Grace and Spencer had already been to see it, but Earl, Tucker and I hadn't seen it yet. So we trooped out Tuesday morning to beat the crowds and cool down in the theater.
My family loves, loves, loves the Harry Potter stories and movies. We have been going to the release night for books and movies as long as I can remember. Every family car trip is soothed with the sounds of Jim Dale, the narrator on the Harry Potter CDs. Even now, we're in the middle of listening to the last one again.
My kids loved growing up with Harry Potter.
One of my friends said she didn't want to see the movie characters all grown up because she felt like she was seeing her own kids grown and moving on.
I don't feel that way. I was okay with seeing Harry and Ginny with their own kids.
(I would say spoiler alert, but if you don't know how the book ends then you shouldn't go see the movie anyway, IMHO.)
I did get a little teary in the movie when Harry's parents appear, along with his godfather. They tell him how proud they are and I felt my eyes well up. And again when he was a baby and his Mom was about to die and she turned to the crib and just kept saying, "Mummy loves you, Harry. Daddy loves you." Those are the words you would want your child to hear before you die.
Anyway, in spite of what some people might say, and in spite of the fact that the producers didn't follow the book exactly, the movie was spectacular.
My own family left blinking in the sunlight and when we turned on the car to drive home, there was Harry again, still on his adventure.
It's like we teach students when writing about literature. You write in the present tense, because literature is always happening in the present, it will never be past.
And Harry's adventure will come to life again every time we open the books or slide in the disks.
Plus, someday, I'll have grandchildren who won't know the story of the boy wizard, the boy who lived.
.jpg)