Book to Movie Group Review: Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows Part 2

Please note that if you haven't read the final book, the movie review could contain spoilers.

Julie's Review: I don't know why I bothered wearing makeup; specifically mascara to the movie. By the end it was gone. I haven't cried this much during a movie since I saw E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial as a kid.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is mesmerizing and exhilarating. It is momentous and upsetting. It is everything I wanted in the final movie of a beloved series. I knew what to expect and yet I still found myself anxious during the movie. I found myself easily reduced to tears and sometimes sobbing.

I loved how Harry relied on those he loved but when it came down to it, he faced Voldemort on his own. He realized that it was up to him to destroy and to face him once and for all. I'm sure people who were expecting a huge showdown between Voldemort and Harry might have been a bit taken back. I always appreciated how JK Rowling wrote the final showdown and it came across beautifully on screen. I sobbed like a baby when Severus died and again at the very end when we saw their lives 19 years later.

As with the book, I thought the movie tied up the series extremely well. Yet, both endings give the fans hope that perhaps someday we can return to Hogwarts.

While the movies are wonderful in their own right, nothing replaces the books and the imagination they encourage.

I have to say Thank You to Jenn and Lisa for harassing me until I read the series. I am so grateful that they kept encouraging me. I can't imagine what I might have missed out on if I hadn't read them.

It is hard to watch the final scene and know that there is no more future Harry Potter books or movies. It is comforting to know that I can re-read the books and watch the movies whenever I feel the need for that young boy wizard who grew up into a fine man.

Julie's Final Take:  5/5

Jenn's Review:  I saw this opening weekend, and have yet to write my review because, well I had hoped to see it again, and, most of all, I'm just not ready to say goodbye.  I started reading this series when I was teaching -I wanted to know what possessed all these middle schoolers to carry around 3" thick books all of a sudden.  I was amazed and delighted.  I still am as I read these to my daughter at nap time.

The movie was everything it should have been.  I had concerns with how the cuts made to the sixth movie would impact the final two films, but I think it was handled brilliantly.  In retrospect, I'm glad they put it together the way they did.  The battle scenes at Hogwarts were incredible.  I was awestruck to watch the school crumble, but I think the writers and directors struck the perfect balance between the devastation and levity (the destruction of the bridge, etc.).  Snape's final scene had me sobbing too.

At first I was disappointed that the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort was alone, which was not as JK Rowling's wrote it, but as I considered it further I realized that she wrote so much into that final scene that it couldn't possibly be conveyed properly on screen.  However, it did make for the only two awkward moments in the whole film though -Molly Weasley's battle with Bellatrix (fans would have been furious if this had been omitted, but it seemed out of place) and Harry explaining wandlore to Ron and Hermione after the battle.  I also felt the epilogue, which was redone after initial screenings, was a little anticlimactic, but I remember wanting more the first time I read that too.

On the whole it was a beautiful end to a magnificent series.  As book to movie translations go, these are some of the best examples I've ever watched.  I agree with Julie though, the books are the masterpieces.  I will enjoy re-reading them, and re-watching the films, for years to come.  I also look forward to keeping the world alive through Pottermore in the fall...

But now it is time to say goodbye to 'The Boy Who Lived', no, wait, not good-bye...

"Mischief Managed."

Jenn's Final Take:   5/5