Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows shall put a spell on you!

With the recent opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 2, the end of an era has emerged. Here's what I'm thinking...

I'll start off with making it clear I have not read any of the books (Gasp! I know! Shocking!). When they first came out I think I perceived them as too kiddie, or maybe i was just too much into other things. Who knows. When the first film released I also felt it was too childish and naive, not my cup of tea. Then the second one came out, then the third, and I noticed something. The films were getting darker, much as the books got darker, because Harry (and therefore the readers) were getting older. Upon learning this I realized J.K. Rowling was actually brilliant in her approach to the books for it was working greatly.

But what about the films? Could they actually pull off a series of 8 movies, all within the same continuity, with the same cast, most of which were kids growing before our very eyes? Turns out they did pull it off, and it's now the most successful franchise in film history. This has paved the way for so many other series. There would have been no Lord of the Rings trilogy (and later the Hobbit). Marvel would have never made their films tie together into one continuity for the Avengers. Harry Potter worked, and Hollywood took notice.

Now for the film itself. I want to go back and watch parts 1 and 2 together sometime to get the whole narrative without the middle break, but from what I experienced in the final movie, I definitely enjoyed it. Action, tragedy, destiny. Three of my favorite plot themes all rolled into one. You really got the feeling that everything in Harry's life had led up to this, and now it was the final act.

I had a couple nitpicks with it, mainly the expository explanations of a couple characters' motivations that were never shown or hinted at previously seemed out of place to me, and actually gave me the wrong impression about one character that turned out i was way off about. There was also the convenient lack of magic use at times it would have been much more effective what with all the hell breaking loose all around. But as I said, those are just nitpicks. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and the saga as a whole. J.K. Rowling has my respect as a writer, and I wonder if/when there will be another generations defining saga like this to come along.

Until then, Expecto Petronum.