Okay, I must confess. I’m a rather ignorant muggle when it comes to the Harry Potter franchise. I haven’t read the books, and I don’t think I’ve seen all the movies. But I don’t live under a pop culture rock, so I can definitely understand and appreciate their appeal. And I can attest – with a certain amount of confidence – that the penultimate Potter flick, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One will satisfy most if not all of the HP fans, young and old, and leave ‘em wanting (and waiting) for more. Unfortunately, they’ll have to wait eight friggin’ months! Part Two doesn’t hit theaters until July. And therein lies the movie’s only real flaw. HPATDH Part One draws you in from the very first frame, cruises along at a steady clip, and ends – abruptly. No fair! What am I supposed to do now? Read the book!?
In some ways, HPATDH Part One is a chick flick wrapped in an action adventure fantasy blockbuster. That’s because the main characters, like the actors who play them, have grown and matured (a lot) over the past ten years. The movie focuses a great deal on the relationship between those three amigos of wizardry – Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) – as they embark on a perilous journey to find and destroy the “horcruxes” – fragments of the evil lord Voldemort’s dark soul that are key to his attaining immortality. Let’s just say, the whole experience puts a strain on the trio’s friendship, not to mention the budding romance between Hermione and Ron.
HPATDH Part One is alternately dark, light, sweet, scary, funny, poignant and sad. The performances are all solid and the cinematography is gorgeous. Author J.K. Rowling tapped into a pretty magical formula with her books, and Hollywood has done a rather remarkable job bringing them to life on the big-screen. It’ll be sad to see ‘em all go. I just hope good defeats evil in the end! But really – July?!
Unlike Mainstream Chick, I am a Muggle well-versed in Potter lore. I have read all of the books and seen all of the movies and I’m glad I saw this one. But I have to say it’s not a must see if you are not a Potter fan. In fact, I might say even for Potter fans wait for the inevitable re-release right before the final movie comes out next year. Then you can see both parts closer together. This one ends rather abruptly — understandable if you know the story. There’s a lot to get into one movie.
I also agree with Mainstream chick that the cinematography is gorgeous, and it’s nice to see the little wizards grown up and dealing with life without adults to fall back on. Plus, the budding romances are fun. Enjoyable but it can wait if you haven’t seen it already.
I have to disagree with my fellow Chicks about the ending; I didn’t find it half as abrupt as the last installment, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince . It think it ended at just the right moment. Sure it is a cliff hanger, but being that this is the last book and the franchise is about to run out, why not? I think people can enjoy it on its own, but I’ll probably see it again just before the last one. I just saw one of the early HP movies the other day and have to give the producers and crews great props for keeping these things at such a high level of production, from the actors to the sets and CG. And JK created such a marvelous world. What will she think of next?