Loved it!

I'm thrilled that they did my favorite chapter, The Prince's Tale, justice.

Agreed! That was by far my favorite chapter. I always knew Snape was good. Always. And I cried through half the movie. It was so good. I wish they had kept it a little closer to the book's rendition, but there are some thing that work really well in the book that will not work on screen. So I understand that. Overall, great work, cannot wait to see it at a dome IMAX theater. :D

Wish I had the same reaction as others. I am so, so, so disappointed. Okay, I could live with two of my favorite moments missing (Harry defending McGonnegal's honor in the Ravenclaw Common Room and Harry, when Ron and Hermione kiss saying, "Is this the moment?")

I know changes need to be made from a book to a movie, including losing some subplots and other touches. I expect and accept that. And I was enjoying it until the last 30 minutes or so. But as far as I'm concerned, the movie jumped off a cliff at "Kings Cross Station." The warmth, joy and humor of that part of the story were totally missing, as they were for the epilogue. And as for what happened in between, they not only muddled the story -- as far as I'm concerned, the book was much more dramatic there -- and completely mangled the significance of Harry being the master of the Hallows (what happened to his invisibility cloak), but they completely ignored the cental theme of the entire 7-book series! My 13-year old had it right, I thought. When it was over I asked him how he liked it and he said, "It was alright, but they sure did dumb down the story."

I am just so disappointed.

By "central theme," I take it you mean Harry's destiny to conquer Voldemort because of his ability to love? I noticed that was missing, too. But as it hasn't been mentioned much in the other films, to explain it all here would take too much time. Even in the book, Harry's explanation of Voldy seemed to take forever (though I do wish he'd been finished in the Great Hall with the circle of onlookers--much more dramatic with an audience).

Maybe there'll be hella deleted scenes on the DVD. That would make it up to me. You hear that, David Yates, put them in!! :p

SPOILER ALERT!!!
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Well, that's part of it -- it's not just his ability to love, though, it's the fact that he was willing to be killed for those he loved. Harry's sacrificial love protected those he loves, just as his mother's love protected him. This comes through in how Voldemort is no longer able to cast spells that bind his enemies: Harry's sacrificial love is stronger than Voldemort's spells.

And you're right about the audience in the Great Hall for the final duel. That's not only more dramatic, but it's important for everyone -- Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, Death Eater or anyone else -- to hear the conversation between them. It's important for them to hear that Snape was Dumbledore's man (sacrificial love in its own way), to hear why Harry is master of the Elder Wand, to hear Voldemort challenged on how he has discounted the power of love and, perhaps most importantly, to hear Harry offer Voldemort the chance to feel remorse.

Oh, and one other thing -- Harry would never have shown himself and challenged Voldemort until he knew that Nagani was dead. The fact that he did show himself and challenge Voldemort when Nagani wasn't dead was completely inconsistent with everything else he had done up to that point.

And they didn't even touch on why Voldemort didn't kill Harry in the Forbidden Forest to begin with.

Yes, I have strong feelings about this. :o

The movie was epic, seeing it in 3D and in IMAX made it that much better at midnight. It was seriously one of the best movies I have seen in my life.

MC I totally agree with everything you said. However, I also understand the production point of view. It would have taken an unbelievable amount of time to fit all of that into a film. It was important for all of us (who know the full story) to understand but I can see why "they" wouldn't want to waste time on it for the film watchers who missed most of that.

While I agree that things we loved in the books should have been kept in, I understand why they weren't. It was for those audience members (like my dad) who haven't read the books.
I remember the first movie. While I enjoyed it, it was sooooooo long and I was like "wtf is going on". I hadn't read the books yet so it was just overload to me. Now that I have read the books, I feel differently.
As much as they (Warner Brothers) wants to do the books justice with the movie, they have to remember that NOT everyone has read the books and that your target audience can't just be the people who have read the books.

See, I disagree. It wouldn't really have take much longer. In the time they spent with Harry and Voldemort flying and fighting all over the place, then finally having their last duel, while Nagani attacks Ron and Hermione until Neville jumps into the fray, they could have had Harry challenge Voldemort in the Great Hall. That, plus just one or two lines more in King's Cross, and it would have all been covered.

Like I said, I fully understand that movies can't be just like the books, and I don't expect them to be. And I also fully understand that they have to remember that not everyone has read the books. But when the producers essentially ignore the central theme of the book, and indeed the overriding theme of the whole series, then they're not just adapting a book to a movie. They're telling a different story. That's what disappointed me; it ended up being a different story. It would have been possible, I think, to adapt the book to movie successfully without losing the heart of the book.

Just got back and I thought it was excellent.
I cried multiple times. Out of grief that it was the last movie, over Snape holding Lily and bawling, when Harry "died."

Loved it. I can't imagine what to do next though! These books have been a part of my life, for more than half of my life!
Guess I need to make a trip to Florida for Harry Potter world.

See, that I agree with. The flying all over the place was lost on me. Cut and paste on that part and I would have been a happy camper.

To Potter World we go!!! :D'

ETA: I think my favorite part of the entire film was Ron yelling "That's my bloody girlfriend!" as he chases Malfoy and Crabbe (and comes back screaming his head off). :D Did anyone else notice they replaced Goyle with Blaise? Did the kid who plays Goyle pull out of the movie? :confused:

Someone help me out with this. When Ginny runs into the Room of Requirement and sees Harry, Ron and Seamus have an exchange but I didn't catch all of it. Ron says "She hasn't seen me in 6 months and it's like I'm Franky First Year." Seamus says something back and Ron replies "Shut up, Seamus." What did Seamus say??

He got arrested on drug charges.

:eek:

I also knew Goyle was a no-good git.

I'm rereading all the books (for approximately the 16th time) and dreaming about a visit to HP world..

We saw it tonight and I was glued to the screen for the entire movie. I realized that I kept holding my breath and had to tell myself to breathe more often! The intensity was definitely there. DH part 1 had more comic relief moments to break up the intensity. There were only a couple in this one.

I agree with MC about the lack of a clear explanation of that central theme. I was able to glean it from the scene with the Resurrection Stone I think, but that was because I had read the books. I was kind of waiting for it to be said outright but it never was.

The one thing that bothered me was the lack of attention to Fred's death. They seemed to spend a lot more time on that in the book. Again, I understand the need to edit due to time constraints, but that was a death that had a really significant impact on everybody in the books.

I never remember the books in very much detail so I am not as disappointed as some. I teared up a little at times, but my daughter was sobbing, especially at the very end when she said "There's no more Harry Potter!"