Overall, it may be said that the movie was good. The direction, cinematography & the special effects were brilliantly executed. The acting was good too. The children have grown so much.
But, this isn't the way The Harry Potter saga was meant to end. A movie which is supposed to mark the End of an Era could have been much better. With the expectations I had, I was a little disappointed. It DID NOT have the depth and the emotional impact WASN'T nearly as good as the book.
I was pleased with Part 1 because it stuck very well to the book. That's what I was expecting with this too. But no... they had to spoil it. What's the use of making the movie in two parts if they can't do justice to the book? They should have made it a Trilogy (as all great movies are made, like 'The Godfather Trilogy', 'The LOTR Trilogy', original 'Star Wars Trilogy', The Bourne Trilogy', etc.) or they should have increased the length of the 2 parts. Who forced them to fit the whole thing within 2hrs.15mins. each. ??(Every part of LOTR is over 3&1/2 hrs. long. No one had an issue with it). . *
** SPOILERS **
THE GOOD :
- Snape's and Voldemort's characters were played quite well.
- Throughout the series, Snape has been rather emotionless and monotonous. But, in the pensieve, we see a refreshingly new emotional side of him.
- Gringott's scene was nicely shown.
- They added the scene where Hermione & Ron destroy Hufflepuff's cup.
- They show the future (19 years later) scene. I thought it would be cut.
THE BAD : (I have to mention these because I was disappointed as hell)
- My Biggest Disappointment - Snape's Memories. They showed the whole thing within a minute. They're some of the most interesting & touching scenes of the story. They just rushed through it, even excluding many of the memories.
- Fred's death. They don't even show it. Then later it was ridiculous to see Mrs. Weasley angry at Bellatrix when the latter was fighting Ginny.
- The battle was too short and didn't the magnitude and impact as in the book, with Centaurs, Goblins/Kreecher, Hagrid/Spiders, Ghosts, etc.
- They don't show the Common Rooms. I always imagined it while reading the books. But I badly wanted to see them in the movie.
- They don't show Harry using the Cruciatus Curse on the one of the Carrows.
- They wasted time in Nagini's chase.
- They don't mention about Teddy Lupin and that Harry was his Godfather. They don't mention the names of Harry's other two kids.
- No mention about the significance of the horcruxes.
- No mention of Bloody Baron and his link with Ravenclaw's diadem.
- No mention about how the Invisibility Cloak came into the possession of the Potters, how Harry and Voldemort are related through the Peverell brothers.
- They don't show how Dumbledore communicated with Snape after he died.
- Harry doesn't even mend is wand. He directly snaps the Elder Wand into two pieces...
- In the future scene, all the funny and cheerful dialogues are excluded. Everyone's just smiling and staring at each other. And moreover, none of the them seemed in their late thirties. Didn't the film-makers have enough money to hire good make-up artists.
THE UGLY :
- Dumbledore's Story. He's my most favourite character in the book. There's nothing about him in the movie. They just say he had secrets (what secrets??). They don't even tell the story of Dumbledore sister, Ariana. They don't show him getting emotional at King's Cross.
- The use of ridiculous one-liners and humourless jokes when the situation is so intense and sad.
- Harry & Voldemort had their final fight in the middle of nowhere. No one was even around to watch it. (In the book, they were in the middle of the whole crowd.)
- Bellatrix and Voldemort die bursting into confetti!
ALL IN ALL, it wasn't the send-off the series deserved. Someone who has grown up reading the books and watching the movies in the series will understand my woes...
