Harry Potter: The End

Alrighty, well...now that I've seen the final installment of the epic Harry Potter franchise a second time, I figure it's time for me to share my thoughts.

First, thoughts on the movie:
I thought that, on the whole, it was well done. Epic battle sequences, better acting than in the other 7, intense emotions, and a very well-done, very long-awaited Ron-Hermione kiss. Of course, there were a few parts that made me wonder what exactly the director/producers/writers were thinking...
Instance #1: The Malfoy-Voldemort hug.....seriously??? I don't even know where to begin on this one....first of all, Voldemort doesn't hug people...but please don't get me started on all the things that were wrong with Voldemort the movie character as opposed to Voldemort the book character. Second of all, did anyone else feel really awkward during that hug? It was like a "I'm your long lost father who left when you were little and suddenly decided to come back and pretend like I really care for you, but in all reality I'm very socially awkward" hug...I mean, with awkward squeeze and everything. I don't know if they were going for comic relief there, but really it was just not appropriate for that particular moment...or really for the movie in general.
Instance #2: The Harry-Hagrid hug...I feel like this was probably necessary, since Hagrid was so distraught about Harry being dead (PS-not very good acting by Robbie Coltrane in this one, in my opinion), but I just feel like they didn't do it well....again, awkward...."Harry." ::hugs:: ::stares:: ::walks away::....yeah, just a little awkwardly done. Maybe that's just me, but probably not.
Instance #3: The smoke fight scene...Harry and Voldemort flying through the air in a whirl of black smoke, pulling at each other's faces, culminating in a closeup of Harry pulling at the sides of Voldemort's demented-looking face. Do I really need to go into depth on this one?
Instace #4: Breaking the Unbeatable Wand...really, J.K? You let them do that? It's U-N-B-E-A-T-A-B-L-E. That's the whole point of it, right? So how is it that Harry could just snap it in half? Not. Possible. Stupid. And why didn't Harry fix his wand with it, like he was supposed to?? What's he gonna do, use Malfoy's wand for the rest of his life? Honestly, it would've taken like 4 extra seconds..."Reparo" ::wand fuses back together::. Really.
Those are really the only major complaints I had with it. Other than that, I thought it was an excellent final film for the series. Favorite character of the movie? Quite possibly McGonagall. She is a serious bad-a**. Yep.

So now, some thoughts on the franchise as a whole:
Honestly, I just can't believe it's over. Harry Potter has been over half my life...more than ten years, and now, suddenly, there's nothing left to look forward to. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a tad upset and empty-feeling when the credits rolled on 7.2. I mean, it's never going to be the same...yes, I'm going to force my future children to read and watch (in that order) all the books/movies. Obviously. They're classics. But the anticipation won't be there. Whereas it took the Harry Potter Generation 10+ years to finish the series, it could, theoretically, take our children a week, and that's just sad to me. The waiting, although extremely difficult and not my favorite, were really what made the series that much better...because there was anticipation, reading the books/watching the movies was just that much sweeter. It's sad to me that nobody will ever experience that again.

So anyways, I guess I'll try and bring myself back into reality now. And I'll leave you with this excellent quote that my friend had as her facebook status the other day, proving once and for all the Harry Potter is ever so much better than Twilight (I mean, really, was there ever a legit contest here?):

"Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength, and doing what is right in the face of adversity...Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend."

Amen to that.

Now it's time to go grow up. ::Sigh::

-K

PS-I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, and critiques of the movies/books/anything HP-related!