I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and was very pleased with how well it stuck to the book. Because of this, I had high expectations for Part 2. I mean, if you did so well in the first half, you have to do just as well in the second half, right? Right? Wrong.
The movie started off very well, starting from exactly where it left off in Part 1 and staying faithful to the book all the way to when Harry and co break into Hogwarts. That’s where it starts to go down hill.
*Spoilers!*
The good:
- Neville. He was perfectly perfect. I really wish they gave him more screen time because he was adorable.
- The Gringott’s scene. Very well done.
- The emotion we are shown from Snape. Throughout the series, he’s been rather monotonous and emotionless. In the pensieve, we see a different side of him and it is a refreshing change.
- The battle at Hogwarts. It was intense and wonderfully done.
- Helena Ravenclaw. It was very emotional and creepy. Although they did not tell us her back story with the Bloody Baron.
- Rupert Grint and Dan Radcliffe shirtless. That’s certainly a plus.
OK you know it’s bad when I resort to writing about that.
The bad:
- They completely took out the scene where Harry and Luna go into the Ravenclaw Common Room, where they are ambushed by one of the Carrows. It appeared as if they would show it, as I hope they would (I’ve always wanted to see the other common rooms), but then they don’t. Hm.
- Fred’s death scene. Gone. Yup. They show his body once at the end and don’t even give you time to grieve before moving on to the next scene. This was an insult to his character’s memory.
- Crabbe’s disappeared. Gets replaced by Zabini, and replaced in a different way by Goyle.
- Snape’s memories are rushed and they take out some of the most interesting memories. They just go through a few of them quickly. I’ve always enjoyed the memories, because you get to see life at Hogwarts through the eyes of someone else for a change, in a different time era.
- Hermione and Ron battle Nagini, and eventually Neville slays the snake. Eventually. It takes some time getting to that scene.
- There is not a single mention of Teddy Lupin. That is, until the end when Harry suddenly knows about Lupin’s son. Weird, considering Harry was camping in a forest and hadn’t heard of any of this.
- Collin Creevey is replaced by that random Nigel kid.
- The students are not sent home. No, the teachers think it’s OK to just lock the Slytherins in the dungeons and let everybody else stay and fight.
- Still no mention of the significance of the horcruxes. Hufflepuff’s cup is just a plain old cup that Voldy turned into a horcrux.
- Not enough interaction with characters other than the trio. Too much Harry. It’s as if everybody else just have cameos.
- Random scene where they blow up one of the bridges (ignoring the fact that there are like 2 other bridges that would take them into the school).
- Voldemort’s and Bellatrix’s death = explosion into confetti!
- Percy’s on the good side all of a sudden. No explanation at all (a reoccurring theme with Yates, don’t you think?).
- Harry does not fix his old wand with the Elder Wand. No, instead he takes the Elder Wand and SNAPS IT IN HALF. Is that even possible? I didn’t think so. So Harry breaks the wand and then chucks it into the abyss. Really Yates, really?
- All of the fun and cheerful dialogue from the future scene has been resorted to everybody staring and smiling at each other. No explanation once again. They don’t even say who’s who! Plus there is absolutely no chemistry between Dan and Albus Severus. And it was really awkward to see them all with old make up on.
- Goodbye Dumbledore’s back story!
- Too many attempts at one-liners and humorless jokes.
*End of Spoilers*
All in all, all of the personality and charm of the series was zapped away in an attempts to make this final movie is action-packed as possible. It’s a shame to see something that you’ve grown up with, learned to love, taken and twisted into somebody’s ‘vision.’ I mean, why bother adding your own unimportant scenes to the movie, when there are perfectly good ones in the book that you did not bother using at all? There’s no…bonding with the characters, no connection with them you felt in Part 1. I did not feel the love for this movie like I had with the book. There was just so much significance that was left out of that movie, and it is such a shame. It had such potential to be a fantastic movie, and it fell short all because of the changes that were unnecessarily made.
See the movie, and I’m sure you’ll form your own opinion of it. It’s not a bad movie, just disappointing and unsatisfying for a die-hard fan who’s been following the books for 10 years of their life.
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