Yes, I know it's "Hallows", there's no typo there. In the latest and final stretch of the world-wide sensation septology, Harry, Ron and Hermione embarked on their epic journey to destroy the Horcruxes, and defeat the no-nose Dark Lord. The movie was, well, alright.
So I stopped following the books after dreading and ultimately failing in ploughing through the fifth one, where Harry turned into this angsty, whiny teenager lashing out to the magic universe. Basically, he turned into another us: an ordinary (well, may not exactly) blame-the-world ball of resentment, and no one wants to read that kind of stuff when they pick up a book about spells, Patronuses and wizards, especially not hundreds and hundreds of pages of it. Nonetheless, I came across tonnes of posts about the movie before I watched it, and what a sobfest they were. I guess I can't really judge those who are devastated by the closing of the series because I unfortunately fell out of love with the trio after the fourth book, but come on, how could you turn into an emotional wreck after watching the end of the movie? The end was ridiculous, almost farcical even. The 19-years-later versions of the characters look hideous: the make-up artists should really be shot. I'm fine with not replacing the characters with older actors, but the drag wig, the beer belly, the ghastly make-up that made them look like they hadn't slept since they came to Hogwards (and they probably hadn't with the amount of drama that went on), and the faux wrinkles did not work. They look cartoonish, and it robbed all seriousness and any opportunity for the audience to be awed by the ending. They should have hired look-alike actors to sub in.
However, I do like the beginning of the movie, first of all, the quality of video is fantastic. To compare it the first movie, there really has been an increase in the dollars (or pounds) spent and an improvement in the tech side. The acting for me was com si, com sa: I can't really judge their acting because the British accent kind of get in the way. To my Asian ears, they fall almost inevitably into their parts because they simply sound right, not really sure whether they act brilliantly, and as for the earlier movies, their kiddish charm sort of made up for everything else that was lacking. So the story went on, and I could follow what was going on even though I didn't read the novel beforehand, and then came the middle parts where Harry was sucked into this whitewashed, bad and budget-looking digital-effect train station of a dream and met Dumbledore. It went slightly too Chicken-Soup-for-the-Teenage-Soul for me, with the whole "Of course this is in your head, but what makes you think that this is not real?", and where Longbottom came forward to give his Captain America speech in front of you-know-who and his army. It felt like a middle-school after-school play to me. JK Rowling might have had the multibillion-pound imagination, but I hope I don't write they way she does.
The movie was essentially a war movie, and war movies always give me this sort of unsettling feeling, like things are in shambles and messy, which I don't particularly enjoy. And somehow the chemistry amongst the trio is lost in the movie, or may be it's because now there is now the supposed romance between Hermione and Ron, which felt so feigned and the kiss was awkward and uncomfortable, somewhat misplaced. I think I just don't really care much about the teen-drama side of the series, I would rather focus more on the magic side of it, which is the reason why I adore the first movie the most.
Anyway, I don't really mean to complain about the movie or the series, because insofar as the production aspect and the quality of it, it hasn't been anything less than amazing. But amazing does not necessarily mean likable. Guess this is just a perspective of a viewer who didn't grow up alongside Harry, Ron and Hermione, but outgrew them before vice versa.
