Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

In order to give justice to a good movie, and out of consideration for you, I will divide this review into two parts... which probably is as good an idea as dividing the final Harry Potter book into two parts.

*If you love Harry Potter enough that you already saw this movie, and you cried at the end, you may not want to read any further.

Part I: What Did Not Work.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows probably would have made an excellent film, instead it has been divided into two OK movies. Optimistic Peter acknowledges that this was probably done to make Harry Potter fans happy, two movies means twice the Harry Potter goodness. Realist Peter steps in and slaps Optimistic Peter upside the head and reminds him that "it's the money stupid!" Of course neither Peter is here to criticize good old fashioned Capitalism, obviously Peter bought tickets to both movies. The point is that good filmmaking is the process of eliminating all the elements which are unnecessary to telling a story, leaving behind only a great film. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is chock full of fat and fillers, and that excess is punctuated with an absence of music. That's right, the composer of this movie's score seems to have only written music for parts which he deemed "music worthy" and left long sections of silence here and there. As the closing titles rolled I noticed that a number of pieces were actually John William's compositions (he's not the composer this time), so this movie's composer actually did less writing than is represented in the soundtrack. Of course a discussion of the movie's score is meant only give an example of how this movie is lacking. There is not enough story and no character development to speak of, which makes this entry in the Harry Potter series only good as a bookend. Which is unfortunate, because at the other end of the Harry Potter library is one of the two best Potter movies. This magical series started out so promising and just didn't have enough depth or heart to make it to the finish line.

Part II: What Did Work
There are two things which this episode of Harry Potter did well, one of which it did amazingly. Firstly, it ended the story. Perhaps I was meant to be surprised, but overall I found the conclusion of this series to follow exactly the course that had been established quite a while ago. Everyone wins, loses, hooks-up, dies, lives, etc. just as anyone might have expected. Perhaps I'm a little slow, but is Professor Snape Harry's dad? Whether or not this is true, I kind of like the way they handled that story element, Potter's flashback into Snape's memory was one of the best parts of the movie. The second, and best part of this movie are the special effects. It is truly amazing to see the evolution which has taken place in this series alone. If you're going to pay to see this movie you'll get your money's worth in eye candy. The dragon, the smoke/flying evil wizards, fire, and Ralph Fienne's nose are all spectacular visual achievements.

Conclusion:
I am glad that we got to see the final chapter in the Harry Potter series, it's good to have closure. Yet it's kind of a bummer to see these movies end on a dismal note. The truth is that Harry Potter was never much of a hero, and I can't say these stories ever rose above the visual escape that they provided. My friend Rob made a good point; "compare Dumbledore to Gandalf"... end of argument.

Soul Surfer, Kung Fu Panda 2, Monte Carlo, and Transformers 3

Let's get "Transformers 3" out of the way first. I didn't go into this movie expecting character development or a good story; I wasn't disappointed. This movie contains none of the elements which are typically needed for even the most basic of movies, yet it does have Transformers, so at least that's something. I'll admit that there were a few funny moments, but why in the world did I feel like I was watching a watered-down "Hangover" rip-off? I'll tell you why, because one of the characters is from "The Hangover" playing the exact same character, ripping-off his previous performance. This may have been fun if done right, but it was so out of place, and it didn't fit into the context of the rest of the movie. Usually I'm OK with Michael Bay's mish mash style, but this movie was such a jumbled mess I don't think I could actually recount for you what or why anything happened. Transformers are awesome, but what is up with those stupid mini Transformer clown characters? Perhaps Michael Bay did some market research and found that Americans secretly loved Jar Jar Binks. Maybe I'm alone on this, but these mini Transformers are so irritating that they seriously detract from the whole movie. Ultimately, this film was a spectacle, an experience more than a movie. If you're waiting to watch this on a television you're a moron. Pay the ten bucks, see Transformers beating the crap out of each other, then never watch this movie again.

"Kung Fu Pand 2" wasn't half the movie the first one was. Too bad. Once again we have concrete evidence that story, writing, and characters are the foundation of a good film; if any one of these elements is weak, the whole movie fails. "Kung Fu Panda" gave us the characters; unfortunately, like so many sequels, the story here was so flat that the movie is really only good for napping. It's too bad that the creators of this movie thought that action, fighting animals, and explosions were all the audience wanted. Too bad.

I got to see the movie "Monte Carlo" with my daughter Ashley. This movie was really well done, sure nothing really new as a story, but then sometimes the best movies are simply re-tellings of the greatest stories. The kids and I sometimes watch Wizards of Waverly Place, which also stars Salena Gomez, and she basically plays a nicer version of that character here in "Monte Carlo". The movie probably would have been flat if it had merely followed her, impersonating a famous celebrity, taking advantage of the benefits of fame. Fortunately she has a step sister and best friend along for the ride, who really are more interesting than she is, and the movie ended up being dynamic and fun because of the other characters and their side stories. This is at its heart a Fairy Tale, and it does contain the appropriate moral lessons which are conveyed in a down to earth, heartwarming way. I can think of quite a few teenager/tween movies of late that have horrible messages and terrible role models, it's nice that "Monte Carlo" breaks that mould.

Thomas, the kids, and I saw "Soul Surfer" a little while ago (when Thomas was here of course). This is the best out the four movies I'm reviewing this time, which I am happy to report. Sure there are hints of preachiness in this film, which isn't always a bad thing, but delivery is so important. Unfortunately the filmmakers chose to cast Carrie Underwood to have the preachy role, and she was not meant to act. Other than that minor complaint, the rest of the film was very well done. The story was quite compelling, and this was coupled with a main character who really made the whole thing convincing. AnnaSophia Robb was wonderful in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and has grown up just enough to be perfect as the surfer girl who struggles with life after a shark attack. Even with a strong supporting cast (with the exception of Underwood) Robb really must carry this movie herself. She displays a wide range of emotions, and is one of the better role models in recent movie history. It's also interesting to note that this movie is rated PG; and considering that there is a limb lost to a shark the filmmakers did a great job conveying the significance of that moment without graphically exploiting the horror. This is a rare thing today, a great family film.