By Jen Connors

Before I begin my review, I think it is important to note the date. As I write this, it is around 2:30 AM on July 15, 2011. Nine years, eight months and one day ago, the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit theaters, a huge risk taken by Warner Brothers Studios given the fanatic following the then four-books in series had accrued. While the tone of the film was kept relatively light, it opened to good reviews and outstanding box office numbers, with an audience skewering towards the 1990s generation.
Today, July 15, 2011, marks the end of an era.
I was six years old, nearly seven, when I first picked up a copy of Sorcerer’s Stone in my elementary school library. It was by far the longest and most complex book I had ever read in my six years, probably just above my second-grade reading level. By the middle of the novel I was hooked. I quickly read the next two books in the series as I impatiently awaited the release of the fourth novel. By the fifth I had somehow managed to get into the midnight book releases (thanks, Dad!). By the time Deathly Hallows came out, I was sixteen, halfway through high school, unsure of what lay ahead. The only thing I was truly certain of as I turned the final pages of the book was the fact that I had (at the time) two more Harry Potter films until I could really say that my childhood was over. At this time, it is mere days from the fourth anniversary of the release of Deathly Hallows, and the only thing that has really changed is the uncertainty of what lies ahead. That, and the fact that now, I am forced to admit that my childhood has finally come to a close, that the era in history that gave us the Backstreet Boys and Junie B. Jones has finally reached its conclusion. Though Rowling has publicly said that she has not shut the door on returning to Potter completely, we, the children of the 1990s, who grew up eagerly awaiting book releases and the midnight rush for the next movie, have seen Harry grow up from an unloved, neglected orphan into a (SPOILER ALERT) happily married family man.
Eight months ago I wrote my review of the first part of Deathly Hallows. As I approached the same theater this evening, I could feel the same energy all around as a friend and I joined the line of about one hundred people waiting to enter the theater. Among the fully costumed moviegoers were Lord Voldemort, Ginny Weasley, a variety of Death Eaters and dementors and inexplicably Neo from The Matrix. The mood was inattentive as commercials that are often played on television were broadcast, focused for the teaser clip of The Dark Knight Rises, and exasperated as the trailer for the next Twilight movie played. As the shot faded from Forks, Washington to Albus Dumbledore’s marble grave, the crowd fell silent. This is what we came here for. This truly was the end.


The filmmakers, knowing that this meant the end of this beloved series to an entire generation, left few things from the book trickle through the cracks. Very much an action film, the battle sequences that make up the core of the film were beautifully done in a way that was true to the books while also being inclusive to unaware audiences. Every bit of film was meticulously shot and edited. Even the changing of minor details was done in a way that unless you had read the book multiple times could go unnoticed for multiple viewings. The Kiss We’ve Been Waiting for for Ten Years (yes, it deserves to be capitalized for our non-Potter-oriented readers) was done cinematically in a much different way than Rowling’s original setting, but it was done perfectly to the point that I didn’t care that the circumstances were different. The few minor flaws were almost unnoticeable. The fifty-seven deaths in this section, though many not shown in the film, hit just as hard, if not harder, as they did on the page. Though David Yates was a bit unsteady for the first two films he helmed for the series, he did a magnificent job with bringing Deathly Hallows to the screen, this film in particular. Each character that had a moment in the book saw their moment on the screen, from Neville Longbottom killing the final Horcrux to Molly Weasley losing her cool when Bellatrix Lestrange tries to get to her sole daughter. The final scenes from Alan Rickman show his power as a performer, the character Snape finally being redeemed after six and a half books of being a villian. The casting for the epilogue, taking place nineteen years after the Battle At Hogwarts, was unbelievably perfect. Each member of the next generation looked precisely like their parents, even carrying some of their mannerisms. I would hope that if Rowling were to ever explore this second generation, the casting would remain the same.


This film truly belongs to the trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. As we have watched them grow up alongside us for the last ten years, the film saw the completion of their transformation from rambunctious adolescents to young adults willing to sacrifice themselves in order to protect their friends and families. Grint, whose character has mostly been used for comic relief through the series, was finally able to see Ron Weasley profess his love for Watson’s Hermione Granger, who has grown from a know-it-all to the backbone of the trio. At the heart is Radcliffe, whose onscreen transformations both as an actor and physically have made him almost unrecognizable from the young boy we first saw so many years ago. Another transformation to note is that of Matthew Lewis, who has transformed Neville Longbottom from a timid boy afraid to stand up to his friends to a man standing up to evil and defying its expectations. Any member of this cast can and probably do whatever they want now that the series is over, without fear of typecasting as their characters in such a big franchise.
I, for one, plan on seeing this film again, probably multiple times. I highly suggest you do as well. In addition, I would watch the final two films, the second of which takes off seconds after the first, together in order to get the full effects. While the series and our childhoods have officially come to a close, both can live on forever through repeat viewings and readings.