Guest Post: Harry Potter 7

For those of you who don't know Harry Potter 7 came out this weekend and Lauren, a fabulous friend of mine suggested that I do a post comparing Harry Potter 7 the book to Harry Potter 7 the movie. Which I thought was a wonderful idea, however I don't really remember the 7th book, so I asked her to do a guest post with her thoughts. ***NOTE THERE ARE SPOILERS OF BOTH THE BOOK AND THE MOVIE***

Here it is:
Harry Potter. A name known around the world and with the newest film installment just hitting theatres, fans across the world are rejoicing, or at least I am. I'm just going to start by saying that seeing the movie at midnight with my friends just added to the overall excellence of this movie. If you haven't read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the book, not only should you go read it but also this review may not make very much sense as this review is a lot of book-movie comparison than it is a review of the movie as whole.

Going into this movie knowing that the book was my favorite in the series, I had pretty high expectations and they were almost all met. This movie was, in my opinion, the best of the series. It followed the book very closely with a few changes and exclusions added for various reasons. The exclusions were kept to a minimum and I believe this was why I enjoyed the movie so much. Ok, here is what I liked and didn't like about the film.

Starting with likes.

• Dobby. I loved him throughout the entire film funny, adorable and heroic. The scene where Dobby dies was so emotional. I have never cried in a movie until this scene.


• The Ministry of Magic scene was awesome, I loved the guy who played Runcorn, super awkward but perfect for the part.


• The scenery throughout the entire movie. During the period of time that the trio was camping, the places they went to were just beautiful


• The music was really well done, I thought it fit really well in the movie and sounded excellent.


• Seven Potter's scene was just as I imagined it and Dan Radcliffe did a really good job being Harry, yet being the person who was transformed into Harry.


• My favorite scene by far was when everyone was returning to the Burrow and Lupin grabbed Harry to make sure it was really him. This minute of the movie just summed up how much everything has changed and how scared everybody is of everything that's happening


• The lady playing Bathilda Bagshot was perfect. Super creeper, every time I saw her I got chills


• When Hermione obliviated her parents, this really shows the sacrifices she made for Harry.


• The Three Brothers animation was really cool


• I thought they chose the perfect spot to end it, not a huge cliff hanger but yet makes me really excited for part 2


• The actors and actresses did fantastic, my favorite being Emma Watson. She. Was. Superb.

Dislikes.

• Not including Kreacher's tale or Potterwatch, I really wanted to see this on screen


• Harry and Hermione's dance scene. This was cute but I found it sort of weird and unnecessary to the overall story. This extra time could have been used for something from the book


• Not explaining the Voldemort-name taboo or the mirror. I feel like people who haven't read the book would be very confused.


• The beginning. I didn't like how they started with Scrimgeour's speech; it didn't seem like a good introduction to the movie.


• The whole sequence of camping seemed really slow and long.
  

Overall I would say I really enjoyed this movie. Here are a few ratings I would give it on a scale 1-10, 10 being best.
Overall: 9/10
Book to Film adaptation: 9.5/10
Acting/Casting: 10/10

Just a piece of advice for part 2. See it at midnight in a big group of friends. I had such a great time and the movie was fantastic, one of the best nights of my life. Super pumped to see part 2 in July! Mark your calendars for July 15th 2011!