HP and the DH: Part one!
Sorry I haven't posted in a long time, but these things happen. I'm just coming from watching the first installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And I needed to share
My general, non-spoiler version is that it is a HUGE tear jerker, the movie was so incredibly true to the books (for the most parts) and was cut, in my opinion, in the most perfect place.
I've give you my detailed walk through of the movie, and my opinions on it, under a cut. PLEASE BE AWARE!! I am going to spoil the hell out of this movie, so if you've never read the book, or just don't want to know about the movie, look away. NOW!
Anyways, we get the Warner Brothers logo on the screen, and as my friend Aislinn had said after the movie "This is the second last time I'll do this!" Now, this didn't bring tears to my eyes, but what followed did. We are given shots of each of the trio, in their homes, staring into the camera. At Harry's, the Dursley's are packing their things into the car. Ron is just staring out into nothingness. At Hermione's we;re treated to a scene which was never in the books, but was very important. She starts in her bed room, and is called downstairs by her mother. Hermione enters a living room, and her parents are sitting on a couch, their heads together talking. Hermione raises her wand, and yes, she obilverates their minds of her. It's very touching, and this is before the Harry Potter logo comes up on the screen. So, like a baby, I was bawling my eyes out.
Next, we get the seven Potters scene. We're introduced to Bill, and he is such a Weasley, it's kind of insane that he's just coming on for these last two films. The transformations are hilarious to watch, as is the undressing. I'm going to add right here that, I stand by my "tear jerker" statement, but this film has a good balance of sad, and hilarious moments. As they leave the Dursley house, Harry lets Hedwig go. I breathe a sigh of relief, as I didn't really want to see Hedwig die the way she did. The attack on them is intense, and keeps everyone on the edge of their seats. My earlier relief at seeing Hedwig set free is erased by terror as she flies towards Harry to try to protect him from the battle. Again, the waterworks start, as this death is not at all expected any more. This becomes how they know who the real Harry is, as there is no Stan Shunpike in this movie.
Instead of them all going to safe houses, as the book, Hagrid and Harry fly right to the Burrow. The others appear as if they used portkeys, so it made no sense for them to have flown right to the Burrow. Aside from the obvious of having to cast Tonk's parents. Anyways, George's ear looked really mangled, and they did a good job on it. Moody's death was the same in the book, where it's just mentioned, not shown.
After this scene, there is a bedtime scene, where Harry can't sleep. He gets up and takes his bag with him. He leaves the Burrow, obviously attempting to start his adventure alone. Ron follows him, and convinces him to stay. Then we have the wedding setting up, and the Minister shows up then to give the items from Dumbledore's will. I THINK in the movie-verse, the wedding, and Harry's birthday are on the same day. No idea why anyone thought that was a good idea. It would have been simpler to have the events separate.
Then there is the wedding. Harry does not use polyjuice potion to disguise himself, and so he wanders around, and everyone knows he's there. I suppose that just cuts another actor, but still... Anyways, Fleur's dress is amazing and the wedding set is gorgeous. The attack is wonderfully done, and the terror is right there.
Once they are in the muggle world, and in the diner, it's still believable. The scene was done a little differently, as they have decided, for some reason, to DO AWAY WITH THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK!!! So again, Harry is out in plain sight of every one. I'm not sure, but I don't think the film makers realized that Harry didn't have to "be himself" for a large chunk of this movie. Anyways. The death eaters walk in, and go to the counter, instead of sitting by them. Obviously, they saw them, and Harry notices a wand about to twitch their way, and then the fighting ensues. Ron is in favour of killing the death eaters, but the other two convince him, obliterating their minds is better. Then Hermione is the one to do it, and it's hard for her, as the last time she did that spell, it was on her parents. And you can see her struggle.
Once they get to Grimmuald Place, they find Kreacher rather then Harry summoning him. And there is never the bond forged between the elf and owner. But he tells them about the locket, and Harry gets him to trail Dung to get it back. Lupin never shows up at Sirius's old home, but that scene always felt wrong to me in the book, and I'm glad it was cut. When Kreacher shows up with Dung, Dobby has tagged along! I almost cried, but I was glad for the extra Dobby in this film. More on that later.
They hatch their plan to go into the Ministry, and again, no invisibility cloak. When Harry sneaks into Umbridge's office, the decoy detonators explode, and a large cloud of smoke emerges. He kind of just waltzes in. Moody's eye is on the door, but Harry never takes it, because when he leaves the room, the smoke had cleared and people just accept that he's there for some reason. He is still under the Poly Juice, but still. Harry and Ron get down to the court room, to get Hermione and get out of there. There isn't the whole crowd of muggleborns, but it's ok, as it sets up what happens next nicely. Harry, as a death eater, pushes Ron into the court room to stand with his "wife". Umbridge then starts going off about how Mrs. Cattermole mustn't tell lies, and Harry is staring at the locket on her neck. Harry grabs his wand, and Umbridge notices, and asks him what he's doing. "You are telling lies Umbridge. And You Must Not Tell Lies!" He says these lines as he starts to slowly morph back into himself. Hermione changes back to herself in the elevator, but Ron doesn't change until his "wife" gives him a long kiss for saving her. How it wasn't until this point that people didn't start to recognize the trio, I have no idea, but that's just more of me being baffled at these things.
There is then a wonderful quick paced chase through the ministry, and Yaxley then ruins their escape. This starts the camping out. Ron's splinching was WONDERFULLY done, as was Hermione's reaction to it. I honestly had no problem with the camping scenes, I thought they were well done. Ron's leaving was amazing, and heart breaking at the same time.
Godric's Hollow. I had a problem with that. When they appear there, Hermione says "I still think we should have used Poly Juice Potion." OF COURSE YOU SHOULD HAVE, CAUSE THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BOOKS!! *deep breath* Harry's reasoning was a good one, but come on, at least give them the invisibility cloak!! Instead, they walk, as them selves, to the Potter's grave and Magic up a wreath. And then are SHOCKED when someone is watching them. Yes someone is watching you! You two are the most wanted witch and wizard right now, and you are doing magic in a "muggle" village! The actors were brilliant, I had no problem with them for these scenes at all. The snake was creepy, and just gave me chills. Mostly well done.
Ron's return was well done too. The whole sword in the ice, and the choking! Amazing, and the actors were brilliant. The scene where Harry and Hermione come out of the locket? They are naked, and make out. I remember the writing saying it was "kissing obscenely". Well, they got that part down well.
The Lovegood house was built very well. It was very Luna-ish, and had the feel perfect. As Xeno, the actor was amazing. The only thing missing was the Crumplehorned Snorecack horn. But the escape from there was still amazing. Once they escaped, they fall right into the hands of snatchers. They get caught, and then are taken to the Malfoy Manor.
Everything in the Malfoy house was perfect. The only things wrong (and they were minor things) was that Dean wasn't in the basement, and Wormtail never killed himself (he just gets knocked out). Dobby comes and saves the day, by dropping a chandler on Bellatrix (to get her to release Hermione). She is shocked that he tried to kill her. "Not kill, Dobby never meant to kill. He only meant to main, or seriously injure." Narcissa raises her wand to kill him, and he Magics it away from her. Bella freaks out, and Dobby has a big ol speech about how he doesn't have masters, and is a free elf. Now, I started crying, and I mean everyone in that theater heard me crying, at his speech. He grabs the last of the people needing saving, and Bella throws a knife at him. Everyone in the theater, aside from me as I am still noisily crying, falls silent. Dobby's death is so incredibly touching, and it takes me till the end of the scene to calm my crying down to just sniffles.
The last scene is Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore's tomb to get the wand. A tiny bit out of place, but like I said at the beginning of this, a perfect ending to part one.
Sorry this was so long winded, but I had to rant and rave about the movie. I recommend seeing A Very Potter Sequel before watching this. There will some moments where you will giggle to yourself as it reminds you of things from the musical. Go see the movie, and have a ball!
My general, non-spoiler version is that it is a HUGE tear jerker, the movie was so incredibly true to the books (for the most parts) and was cut, in my opinion, in the most perfect place.
I've give you my detailed walk through of the movie, and my opinions on it, under a cut. PLEASE BE AWARE!! I am going to spoil the hell out of this movie, so if you've never read the book, or just don't want to know about the movie, look away. NOW!
Anyways, we get the Warner Brothers logo on the screen, and as my friend Aislinn had said after the movie "This is the second last time I'll do this!" Now, this didn't bring tears to my eyes, but what followed did. We are given shots of each of the trio, in their homes, staring into the camera. At Harry's, the Dursley's are packing their things into the car. Ron is just staring out into nothingness. At Hermione's we;re treated to a scene which was never in the books, but was very important. She starts in her bed room, and is called downstairs by her mother. Hermione enters a living room, and her parents are sitting on a couch, their heads together talking. Hermione raises her wand, and yes, she obilverates their minds of her. It's very touching, and this is before the Harry Potter logo comes up on the screen. So, like a baby, I was bawling my eyes out.
Next, we get the seven Potters scene. We're introduced to Bill, and he is such a Weasley, it's kind of insane that he's just coming on for these last two films. The transformations are hilarious to watch, as is the undressing. I'm going to add right here that, I stand by my "tear jerker" statement, but this film has a good balance of sad, and hilarious moments. As they leave the Dursley house, Harry lets Hedwig go. I breathe a sigh of relief, as I didn't really want to see Hedwig die the way she did. The attack on them is intense, and keeps everyone on the edge of their seats. My earlier relief at seeing Hedwig set free is erased by terror as she flies towards Harry to try to protect him from the battle. Again, the waterworks start, as this death is not at all expected any more. This becomes how they know who the real Harry is, as there is no Stan Shunpike in this movie.
Instead of them all going to safe houses, as the book, Hagrid and Harry fly right to the Burrow. The others appear as if they used portkeys, so it made no sense for them to have flown right to the Burrow. Aside from the obvious of having to cast Tonk's parents. Anyways, George's ear looked really mangled, and they did a good job on it. Moody's death was the same in the book, where it's just mentioned, not shown.
After this scene, there is a bedtime scene, where Harry can't sleep. He gets up and takes his bag with him. He leaves the Burrow, obviously attempting to start his adventure alone. Ron follows him, and convinces him to stay. Then we have the wedding setting up, and the Minister shows up then to give the items from Dumbledore's will. I THINK in the movie-verse, the wedding, and Harry's birthday are on the same day. No idea why anyone thought that was a good idea. It would have been simpler to have the events separate.
Then there is the wedding. Harry does not use polyjuice potion to disguise himself, and so he wanders around, and everyone knows he's there. I suppose that just cuts another actor, but still... Anyways, Fleur's dress is amazing and the wedding set is gorgeous. The attack is wonderfully done, and the terror is right there.
Once they are in the muggle world, and in the diner, it's still believable. The scene was done a little differently, as they have decided, for some reason, to DO AWAY WITH THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK!!! So again, Harry is out in plain sight of every one. I'm not sure, but I don't think the film makers realized that Harry didn't have to "be himself" for a large chunk of this movie. Anyways. The death eaters walk in, and go to the counter, instead of sitting by them. Obviously, they saw them, and Harry notices a wand about to twitch their way, and then the fighting ensues. Ron is in favour of killing the death eaters, but the other two convince him, obliterating their minds is better. Then Hermione is the one to do it, and it's hard for her, as the last time she did that spell, it was on her parents. And you can see her struggle.
Once they get to Grimmuald Place, they find Kreacher rather then Harry summoning him. And there is never the bond forged between the elf and owner. But he tells them about the locket, and Harry gets him to trail Dung to get it back. Lupin never shows up at Sirius's old home, but that scene always felt wrong to me in the book, and I'm glad it was cut. When Kreacher shows up with Dung, Dobby has tagged along! I almost cried, but I was glad for the extra Dobby in this film. More on that later.
They hatch their plan to go into the Ministry, and again, no invisibility cloak. When Harry sneaks into Umbridge's office, the decoy detonators explode, and a large cloud of smoke emerges. He kind of just waltzes in. Moody's eye is on the door, but Harry never takes it, because when he leaves the room, the smoke had cleared and people just accept that he's there for some reason. He is still under the Poly Juice, but still. Harry and Ron get down to the court room, to get Hermione and get out of there. There isn't the whole crowd of muggleborns, but it's ok, as it sets up what happens next nicely. Harry, as a death eater, pushes Ron into the court room to stand with his "wife". Umbridge then starts going off about how Mrs. Cattermole mustn't tell lies, and Harry is staring at the locket on her neck. Harry grabs his wand, and Umbridge notices, and asks him what he's doing. "You are telling lies Umbridge. And You Must Not Tell Lies!" He says these lines as he starts to slowly morph back into himself. Hermione changes back to herself in the elevator, but Ron doesn't change until his "wife" gives him a long kiss for saving her. How it wasn't until this point that people didn't start to recognize the trio, I have no idea, but that's just more of me being baffled at these things.
There is then a wonderful quick paced chase through the ministry, and Yaxley then ruins their escape. This starts the camping out. Ron's splinching was WONDERFULLY done, as was Hermione's reaction to it. I honestly had no problem with the camping scenes, I thought they were well done. Ron's leaving was amazing, and heart breaking at the same time.
Godric's Hollow. I had a problem with that. When they appear there, Hermione says "I still think we should have used Poly Juice Potion." OF COURSE YOU SHOULD HAVE, CAUSE THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BOOKS!! *deep breath* Harry's reasoning was a good one, but come on, at least give them the invisibility cloak!! Instead, they walk, as them selves, to the Potter's grave and Magic up a wreath. And then are SHOCKED when someone is watching them. Yes someone is watching you! You two are the most wanted witch and wizard right now, and you are doing magic in a "muggle" village! The actors were brilliant, I had no problem with them for these scenes at all. The snake was creepy, and just gave me chills. Mostly well done.
Ron's return was well done too. The whole sword in the ice, and the choking! Amazing, and the actors were brilliant. The scene where Harry and Hermione come out of the locket? They are naked, and make out. I remember the writing saying it was "kissing obscenely". Well, they got that part down well.
The Lovegood house was built very well. It was very Luna-ish, and had the feel perfect. As Xeno, the actor was amazing. The only thing missing was the Crumplehorned Snorecack horn. But the escape from there was still amazing. Once they escaped, they fall right into the hands of snatchers. They get caught, and then are taken to the Malfoy Manor.
Everything in the Malfoy house was perfect. The only things wrong (and they were minor things) was that Dean wasn't in the basement, and Wormtail never killed himself (he just gets knocked out). Dobby comes and saves the day, by dropping a chandler on Bellatrix (to get her to release Hermione). She is shocked that he tried to kill her. "Not kill, Dobby never meant to kill. He only meant to main, or seriously injure." Narcissa raises her wand to kill him, and he Magics it away from her. Bella freaks out, and Dobby has a big ol speech about how he doesn't have masters, and is a free elf. Now, I started crying, and I mean everyone in that theater heard me crying, at his speech. He grabs the last of the people needing saving, and Bella throws a knife at him. Everyone in the theater, aside from me as I am still noisily crying, falls silent. Dobby's death is so incredibly touching, and it takes me till the end of the scene to calm my crying down to just sniffles.
The last scene is Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore's tomb to get the wand. A tiny bit out of place, but like I said at the beginning of this, a perfect ending to part one.
Sorry this was so long winded, but I had to rant and rave about the movie. I recommend seeing A Very Potter Sequel before watching this. There will some moments where you will giggle to yourself as it reminds you of things from the musical. Go see the movie, and have a ball!