“I hope we’re not the oldest ones in here,” My roommate Devinn said as we approached the theater. Fortunately, we weren’t, as the theatre was packed with Potter fans of all ages.
My two friends and I searched frantically for sets of seats, but almost all were occupied by youngsters accompanied by their parents.
Luckily, right before the movie started, I asked a gentleman to move over one seat to make a set of three. We knew we had to be as comfortable as possible because “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1” is a long, epic film.
It was 2001 when J.K Rowling’s youth-driven novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, first entered the big screen. I was young and excited to see one of my favorite children’s books become a movie, adorned with all the special effects and beautiful visuals of Hogwarts just as Rowling painted them in the novel.
But, as I grew older, it seemed as though, while the fan base got younger, the story line to Harry Potter became darker and more peculiar. When Deathly Hollows has a midnight setting to when Sorcerer’s Stone took place at dawn.
In Deathly Hollows, Harry and his friends are no longer safe. With eerie death eaters scouring the land and Harry only having a golden snitch as a final gift from the fallen Albus Dumbledore, it seems as though all is lost.
Harry’s final mission: to kill Voldemort by finding the nearly indestructible horcruxes, three of which have been destroyed in previous books. Four remain.
This particular movie does not deviate from the book too often, but filmgoers who have never read the Harry Potter books might find this one a little difficult to keep up with. Although this is part 1 and the film lasts for more than two hours, the screenwriter and director try to cover a lot of ground while keeping the audience entertained.
Many might say that Chamber of Secrets had the best adaptation. I agree and looking back at the screenwriter for Chamber of Secrets, Steve Kloves, I was satisfied to see his name appear in such a role for ‘Deathly Hollows.’
Earning a PG-13 rating, something that the Harry Potter films adapted to after Prisoner of Azkaban, this movie could almost go for an R rating.
Had perverse language been written in, my friends and I would have found better seats because youngsters under 17 would have had a tough time getting in.
But Deathly Hollows has enough creepy and frightening moments to scare a few of the younger viewers. I even jumped after a snake attacked Harry.
I expected more as always because it deviated from a few chapters in the book. However, part 2 can make up for that. I think all fans just want the movie to take its time and blossom just like the series did.
So is this movie good? Yes. I loved it, although to get the full experience, read the book. It is often said that reading a book before seeing its movie ruins it. In this case, it’s almost necessary.
Nonetheless, the world has seen Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson grow before their eyes.