Just watched this movie on Friday night with Stanman and ChemChampion. Actually bumped into Brian at the theaters. I thought the movie overall was generally fun, very imaginative. I definitely thought about starting to read the last 2 books, but after a good night’s sleep, I gave that idea up.
Official Site
IMDb: 7.9/10 (29,599 votes)
Yahoo! Movies: The Critics: B / Yahoo! Users: B+
Rotten Tomatoes: Rating: 77% / Average Rating 6.9/10
Apple Trailer
Amazon.com Showtimes
Amazon.com Soundtrack
Amazon.com Book
MY RATING: 8/10
Spoilers: (Show)
I’m not going to bother giving a summary since if you’re a fan, you’ve probably seen it or am planning to see it regardless of what the story is about. If you’re not a fan, then you won’t really be reading this in the 1st place.
Hjo3 mentioned about the annoying character Luna Lovegood in his blog entry. I personally didn’t think much of it. In fact I thought the story was setting her up to be Harry Potter’s girlfriend with the ending scene. Now that Harry Potter and Cho Chang are broken up, he’s single again. Harry’s relationship with Cho was rather short lived. I wonder if they had more in the story. Back to Luna being Harry Potter’s new girlfriend. That idea was quickly shot down by Stanman who has read the 6th book and tells me… (YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE 6TH BOOK. SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH PLEASE. YOU’VE BEEN WARN.) Harry Potter ends up dating Ginny Weasley, Ron’s sister.
Anyway, back to Luna. Remember how Harry was able to see the flying horses? Luna points out that only those who have experienced death can see it. If anything, her part might be just to explain why Harry Potter was able to see creatures and hear voices others couldn’t. What totally befuddled me was when they decided to take the flying horses to London. Two things don’t really make sense to me and may for those who’ve read the book can explain. I asked Stanman why they choose to use flying horses instead of their brooms and his answer was that maybe some of them weren’t good on the broom. Then I asked if only Harry and Luna could see these horses, are the others just hanging onto some invisible object? He had no idea what was going on there either.
Stanman also noted that the prophecy that Harry crushed was actually made by the hippie teacher who taught making predictions was being banished from Hogwarts. I had actually made that link in my mind while watching the movie, but I guess they ran out of time to talk about that. However it turns out that was the only prophecy she has ever made. I pointed out that she also made the prophecy that the ministry lady was going to be in grave danger, which turned out to be true. Stanman says that’s the prediction she always gives no matter the situation.
Anyway, I was at Costco today (only spending $45 there today – I’m proud of myself), and they had stacks and stacks of the new and final Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They even had someone dressed as a wizard or a student from Hogwarts standing there helping distribute the books. Speaking of the final book, I knew a few friends who had lined up for the midnight sale of the Harry Potter books. They’re probably done reading by now.
Ungsunghero points me to Keith Olbermann’s speculation: (Show)
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Article: Keith Olbermann’s Harry Potter spoiler
Video: Harry Potter and the mystery of the leaked plot
Do note that this speculation was made on 6/25.
So after watching this spoiler, I found out Dumbledore is killed by Professor Snape. Oh well, it’s not like that would really spoil the next movie for me. At lunch on Friday, my teammates were already talking about how someone important has died in the 6th book, but wouldn’t tell me who. What I want to know now is why Professor Snape killed Dumbledore. The suspense is killing me (maybe enough to read the book). The only reason I could think of was Dumbledore didn’t allow Snape to become the teacher of defense of the dark arts (which I’ve noted changes every book).
However, the speculation goes on and I found his logic/reasoning to be perfect and very plausible for the ending. However, I would note, with Harry Potter losing his magic, the ending scene would show that Harry Potter felt a tingling sensation in his fingers and be able to perform a very weak and low level magic, giving hope to all readers that Harry Potter might fully recover.
For those who’ve read the final book, I would like to know if Keith Olbermann’s speculation was correct.
Professor Trelawney, the Divination instructor, also gives a second true prophecy in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
They played down Cho and Harry’s relationship a lot in the movie. There’s quite a bit more to it in the book. They actually left out quite a bit from the book, and they glossed over a little bit that’s very important knowledge later on. They also completely left out the part about Luna’s father and The Quibbler and how they worked to clear Harry against all the slander The Daily Prophet was dishing out.
(spoilers – Show)
(I hope that bit got blocked out, but I can’t preview my comment. I guess if it doesn’t, go ahead and read for your own edification and then filter it out. =) You should really read the books, as they contain much much more than the movies can hope to express.)