Explain, movie!! EXPLAIN!!!

Rating: 6/10 (17 July 2011)

Everything that could have been said about this movie has probably been said.
WHAT I LIKED: -I feel like I was the only one who really appreciated the use of humor in the movie, it was perfect. I loved the jokes and their timing. While this wasn't close to a comedy, it kept the charming humor of the previous Harry Potter movies and I appreciated that the movie didn't take itself TOO seriously.
-Showing Hermione destroying the Horcrux. This was a scene I really hoped they'd show. In the book it was a brief mention. In the movie, they show the full scene. I also liked that, if they couldn't have Ron's comment defending the house elves as the reason Hermione kissed him, this was the next best reason.
-Neville and Luna had larger roles in this movie. I was particularly pleased with Luna's larger role and that she had the guts to put Harry in his place.
-The CGI was pretty good.
-The acting is VERY good.
-They change JK Rowling's plan in one minor way- by putting Neville and Luna together. TOO CUTE!! And just perfect!! -The original HP theme from the first movie at the end. It made me very emotional. I loved that they used John William's piece instead of making a new one. How sweet.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE -The timing was all wrong. The scene in which Mrs. Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange is just bizarrely placed, almost like they would have cut that scene if her one-liner hadn't become so famous.
-Since when do people explode when they die? -Harry kills Voldemort without using his famous spell... it's just a random burst of red light from his wand. Not only that, Voldemort bursts into ashes. Random. An there's no dialog between them, just fighting. There's no one to see Harry finish him. A terrible way to change a great scene from the book.
-There was NO explanation for ANYTHING!! I mean it, they set up Gridelwald's story... then never do anything with it. They never mention the third of the Deathly Hallows- the cloak. They never explain why Harry knows that Lupin has a son. They don't explain Dumbledore's back story, and so hinting to it is just frustrating. They never explain what happens to Harry's wand. They even don't explain why Harry isn't killed for real when Voldemort kills him. All in all, as a reader of the book, I understood it all but anyone who hadn't read it would be pretty lost.
-Snape's flashbacks. They were okay but I hated the scenes of him crying over Lily's body in Godric's Hollow. EW!! It was creepy, never mentioned in the book, and almost seemed stalkerish. It didn't make me want to like Snape, it made me cringe!! Not only that, they never really explain that Snape was never Voldemort's after Lily's death.
-Young Lily's eyes are very much BROWN in the flashbacks. They couldn't have put in some colored contacts? -No one looked 19 years older in the future scene. They looked weird. The prosthetic team failed miserably.
-The future scene didn't show the kids much. Actually there was no dialog except between Harry and Albus. They couldn't have made the movie 5 minutes longer? All in all, they really should have explained more like in the last movie. It felt rushed. And confusing. Not the worst of the Potter movies (Goblet of Fire was worst) but not the best (Chamber of Secrets was best). So I gave it a 6. Pretty good. But not great.