How was “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” received by spectators when it was released on July 13, 2011?
Back in 2011: what did Internet users think of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – part 2, end of JK Rowling’s magical saga on the day of its release? By examining the period reviews, here is the reception of the film according to AlloCiné Internet users.
That day, the spectators came out with stars in their eyes as well as in the ratings: out of 235 votes, 116, or almost half, rated the film 5 out of 5 and 61 between 4 and 4.5 stars!
For babou2chou, for example, the film is “stunning with magnificent special effects. However, very dark and therefore not recommended for children under 10 years old. A truly beautiful finale. A beautiful saga that comes to an end.” cindrellaaa confirms, confident that this eighth opus is “the best of the saga”proposing “an ending worthy of the name”. Obviously connoisseur of the literary work, she wrote that it is “most faithful to the book” and “the final battle is really successful”.
Even today, however, criticism of the film’s lack of fidelity to the book on which it is inspired represents 16% of comments*, indicating that the film lacks coherence and is not a good adaptation, skimming over destiny for example of the character of Fred.
Warner Bros.
But this isn’t really highlighted by the reviews posted on release day. An Internet user whose account has now disappeared addresses fans of the book:
“One of the things I liked was the removal of the story of Dumbledore’s childhood as well as the discussion between Harry and Voldemort which would only have lengthened the film, cut the rhythm and lost heads to those who hadn’t read the book. After all, why are everyone who read the book complaining about the deletion of these two stories? You know the story, what does it do for you to see the actors talk about it when we could move on?” The debate was over.
24 spectators gave the film a fair rating (3 or 3.5 out of 5), and 16 a 2 or 2.5. Jérémy A specified: “I haven’t read the book. I love the saga, the last opus is great, a great rhythm for 1h30… except the end. It’s shoddy, a final confrontation with Voldemort which lasts 30 seconds, none triumphalism over Harry Potter (…), we will never have the impression that[il] was above him in terms of magic, even though he is “the chosen one”, all the same. In short, very flat ending and hugely disappointed.”
Warner Bros.
Among the very disappointed, let us cite Christophe Sylvayn Gabriel, who gave the film a pitiful 0.5 out of 5, writing: “Nothing to get excited about, extremely disappointed by this last episode. The special effects don’t make up for the lack of surprise. Harry Potter has lost all its magic!” An opinion shared by Nicolas P., who gives the same note:
“Oh my, but it was rubbish. It’s no longer an adaptation, it’s a condensed summary of the book, just enough for the first screw-up to understand the plot (if the films give one…) without thinking. The producer understood that he could make money on it, JK Rowling too, it’s done. In short, this film is a shame, among others in the saga” .
Warner Bros.
But these few negative opinions are not the majority of fans, who praised this latest magical opus. Even today, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is the highest rated film in the franchise on Allociné. And besides, even the worst of the saga is very well judged by Internet users.
Let’s leave the final word to Mélanoche, who wrote on July 13, 2011: “The magic will have worked for many years. The magic will have worked for the 7 books. The magic will have worked for the 8 films! Today, the magic is over, but Harry will be part of our lives forever!”
* Figures collected using a tool developed internally based on artificial intelligence, and the 2,100 reviews written by spectators on AlloCiné.