Friday, July 15, 2011

Goodbye, Harry Potter!

Today marks the end of an era. It's the official release date of the final movie in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. I haven't really given much thought about how I felt about a series I really love coming to an end, even though I had already read the book and knew the outcome, until I left the movie theater today and heard some people saying, "this is the last movie...it's the end..." in a sad tone. But it is sad - I often find myself comparing other books and movies to Harry Potter. Twilight for instance. Whoever said that Stephanie Meyer was the next J.K. Rowling is delusional. And don't even get me started on the horrible messages Twilight passes along to it's target audience: teenage girls. In any event, what I'm trying to say is that J.K. Rowling is "brilliant" (imagine that said in Hermione's voice) and I think the movies were well done, particularly in staying true to the books in every way.

Back to the movie...I must've stepped in doggy doo earlier this week because I got extremely lucky and was able to attend an advanced screening on Monday night. While my friend and I were waiting in line, the movie people announced that the screening was in 3D. Personally, I was a little disappointed to hear that announcement because I'm not big on the whole 3D craze. But I have to say, especially after seeing the movie again on the regular screen, that the 3D effects were pretty impressive. Not particularly necessary, but cool nonetheless. It almost made the 2D version a bit plain by comparison.

The movie lasted almost exactly two hours and I thought it was well done. Of course, there are a few things I would have liked to seen expanded a bit more, but that's one of the expected downfalls of turning a book into a movie. Was it my favorite movie of the series? I'm not sure yet -- I'll need to think about it a bit more. I tend to be sucked in by my love for the series and every book or movie I see seems to be "the best" (although I will admit that Order of the Phoenix was my least favorite book). The actors have definitely come a long way since the Sorcerer's Stone. And there are some great, laugh-out-loud funny, lines in the movie, some of which I don't recall being in the book and coming from people that you don't necessarily picture being humorous.

While I'm sad to see the series end, the timeless Harry Potter series will live forever in the books, DVDs, Blu Ray, and whatever other form of media comes along in the future. As for me, I will be spending my weekend re-reading The Deathly Hallows.

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