As you may know, if you follow us on twitter, the Bibliojunkies had a girls' night on Saturday to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. This was a bittersweet night for me, so you will have to forgive my uncharacteristic sentimentality. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, the Harry Potter books rank as one of my favorite series. It was the first series I became obsessed with as an adult - I read and re-read the books more times than I can count, except the last two. The last two books I have only read once (I have no explanation as to why).
It is a long-standing joke among the BiblioJunkies that I get very upset at the movies because they change details in the movies for no reason (ie, having the characters in muggle clothes in the movies) and since I have excellent recall of the details of the books, I have had many issues with the moves. I will not share all of my rants, needless to say, Bel and Nat were giving me a hard time Saturday night. I believe I shocked them both when I did not rant about anything over pie after the movie. It may surprise you to learn that a BiblioJunkies girls' night out often involves movies, discussion of books we are reading, discussion of boys (including our fictional boyfriends from the books we are reading) and pie at Baker's Square (or other sweet treat - it is Ice Cream Month you know).
Right, back to DH. The two part conclusion of the series are definitely my favorite movies of the series. Maybe it is because I have not read the book since the day it was released or because the film makers stepped it up for the finales - either way, they are my favorites. The cinematography and special effects were amazing. The actors were phenomenal, as always. There were differences from the book that were slightly disappointing, but tolerable, such as Harry's final fight with Voldemort not ending in front of the crowd. While some scenes did not take place exactly as in the book, I still cheered at Neville's big moment and was so excited that the movie included Mrs. Weasley's "Not my daughter, you bitch!"
I also thought that the most heart-wrenching moments were handled quite well. The scenes in which Snape remembers Lily were touching and beautiful. I admit, I was crying. Overall, it was a great movie - I laughed, I cried and was thoroughly entertained, forgetting about the world outside of the movie for two hours.
The movie was truly great, but also incredibly sad for me. I was sad that there will never be another new Harry Potter movie, which reminded me that there will never be another Harry Potter book. One of the things that makes me the most disappointed is thinking that there may never be a book that creates that much excitement again.
I can remember dragging Bel to the bookstore at midnight for the release of The Order of the Phoenix. We were waiting in line at a Barnes & Noble, in front of us were a few boys who were either in high school or freshman in college and behind us a couple in their late 50's. It struck me then that I truly was experiencing something great. Bel and I were so caught up in the experience that I had no trouble getting her to go with me for the midnight release of Half-Blood Prince. Nat and a few other friends joined us for the HBP party as well. The town I live in shut down the streets of the downtown area to celebrate. A restaurant called Potter's Place hung a sign to read "Harry Potter's Place" and a bank on the corner did a sign to become Gringots. There were many other tributes and it truly was amazing. Of course, you could not have kept us from the midnight release of Deathly Hallows after that. It always amazed me that a book had caused this much excitement from all ages and walks of life. That is what I miss the most about the Harry Potter books and why the fact that there will be no new HP books makes me sad.
There have been a ton of wonderful books released since DH and so many talented writers have published or been discovered. I hold out hope that there will be another book or series that causes excitement and has such broad appeal, but Harry Potter may have been a once in a lifetime experience and I am glad I was there and able to share it with my partners in crime - Nat and Bel (even if they did make fun of me for the last 7-8 years).
No comments:
Post a Comment