Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

[Noon] This will not be a review as much as an experience. It's noon and the midnight premier isn't for another twelve hours and according to Teen Daughter the lines are already stretched around the mall where our favorite 24-plex is housed. Fortunately Southern Man experienced a rare moment of foresight and purchased tickets for himself and twelve-year-old daughter a few days ago; according to the web they're showing HP7-2 on every screen they have and they're all sold out. This may be a midnight movie to put all previous midnight movies to shame. Southern Man predicts that the previous opening-day record will not merely be beaten but shattered into a million tiny fragments by the magic of Harry Potter.

[6:00 PM] They weren't kidding - this is quite an event. The line wraps around the mall twice, starting at the middle level and then continuing upstairs. Teen daughter and her posse are about a quarter of the way back. There are more costumes than one can count, many quite imaginative (a two-person Buckbeak, for example, and a surprisingly large number of folks came as Draco and Bellatrix, but Southern Man's favorite was the Asian guy with the appropriately-dressed sister and a t-shirt that read "Parvati Patil's Handsome Muggle Brother"), and we walked the length of the entire line to admire them. Then we split up - younger daughter to shop, Southern Man to make a Starbucks run for the group - and then we just generally puttered about for the next few hours.

Both daughters as house elves. Why, yes, they are wearing pillowcases. One might think that with two house elves Casa Southern Man would be tidier than it is but one would be mistaken. Photo by She Who Must Not Be Named.

[11:30 PM] They opened the theater at ten and it took well over an hour to get everyone inside. Southern Man and twelve-year-old daughter took advantage of the chaos and managed to insert themselves into the line about midway back. Once inside daughter headed to our assigned theater to grab seats while Southern Man waited in the concession line which was also long but we were in our (excellent) seats with our goodies by 11:45.

[3:30 AM] The movie was pretty good, too.