Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2

Well, we went to the midnight opening of the movie, in IMAX 3D. The theatre was packed and half the crowd was in costume. The theatre did trivia (doors opened at 8pm, so they had to keep the people happy until midnight) and gave away little prizes and had a demo of a Kinect Harry Potter game. That was pretty funny because the audience was watching and cheering on the player, telling them to go left or look out, etc.

We'd brought the book with us because I never did get Kevin to finish listening to it on CD with me, and so he had only gotten up to the part where Harry goes back in Snape's memories. So he was reading while we waited and I was text messaging friends about seeing Darth Vader in the hallway taking out a Death Eater with his light sabre. Pretty fun.

My first impression of the movie was that it was good but I was disappointed it didn't follow the book more closely. I also had trouble with the IMAX making me feel sick to my stomach and I couldn't watch the trip through Gringott's because it was making me queasy. I obviously won't be able to attend movies of the future unless I take a Dramamine first.

Anyway, our audience was wonderful. They were cheering McGonagall, Neville, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Neville again, Molly, etc. They were laughing and crying. We clapped at the end and several people stayed to watch the end credits, which I was disappointed in - the credits for Goblet of Fire were so cool and for the last movie in a series, they should have gone a little more out to make something interesting and memorable. I was also disappointed that at the very end of the credits they did not refrain the original Harry Potter theme from the first movie. That would have wrapped it up nicely. And I always feel a movie properly ends when the last thing you see is the title of the movie. I also hate it when the music is still going but the credits have ended, which is what happened here. But hardly anyone stays to see the credits so I'm probably the only person who cares. :)

I saw it again today with my mom in the regular theatre (which was just as good viewing as IMAX 3D, so save your money if you were planning to see it that way). This time I was able to get more into the movie and not worry so much about how it compared to the book. There were a couple of times where I got teary-eyed, and so did Mom.

I also have to say that in the book, I hated the epilogue. I thought it was pretty cheesy, to be honest. But I thought the movie did an excellent job with it. I thought they could have made the women a bit older looking - it'll be interesting to compare them to their "older" selves when the actors are actually in their mid 30s. :) Loved the potbellies on Ron and Draco, loved how all the "parents" were hugging their kids and looking on them with sadness and affection as they boarded the train.

The whole experience of Harry Potter amazes me. I doubt I'll see another phenomenon like it in my lifetime, really. 7 books, 8 movies, all the merchandising, a theme park, websites dedicated to the actors and characters, big parties being thrown at book stores and libraries for the releases of the books... It really put YA lit in the spotlight and revived interest in reading. Just wonderful and powerful for so many people. Great stuff. I'm gonna miss all of it!