Why do they do this?

Rating: 6/10 (16 July 2011)

To be fair, it wasn't the worst HP film; that was Order of the Phoenix which was totally butchered. Most of this one was OK. All the changes in the movie from the book, up until Harry's final battle with Voldemort, were true to the spirit, plot and theme of the book. But Harry's final battle, and the fact that Hogwart's was destroyed (which did not happen in the book) were totally wrong, and there was no point to it. In the book, Voldermort and Harry face in one short battle, inside the front hall of Hogwarts, with all the combatants around them, watching. Neville has already killed the snake outside, and rallied the "good guys" by crying "Dumbledore's Army" and standing up to Voldemort. There was NO point to changing that, so of course they did. The duel between Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix was way too short and without enough drama to make you care. I had expected the audience-- and myself-- to cheer at the end of that duel; no one did. The book's final battle between Harry and Voldermort was meant to be simple, one-on-one, in the place they both loved; it was meant to show that love was the strongest weapon, and that Voldemort was no more than Tom-Riddle-gone-bad. On dying he collapsed dead before them all, vanquished. It will never make sense to me why they changed such a basic part of the whole plot. The best I can say for this one is that it could have been much worse. My advice to anyone is to read these books before you see the movies, so you understand what you're missing.