My favorite one, so far

The newest Harry Potter movie, that is. Oh my goodness.

Ok, yes there were some things that bugged me. One or two things even that really bugged me. Let's start there, with the bad stuff. First of all, what the EFF is up with Dumbledore asking Harry if he & Hermoine were dating?! The Dumbledore I know would never ask that - it just rang silly. I liked the added Burrow attack scene, but why in the hell did they leave out the intense fight between Dumbledore's Army and the Death Eaters at the end? That is probably my biggest complaint about the movie. I loved that scene in the book, and they watered it down until it was barely recognizable. And the worst, the very worst thing about the whole fricken movie: Harry standing by idly while Snape murdered Dumbledore. Why? The book-Harry would never have stood there quietly; he would have fought. Hence JKR writing him under the Invisibility Cloak and petrified by Dumbledore: he didn't have a choice but to stand and watch. If he had a choice, he would have acted. I can't figure out why they made that change, what purpose it might have served. Then there was the Slughorn memory - the fake one, that is - it was not at all how I pictured it from the book. In the book she did such a great job of describing what a tampered-with memory would look like, and this didn't have that feel at all. They could have done more with that, in my opinion.

I also am confused by a few things. I'm not sure how they're going to hunt for Horcruxes in the final movies, when Dumbledore never explained to Harry what he thought the Horcruxes might be. Harry will be searching blindly. Unless Dumbledore leaves him a note, or maybe Hermione does her typical research and leads them in the right direction.

Ok, now for the good. This movie cracked me up. A lot. The Aragog scene: awesome. Lavender: brilliant. Hermione subtly teasing Harry about Ginny ("Harry really enjoyed dessert, didn't you Harry?"): perfect. It had so much more humor in it than the other movies, and it really added to its likeability. Another thing more heavily focused on that I enjoyed was all the relationship stuff. I loved how they portrayed the kids as ... well, as hormone-riddled teenagers. I also really, really liked Draco. That actor did a fantastic job with playing the role of being torn. I remember thinking he was a cute kid with a great sneer, but he really has grown as an actor. I loved the Hermione/Harry dynamic, and how much their relationship grew in this movie. Slughorn was great, and of course Snape was awesome as well ... I just wonder if maybe he didn't seem quite as evil and hate-worthy as he should at this point in the series. And then there was Bellatrix. Bellatrix, Bellatrix, Bellatrix. She is pure evil, crazy, taunting meanness. "I killed Sirius Black..." Fanfuckingtastic.

I can't wait for the last two movies. I wonder how many times I'll see this one in the theater?

And now I will leave you with one of the best lines from the movie:

Oh to be young and feel love's keen sting. ~Dumbledore