Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows review (Spoilers ONLY behind the cuts)

[gioiamia]

ABOUT SPOILERS: This post starts out with a general, spoiler-free review.  I have tried very hard to put anything that might be considered a spoiler underneath an LJ-cut ( click here if you don't see the cuts).  I've even used fake LJ-cuts below so I don't give away where the film ends. However, if you consider discussions of the film sets,

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Stupid LJ text limits inhibit my babbling (1 of 2)

[gioiamia]

Hi, there! I actually had this conversation today after my sister called with the same question in regards to her kids. “Pookie” rolled her eyes at me and said nothing was scary at all. So I don’t think your son will have any trouble with it, unless he is like my 11-year-old nephew and easily prone to having nightmares. Just in case your son is prone to bad dreams, here are the only scenes I could think of that might be an issue:

1) The scene with the Muggle Studies professor almost exactly as it does in the book, with the professor being murdered. And just as in the book, the scene ends with Nagini being told to eat her, but without the audience observing it. In the film, the scene cuts as Nagini slithers down the table, toward the camera, then rears up and LUNGES suddenly at the camera with her mouth open wide. The scene cuts to black at that instant.

2) The splinching scene just after the Trio leave the Ministry is almost identical to what’s in the book. Ron lays on the ground moaning, his arm (and Hermione’s hands) covered in blood. His upper arm is missing several fist-sized chunks of flesh, with raw muscle visible in a few spots. But, just as in the book, Hermione quickly heals him with the bottle of Dittany.

3) The Christmas Eve scene with Bathilda Bagshot. When Bathilda opens her mouth and Nagini begins to emerge, it’s rather grotesque, but I don’t know if I’d consider it too scary. If I recall correctly, Bathilda’s body disappears with a poof of magic as Nagini writhes around and fully emerges. So there’s no traumatic-looking corpse, as it’s immediately evident that the snake had been transformed to look like Bathilda (which, I realized, is different than in the book). That transformation takes mere seconds, and then it’s just a rapid escape sequence with the snake lunging and snapping as Hermione casts spells.

4) As I described above, the scene at Malfoy Manor is a bit different than in the book, but Hermione does get tortured, though there isn’t the same sense of terror and frantic desperation as in the book. But we do hear Hermione screaming and see her being tortured for a few seconds as she cries and protests that she doesn’t know anything. However, Bellatrix does not torture her using Crucio. I’d be happy to elaborate, but don’t want to spoil you without your okay. :) Let me know if you want details on that scene or if you’ll just wait to see it on your honest-to-goodness date (LOL, it’s amazing how rare those are for those of us who are married-with-children, isn’t it?). My daughter did seem troubled, though not frightened, by this scene. However, she has brought it up a couple of times, asking me why Bellatrix did what she did.