A Fine Finale but Special Effects Overdone

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2011)

Tears came to my eyes from the first scene. I loved seeing the end play out and the series come to the close. But there is no doubt in my mind that the drive to make it 3-D drove the filmmakers to put too much emphasis on action and took away from character interactions. Sadly, I fear this is the future of films. I was very sad that they chose to pump up the fighting at the end but took out the wonderful scene of Percy Weasley's return to the fold. Also, Alberforth's story is reduced to a line or 2 and we learn nothing of Albus' abuse of power. Even the central revelation of Snape's back-story is reduced. This again, is triumph of special effects over character... and it was the characters that made these books great. It's worth seeing and fans will love it...but it could have been so much better.