Michael & Liz are Bloggable

*NOTE* - I promise I will do everything I can to not spoil anything in the movie. I never feel like I am saying anything wrong but friends would say otherwise. Also to note, it's a little weird and creepy how much I love the Harry Potter series, just roll with it.

I really really enjoyed it despite some comments below that might suggest otherwise. After all, this is Harry Potter. If it has Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a bunch of magic, I'm going to love the movie. My comments below aren't as much a review as they are random thoughts on the movie. I think a true review SHOULD ruin a movie, and that's not what I want to accomplish. Now to the juiciness:

I can't imagine anyone seeing this movie and not immediately wanting to comment on the ending, or lack thereof. You go in knowing that it is only Part 1 of 2, but come on Harry Potter! Good movies need to have a climax and something that resembles a conclusion for the protagonist(s). Upon completion, what appeared to be the climax of the movie would have just been an interesting twist in other movies. They should have even included some subtitles at the bottom of the screen that said "FYI - This is the climax, you are supposed to be riveted right now". It wasn't until the movie was over that I realized what that scene was supposed to be.

So first and foremost, do not go into a movie labeled as "Part 1" expecting to be satisfied at the end of it. Just as you would expect, you won't be. If there was no Part 2, I'd be downright FURIOUS. Instead I am just annoyed I have to wait 8 more months.

Liz and I were both struck at how quickly the time just flew by while watching this movie. It's 2 hours and 27 minutes but it definitely didn't feel that way. The entire time we were engaged and interested. That's always my clue that the movie was good. If I don't have to check the time, you're doing pretty well.

I am totally fine with this, but they make absolutely no effort to clue new viewers in to what was happening. For example, in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, whenever they pitch a tent, the inside is enchanted to be larger than it appears to be on the outside. So I'm sure anyone who isn't aware of this was extremely confused as if the door to the tent was a portal to a fancy house somewhere else. There were a million other things (horcruxes, the green killing spell, Harry/Voldemort's wand connection, the 3 family histories, etc.) that new viewers would have been totally confused by if they hadn't seen any of the other movies. I bet that was a board meeting of important people when planning the movie. "OK people, do we care or not?" Clearly not.  But it's another reason I love Harry Potter, seeing a world with endless possibilities with little explanation.

I read the book but completely forgot what the "Deathly Hallows" were. They did a PHENOMENAL job explaining that to the viewer. I actually really liked how they did it too. It was creative and pretty slick. So at least with the things we aren't supposed to know they did a good job of clearing up any confusion.

I miss Hogwarts. It played absolutely no part in this movie. That's fine because that's the way it's supposed to be, but a Harry Potter movie without Hogwarts? That's like a Rocky movie without a training montage.

I just wrote a whole paragraph and deleted it for the sake of not ruining the movie for people. That's growth. But another thought I took away from the movie is, I freakin' LOVE Dobby the house-elf. You may remember him as the annoying character from the second book, another example in this movie of what they make no effort to explain. The Harry Potter series always seems to add some elements of humor into the movies and house-elves (and Ron's ineptness) were most of that humor. Dobby is a rock star in this movie and one of the redeeming qualities despite the cold "conclusion" to part 1.

Speaking of Dobby, how impressive is CGI these days? At one point Dobby was touching human people and it didn't even register as weird. I'd be willing to bet there is not 1 scene in the movie that didn't include CGI of some kind. If there was, you wouldn't know it. I'm thinking back to everything they must have added in, and holy cow it's unreal. If there is any showcase for CGI abilities, Avatar probably takes the cake, but this Harry Potter movie isn't far behind. It's phenomenal work by Warner Brothers. Amazing.

You can't help but make a connection between this movie and the first Lord of the Rings movie. Frodo had his entourage of Samwise, Merry and Pippin. They were trekking across the country-side with little to no knowledge of what it was they were after or what they may encounter. Anything could attack them and send their quest off course. This movie is based around Harry, Ron, and Hermione going on a quest of their own. Lucky for them, they don't have to battle an army of Orcs in the end, just some unreasonable death eaters.

The series has come a long way from the cupboard under the stairs. I think they make it obvious that they intend the target audience to grow one year at a time as the series goes along. Both elements of evil and sexuality continued to develop in this movie. PG-13 is definitely fitting for the movie as it's not for kids.

Take away the fact that it's part one out of two, and this movie is classic Harry Potter. In ranking my favorite Harry Potter movies, the current list would be 6, 4, 1, 3, 5, 2 (from best to worst) . 6, 4, and 1 are amazing, 3 is decent, while 5 and 2 are downright annoying.  I'll have to see it a few more times to tell but I think it'll land in my top 4 with the other great ones. Now I can't wait until July 15th.