Harry Potter & The World's Longest Camping Trip

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2010)

You can't really critique these films. They are more than films. They are visual translations of a cultural phenomenon. They just can't be judged on their cinematic merit alone. I haven't read the books and have no desire to. I have, however, seen all the films. In this (half) film I missed some of my favorite profs from previous outings, especially Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon (who is seen but hardly figures). The villains are really the juice of this final chapter, with Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, and Alan Rickman chewing the scenery in grand style. At one point I wanted to dub this film "Harry Potter and the World's Longest Camping Trip". Enough with the teen angst already. Although the impromptu dance sequence between Harry and Hermione is perhaps the film's one touch of humanity - giving the duo a rare moment to be kids, and not muggledom and magic's 'last great hope'. Dobby, too, is in rare form, with his CG denouement played out to perfection. But greed got the better of the studio and led them to stretch a single novel into two films. I would have preferred it had they left on a high note and let us experience Harry's last stand in one fell swoop, but the fans won't mind - like the film itself, it just prolongs the inevitable ending of a cultural icon.