<p>^gosh I do remember one scene where I was crying and many of those around me. </p>
<p>End of an era. as amtc said the younger kids have/will missed out on a lot of this. I know my 11yo D has been exposed to each book and each movie but many of her friends have never read the books or seen the movies. My now 18yo had to read each book as it came out straight through and had to see the movie on day of release.</p>
<p>My daughter went with bunch from her Med. School at midnight yesterday. I hope, she did not fall asleep at her classes today - they are 8am-noon. I cannot care less for Harry Potter, tried to read, could not. But reading is not my favorite activites and I rarely like any movies either.</p>
<p>Amtc: I so agree with you regarding this generation’s experience. I was just talking to my 19 year old this morning about that. I’m so grateful my two daughters (other one is 16) had the opportunity to grow up with HP and the midnight book releases as well as the midnight movies. I’m a little sad today that it is over.</p>
<p>I saw it at midnight and loved it! Cried the whole time. Too bad I had to get up early for summer school and will be going to work on 1.5 hours of sleep. Blahh. But it was worth it!</p>
<p>My S got J.K. Rowling to autograph book 1 when he was about 8, she actually spoke to him.</p>
<p>We always got the new books via the Amazon deal. We fought over who got to read it first. And when it started to be 2-3 years between books… that was just excruciating.</p>
<p>^^^ Wow! My daughter would kill for a JKR autograph!</p>
<p>My daughter often thanks me for giving birth to her at the exact right time for Harry Potter fever. I have to say it’s one of my greatest achievements! :)</p>
<p>^ Make me an offer… ;)</p>
<p>At a school fundraiser way back when, someone donated a copy of book 1 for an auction that had JKR’s signature, and the director and all the stars from the first movie. It was around 12 signatures total IIRC. I don’t know how he got them, but it was an impressive collection.</p>
<p>It went for around $1200…</p>
<p>Haven’t seen the DH2 yet, but when daughter comes back from her road trip, we’re going. We saw all the movies together, as did so many other posters. This generation really grew up with the series. I remember one summer when one of the books came out (not sure which one), daughter was in summer camp. She said that there were several UPS and FedEx trucks that arrived at camp that day. All of the campers received their copies from loving families, and the whole camp was reading it the next day! Must have been quite a sight!</p>
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<p>I texted my son today (since I was asleep when he got home) and asked if it was awesome. His reply was similar to your quote! Now I’m so curious!!!</p>
<p>We really enjoyed it and it was worth the lack of sleep for the next day. Hate it is over. </p>
<p>Curious as to what those do not like about the epilogue?? I re read DH 2 years ago and don’t recall that much difference. </p>
<p>I do know that I enjoy the books and movies Independent of each other. I re read HBP right before the movie and did not enjoy it as much. Years later now I do.</p>
<p>I didn’t mind the epilogue so much as how they changed the final battle, they made it a lot more dramatic and drawn out than the book. I was really looking forward to the moment in the headmasters office with the portriat of Dumbledore.</p>
<p>My family (huge fans of the books and movies) didn’t mind the epilogue or the battle. We’ve never minded variations from the books. We thought this was an awesome last film. I do see how ‘purists’ would be frustrated.</p>
<p>For the Alan Rickman fans…you are in for a real treat. He does not disappoint!! Always amazing, but he just knocked it out of the park. Without posting spoilers…four in our family had read the book…one of my boys never made it to the last one (too many AP books vying for attention). The true test was if they told Snape’s story in a way that the son that didn’t read the book could understand what had happened. The rest of us didn’t know if we ‘got it’ because we were filling in blanks. He totally got it. Well done, and so well played by Rickman!!</p>
<p>I think Neville’s character was quite good. I like how Mrs. Weasley delivered her line, but wish there was more build-up</p>
<p>I thought it was fantastic. Like a few others have said, I don’t mind the variations from the book, and I felt like this stayed very true to the story in the books. Of course they’re going to take creative liberties.</p>
<p>There were definitely a few moments where I had tears rolling down my face…particularly towards the end of the film.</p>
<p>I agree that Alan Rickman did a fantastic job. His best performance of the series. But the character I enjoyed the most was McGonagall…she hasn’t had much of a role in the last few movies and she was just amazing in DH2.</p>
<p>I absolutely loved DH2. We saw it in 3D (not necessary) and I thought it was the most true to the book of any of the previous HP movies…including the final epilogue. They did an ok job cosmetically aging the characters. I did wish that they had included Neville in the epilogue though. They played up the action scenes (battle at Hogwarts) a bit but for the most part, this was a fair rendition. This was actually the first HP movie that I thought Daniel Radcliffe did a decent acting job in. Alan Rickman was excellent (as stated above). I will probably need to see this again this summer.</p>
<p>^Agreed Grace! MaGonagall had some great moments in this film. Again limiting my commentary to avoid spoilers. My boys have quoted her several times today. 
Okay trying to stay vague, she and Snape have a great exchange where we literally applauded in the theater, and her line “I’ve always wanted to use that spell.” was classic and her expression was priceless!</p>
<p>We arrived just before 10PM and were let into the theatre at 10:45- I think there were 4-5 within the complex. I was amazed at how different things were handled here as opposed to all of the others (with the exception of “Hallows, Pt.1”</p>
<p>Just saw it tonight and absolutely loved it. I thought they did a fabulous job of following the book and LOVED the epilogue. I want to see it again!</p>