disappointed, and the non-readers wondering what the hell happened.

It all changed with the 7th movie, though. I didn't read the book right before the movie, and watched it with an open mind knowing well enough that it was the beginning of the end, and enjoyed it thoroughly. The review is here:

http://raconteuresquescribblings.blogspot.com/2010/12/harry-potter-and-how-it-begins-to-end.html


For that reason, we (the sister and I) went to see the final installment of the Harry Potter (HP and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2) on a Monday night in the previous week, and since we both thought that Part 1 was pretty good, it only seemed natural that we looked forward to Part 2.

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD. Maybe.

Harry, Ron and Hermione continue their quest in searching for and destroying the horcruxes, fragments of Voldermort's soul, which was the method he employed in gaining complete immortality. As the book suggests, this leads them into very dangerous situations which they somehow manage to handle despite their age and the capabilities as young wizards. While they seem to be succeeding in their quest, the ultimate task of defeating Voldemort still lay ahead of them. The final showdown was in the school grounds. Here, the movie was a definite winner as the showdown scenes were just awesome.

IMHO the best dialogue goes to one between Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy.

Voldemort: How can you live with yourself, Lucius?
Lucius: I don't know...
(Seriously, do you even actually answer such a question??)

Personally, I'd say that splitting the movie into 2 parts was a good idea, as they could reveal certain background information which is crucial to understanding why things happened the way they did, especially the part about Snape's memory. In the end, good triumphs over evil, but not in the way any *fans of the book thought it would end. And then we approached the "19 years later" scene. I knew the ending based on the book, but didn't expect them to use the same actors (heavily padded  and made up to show what parenthood can do to your physical state, ha ha)

ASIDE:
During the course of the movie, the rest of the crowd simultaneously uttered "shhh" at a very noisy child, who decided that he/she wanted to make noise while other people were engrossed in the movie. Seriously, people. Leave your tiny unappreciative kids at home when you come to watch movies.

Overall, the movie was indeed enjoyable. It's been a few good years of Potter-mania, and now it's all over. No doubt we can always read the book if we feel like reliving the adventures, or watch the movies again (if we were fans in the first place), but the idea of not having any anticipation for something new is a sad one indeed!

*Before the final book was released back in 2007, a few of us discussed on possible endings for the book. Given the author's penchant for misery, we thought that while she would allow the good people to win, a big sacrifice would have to be made, such as Harry dying, or something. She allowed Harry to live, but killed a whole bunch of others, though.