So the last Harry Potter movie recently came out and I was invited to go to Kingston to see it with my cousin Kyle on opening weekend. Initially we planned on doing it opening night, but neither of us are such strong fans that we wanted to compete with the crazy Potter fans. We went in the early afternoon on the weekend and saw the story close out with a nearly packed room.
Without giving anything away, I must say, it is one of the only Harry Potter movies that I’d consider really good, even for non-Potter fans. There is plenty of drama, suspense, and some great action and comedy beats. Even if you haven’t enjoyed the other movies in the series, it is worth seeing, and while having seen all the other movies is helpful, I don’t know if it is completely necessary for this final foray.
While they don’t give you plenty of back story, or try to build up the characters, it has enough content, story, and things to enjoy without all the history, and the actors have definitely come into their own, and have learned the craft of acting through their journey.
For those people that are big time Potter fans, I doubt you’ll be disappointed either. They wrap up all the stories nicely.
I’ve felt very let down by movies lately, even some of the summer blockbusters turned out to only be “good”, and so it is a pleasure to find a movie that is the eight in a series being able to put out such strong material, a great story, and a closing chapter worth breaking records for.
Malcolm's Ramblings 
4 responses to “Harry Potter: Final Movie Review”
Glad to hear you liked it…and I know you are a tough critic. Just got back from camping and going tonight to the ‘big’ screen in Hanover to see it. We are all big Potter fans, although I like the books better, so should be fun!!! Thanks for the review.
I can definitely be a hard critic but it is hard to be mean to a franchise that has done eight movies with the same main characters… They’ve become such great actors and the source material isn’t horrible. My only criticism would be that wands are not guns. 🙂
Well you were right again! We all thoroughly enjoyed the movie even tho it was on Hanover’s ‘big’ screen. Madeleine’s only comment was that they went through the first few horcruxes too fast but she figured they did that to leave more time to develop the ending. Great acting by all….I looooooove Alan Rickman. Him and Tim Curry make the best evil villains!!!!!…they just so know how to sneer. I was really glad they stuck with the same actors for the characters all the way through…very smart and more enjoyable to follow. They’ve really grown into their roles, even the secondary characters like Ron’s mom and the other professors. Nice to watch a great movie in the summertime during your holidays. Enjoy your weekend.
Better than driving everyone up to Owen Sound though, right? I didn’t have any issues with the pacing, but I never read any of the books. I felt like the horcruxes were really just to build up the importance of the ending, and not really about the items or adventures required to remove them. Besides, it is really only the “last” of anything that really matters, or in this movie, the last two…
I totally agree with your thoughts on Alan Rickman. I imagine he’ll be looking for a role totally unlike the one he played in Potter now, but I’ll have a hard time not seeing him as a villain.
Shame the whole series is over though. I think another 3-5 years with Harry and the gang could have been good, especially if they could have continued to keep the same main actors/actresses. I guess it is better to stop on a high note though before we all got “more” sick of the franchise.
I hope your weekend goes well too. Stay cool! 🙂