Harry Potter 7, plus a little rant about movies in 3D

The Harry Potter movies are over, finished, done. I am a huge Harry Potter fan, fan of the books that is. I have always been disappointed by the movies. I know movies are never as good as the books, but I still don't know why they have to change the story. I know things have to be left out, but changing the story...it just does not make sense. I think they should have waited at least until the 7th book was out to make the movies.Then, they would have known the whole story and not added characters last minute that should have been there the whole time (Bill and Mundungus come to mind). I have constantly been let down by the Harry Potter movies, so much so that I did not have very high expectations for this one. However, I did go to the midnight showing. How could I not? It is the last movie. It sort of represents the end of an era.




   Tyler and I at the Scholastic headquarters in NYC 

Harry Potter has been a part of my life since I was in the 4th grade. My Aunt Terri bought me the book for my birthday and said she had heard it was popular in England. No one else I knew had heard of them. The first book came out in Sept. 1998 and I read it March 1999 (so just a few months after it was released in the U.S.!). I devoured the first three books, as they all came out pretty quickly. Then, I (and the rest of the world) waited a year for the 4th  book and then two for the 5th. The waits just got longer. I think we all waited three years for the 7th to come out! Waiting for the books to come out made the whole Harry Potter experience so much more memorable. I had count downs until the book came out, I tried to find out clues on J.K. Rowlings website, checked MuggleNet for updates, I went to the Borders Midnight book release parties and finally held the precious book in my hands and read it in one day. I went through this for the 4th-7th books. I feel so lucky I was a kid during this time. I grew up with Harry Potter. The characters feel real to me. I half expect to meet them when I die (I wish!). I can't really express how much I love these books. You can read them over and over again and still enjoy them (I'm reading the whole series right now--I do every summer) They feel like they are part of me, part of the very essence of who I am. Cheesy? Nerdy? So what. Make fun of me all you want, it won't bother me. I feel sorry for those who have not read them.

We've already started Elanor on the books:)

Back to the movie---I enjoyed it---while I watched it. It was the best one so far, but left out one really crucial point. I have no idea why. When Harry dies he is doing it to save everyone else fighting at Hogwarts (as he is a Horcrux), therefore the same powerful love that Lilly had for Harry that saved him as a baby, also saves all of those people. Voldemort cannot touch them. Harry explains all this to Voldemort in the book. He also explains why the Elder Wand is his and also about all the Horcruxes. Voldemort did not know how vulnerable he was until this point. This scene also takes place in the Great Hall and everyone sees the duel and conversation. Harry defeats Voldemort because he has the Elder Wand. He and Voldemort cast spells at the same time (Harry--Expelliarmus, Voldemort--Avada Kedavra), they meet in the middle and because Harry has the Elder Wand, Voldemort's spell backfires on himself and he dies. In the movie they have this duel all over Hogwarts, do this weird falling/flying thing, and end up in the courtyard. No one is there except them. The Elder Wand flies over to Harry and Voldemort disintegrates. No conversation. Also after Voldemort dies Harry walks into the Great Hall and everyone is drinking tea, taking care of their dead, and chatting. No one says, "Thanks Harry", "Wow", "Good Job". That was a little odd. Besides that, and a few other things (Dumbledore's past, seeing Fred die laughing, Teddy Lupin's birth, Neville killed the snake differently, etc.) the movie was really pretty good. I could forgive all the other things if they just had that conversation between Voldemort and Harry.

If you have not seen it, go see it. You will probably like it. At least watch it just to see Mrs. Weasley take out Bellatrix. It was awesome.

I bet you were wondering when I would get to 3D. This is just a tiny rant. I promise. So why is everything in 3D now? I prefer 2D. 3D is cool for the experience, you know like "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" at Disneyland. I can't watch a whole 2 hour movie in 3D. I like not being in the movie. One of the previews at the Harry Potter movie said, "Playing (date) in 3D, 2D in select theaters". What?!?!?! Why?!?!? 3D movies are all about the visual experience. "Avatar" is a good example of that. Lame plot (story has been done a million times), characters were just ehhhh, but visually it was beautiful. What is this going to do to the movie industry? Are we becoming like the people in "A Brave New World"? If you have not read it, please do. Are thinking movies, clever movies, and movies about characters actually going to leave us? I mean, are you going to watch Sense and Sensibility in 3D? "Oh no! Her curl almost hit my face as she danced in a circle with Willoughby!" That would just be weird. I really hope we are not going into the 3D only direction. Movies will be visually appealing, action packed, etc., but will not have any soul. So there. That rant was not too long was it?

Thank you to anyone who read this whole post (I'm not offended if you didn't). I just had to get that all out. For any Potter fans out there, it is not over! J.K Rowling is giving us "Pottermore". I'm so excited!