A nice respite

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2019)

It's ironic that many have hailed this movie as boring, a waste of time, and a shameless moneymaker, when I actually enjoyed it for two of those reasons. In the recently dramatic Hogwarts years, with beloved characters dropping like flies, isn't it nice to be able to catch your breath and watch two teenagers wander around in the forest without anything bad happening to them? And really, who cares that you spent an extra seven dollars at the movie theaters-which was the ticket price in 2010-since you got to see characters you grew up with in a world you immersed yourself in the past nine years up on the big screen? It doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me, and since the movies preceding and following Part One are so heavy, a respite is welcome.
In this movie, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson decide to leave school and pursue the destruction of the great villain destroying all the good in the wizarding world. They're on the lookout for several magical objects that house part of Ralph Fiennes's power, but since the final book got split into two movies, it's a fair assumption that they don't accomplish their goal in this one. For most of the movie, the trio wanders around near the ocean, by the forest, and in their friends' houses. If that sounds incredibly boring, have no fear. Rupert becomes enormously moody and jealous, and he leaves their party of three. Dan and Emma continue to wander around by themselves, and as they're in very close quarters, they bond. Plenty of fans include their spontaneous dance as one of their favorite moments of the entire franchise. It's sweet, casual, and their chemistry lights up the screen like fireflies.
The movie isn't completely without drama, tears, or violence. After all, the teenagers are trying to save the wizarding world and take down an incredibly powerful and evil bad guy with no nose! I liked this one better than Part Two because many people make it out of this movie alive, and even though there are some sad bits, it's not overwhelmingly depressing. Also included in this one is a pretty cool animated sequence explaining the meaning of the title that feels simultaneously realistic and stylized.