IHOG @ the Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part two

It was only after seeing Harry Potter and the Death Hallows pt2 in 2D, 3D, and IMAX that I could deem myself educated enough to write a review of such a monumental ending. And it was only after living through an entire childhood that was forever changed by these books that I could rightfully pass judgment the final installment of the franchise.

So was it good? It was. British acting royalty MADE this film, and it was great to see the return of Gary Oldman and joining the films in the nick of time- Ciaran Hinds pulled off a phenomenal Aberforth. As “always”(swoons) Alan Rickman stole the show from the opening scenes to Snape’s painfully gruesome end. It must be said that DanRad got a whole lot less diabolical and pulled off some great Harry moments, while I thought Emma Watson made up for her usual breathy take on Hermione with the simple line “I’ll go with you” that brought my already Snape-fueled-tears to gushing. Add this to the beautiful sets and coloring, and you’ve got a contender for the best Potter movie of them all (include the music and you’ve most likely have a winner).

All my very heartfelt praise aside, this still was a Harry Potter film, and has all the flaws of the ones preceding it. You can’t be a Slytherin without being conniving or evil and you can’t be a Harry Potter movie without allotting limited screen time to way over-the-top effects and action sequences while taking away from dialogue, depth, and explanations. Where was Fred’s death? Where was the third Hallow mentioned? Where was Percy and the Weasleys make-up scene? Um, behind the bit where Voldemort’s robe turns into a kraken and the bit where Harry and Voldey jump off of a ledge and fly around in an epic hair pulling contest- that’s where. I can’t be the only one that would have preferred a much longer epilogue and Dumbledore scene over watching Voldey’s Hobo Army run around screaming with dirty teeth?

I do think that the movies special effects turned out pretty awesome so besides a few other small gripes and exclamation  of “That’s NOT how it happened in the book”(they were numerous but I’m insane and picky), the movie rocked my freaking socks and did the book justice as best a Potter film could. (Final thought: Am I the only one who noticed how effing TALL Dean got? Homeboy’s a giant)

All Was Well – A Hogwarts Graduation

Truth be told with utmost sincerity, yesterday was evocative of the ending of an era. An essential Diagon alley of wonderful wizarding world denizens all record-breakingly accumulated in theaters for one purpose. We all want to say our farewell to the franchise that enchanted our lives. After 14 years since first receiving our owlish letter of acceptance, the series feels just as immortal as the fabled gift of the philosopher’s stone.

The deluminator is drawn. The theater grows dim. The anticipation is blended with the bittersweet taste of grapefruit-flavored Bertie Botts. Goodbye is not an easy bean to swallow. Scenery is altered from our supernatural sanctuary to a blazing battlefield. Beloved characters are wrenchingly ripped away from us. Revelations rivet the heart and torment the tear ducts, forward changing the way you will ever after see the franchise. That’s the intricate genius of the final installment.

As I sat with the closing credits approaching the final curtain call, I’m brought to a sort of pensive-gazing reflection as I embarrassingly but admittedly sobbed onto my Slytherin tee. I recall being dragged to the first film; I ignorantly dismissed it to likely be girlish Disney-esque fluff. Within 24 hours of walking out of the theater, I owned books 1-3. Who could forget the Sherlock-harkening investigative debates over Snape’s allegiances, lumos-igniting livid factions now extinct and long answered. Where were you when Dumbledore died? All these magical memories intermingled with the milestones of approaching maturity, mirrored so magnificently by the escalating adulthood of the books. Then just like that, I found myself illuminated with a patronus-like epiphany. Harry finally grew up… meaning so did we.

In the culmination of so much lengthy emotional investment, whole generations essentially graduated alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Fictional classmates became the paralleling backdrop to the very real lives of so many young adult readers during that difficult period of adolescent discovery. Treated like a troll by your teacher? Cliques segregating you out like mudbloods? Manhandled by your own personal Malfoy? Many found public schooling to be a horribly enduring horcrux of inescapability…but now we could turn to an alternative education within the pages of Potter. The greatest spell Rowling wrote was the transporting talent to immerse you within somehow recognizable but yet otherworldly escapism. Even the greatest of Harry hatred must celebrate the ending crowning achievement. Millions of video game era children spring-boarded into the school of imaginative reading!

Throughout our adventure, our heroes have made life-altering sacrifices and unlocked memorable mysteries, but so long as you never forget the life-alterations they had on you…nothing ever really ends. We all won the proverbial house cup, given the reward of contemporary mythology – the kind that everlastingly carries forever onward from generation to generation. So here, at our Hogwarts graduation, I think it important that we place inside our Rememberall one fact we seem to all have forgotten. Within the almighty word lay timeless magic! The boy who lived…will never die.

Mischief Managed!