Perfectly watchable, utterly forgettable

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2012)

Deathly Hallows was easily my least favorite of all the Potter books, representing Rowling's annoyingly grim, rather sadistic side, and at first I wasn't planning to watch the movie at all. I didn't watch Deathly Hallows Part 1, which got middling reviews, but since the sequel got better reviews I thought, why not take a look.
Like all the Potter films, the story has been reduced to a bare bones presentation that would be virtually incomprehensible to anyone who has not read the books. While I considered that a flaw in the early movies, for me it's somewhat of a strength in the later ones, because the agonizing deaths of deeply loved characters that infest the final few books are, in the films, nothing but unfortunate events set amidst the special effects. Even the best of the movies barely touched me emotionally, and in a book series that seemed bent on breaking my heart, I appreciated the movies' shallowness.
But having said that, the emotional disconnect of the last film is still a bit too much. True, I wasn't sad when characters died, because the movie did nothing to make me care about them, and barely even paused at their passing, but for the same reason, I wasn't especially happy when the characters succeeded. I really didn't care what was happening at all.
I saw the movie four or five days ago, and I already barely remember it. The only thing I remember is thinking that Harry breaks an awful lot of innocent eggs to make that omelet, making him a rather dodgy hero. Perhaps that is true in the book as well, but in the book I cared more about the principals than the extras. I cannot say that of this version.
Good special effects though.