Lots of stuff. BIG Harry Potter spoilers.
Hello!
Firstly - sorry for neglecting you all. I've been moving house and we've only just got the internet again (and thank God for that; I was getting deprivation symptoms)! I'll catch up as soon as I can =)
Secondly -
I went to see it again today, and it's growing on me. I don't really mind that they cut stuff out, because the film flows well and, unlike with the third film, they actually used the plot of the book and didn't just rely on special effects to make a good movie.
Sirius' death was ridiculous. He looked like he'd been teleported away; for a moment I thought I was watching Doctor Who. I don't understand why they have to change the way it happened like that. Gack!
And I'm beginning to think, due to the importance of the cleaning of Grimmauld Place (i.e. throwing away the locket) and the two-way mirror come the seventh book, both of which were cut out of the fifth film, that JKR is getting less and less say in these films.
The DA were awesome, though. I loved Luna, Bellatrix, Umbridge (well, I hated her, but she was cast brilliantly) and Tonks.
And how cool was Grimmauld Place?! And Snape's memories? Though I wish they'd shown Lily.
And...
OMG.
Now, Harry Potter is never going to be remembered because of the brilliant writing or eloquent expression or anything like that (because, let's face it, technically speaking, JKR really is NOT a good writer. At all. And I think "All was well" proved that). It'll be remembered because of the imagination and the hype. And oh my god, the hype was worth it this time.
I went dressed up (with friends! *grins*) at midnight on the 21st, which was amazing in itself, being surrounded by all these fans. We made a load of friends, including a Tonks whose purple hair dye got all over us, and we were amongst the first ten to get the book from our shop =D
There was so much I loved about this book, though. Ron and Hermione!!!! When I went to see OotP again, I kept looking at them and thinking, "Haha, you had babies!" (called Rose! Aww. But why Rose? And why Hugo?)
It felt so much more adult, this time around, and it was just constant action non-stop. Love it.
The only things that I didn't like were the ending (that was AWFUL. I mean, the epilogue wasn't great, but I can live with it, and I'd rather have had it than not, but "All was well"?!! I finished it, shut the book and said, "YOU CANNOT END A BOOK LIKE THAT". That's not the reaction I should be having. And I wish the epilogue had been broader. I wanted to see Luna and Hagrid and stuff) and Ron's leaving in the middle of the horcrux mission. What, he's been painted as the most loyal all the way through and now suddenly he has a personality transplant? I didn't buy it. It felt like a filler to add tension, a way of getting Ron - who is usually the source of all the humour within the trio - out of the way for the emo, serious chapters like Godric's Hollow.
You know what I really liked, though? That thing sitting under Dumbledore's chair in "heaven". I assume it was Voldemort - or the part of his soul that he killed when he AK'd Harry - but I love that we're not told. I much prefer this subtle, guess-work, make-the-readers-think-and-don't-spoon-feed-them-ideas type of writing, and I wish more of the series could have been like it.
I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE KILLED TONKS AND LUPIN. I was so happy when they got married - and loved the extra twist with Lupin feeling he'd made an outcast of his wife (why does he look and talk like a scruffy David Tennant in my head?) - and then bah. It felt so pointless, especially as we never actually saw them die. I wanted them to at least get heroic moments if they were going to be killed off. *sighs*
They really rush-edited this book, though. I caught loads of "him"s where it should have been "her" and "was" where it should have been "were", and tons of clumsy, confusing sentences (not least the ones surrounding Voldemort's death - it was never explained how the curse rebounded) that, as a beta-reader, I'd never let pass, let alone as an editor of such a popular book.
Deathstick. HA. Now that was a tension-killer.
And didn't the deathly hallows themselves seem like a bit of a pointless side-plot?
It was brilliant, though. I got so incredibly caught up in it. I cried. A lot. Only really at the bit where Harry was walking to his death, when Dobby, Tonks and Lupin died, and reading Lily's letter in Sirius' room, but still. And I wanted to stop reading because a) I didn't want it to be over and b) I thought, if I don't read it, it hasn't happened, no-one's died!
And I don't think I can ask for much more than to be that emotionally involved in a book, really.
I don't know if we'll ever get this kind of hype for a book again, but it's been fun while it's lasted. We're so lucky to have been part of it, and I loved it all.