Emma Watson – Mosher'sUnimaginativelyEntitledBlog

OK, that’s a long film title. Because Little Miss hadn’t seen any of the Harry Potter films at the cinema before, we decided to make this one a little special and took her to the IMAX to see it. Advice for future – check the performance times and get there early enough so we’re not sat off to the right of the front row…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

“Hogwarts is threatened! Man the boundaries. Protect us!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Go read the book, you lazy arse

See it if you like: finding out what happens at the end of stories you’ve been following for 11 years and are too lazy to read a damn book.

The single biggest opening in US cinema history (possibly worldwide, too), so I’d expect you all to know about this film. But is it any good? Short answer: yes. Certainly it’s far better than Part 1 which was all character development and not a lot of incidence. How you can scene-set for 2 hours and expect kids to sit through it is beyond me.

Part 2 has a load of great action sequences in it, and – no surprise – faultless effects. The IMAX 3D is, of course, far superior to the crap you get in the mainstream cinemas and it’s used to full effect here. As I mentioned in the introduction, though, do make sure your’e sat somewhere good to make the most of it. The picture was rather strained and warped where we were.

The story definitely moves along faster than the previous movie and it’s over fairly quickly, or so it seems. As per the books, pretty much everything is nicely tied together although as you would expect there are some details missing in the adaptation.

It’s also not surprising to see that the acting has improved as the years have gone on. In the early films I could have punched Emma Watson for being so flipping gushy and annoying. Now, she’s a very accomplished actress as are the rest of the now-mature cast. Top marks go to Helena Bonham Carter for her portrayal of herself being portrayed by Hermione, though. Very well done.

Is it worth spending the extra to see this film on IMAX, though? Given the price difference between this screening and the equivalent 3D showing at a regular cinema then definitely. If you’re remotelyÂ bothered about 3D then cough up the pennies. It’s far, far, far superior. If you’re only bothered about the story then do the usual and catch it in 2D. At least there’s still an option to do so, thankfully.

There’s no point in recommending the film though. If you’ve seen the other seven then you’ll see this. You have to. If you’ve not seen them then don’t watch it. It makes no sense at all otherwise!