Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 12 years and 8 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

This afternoon we took my daughter to see “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (not in 3D, thank goodness). It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since J. K. Rowling first introduced us to the Boy Who Lived and 10 years since the first movie was released … and now, it’s all over.

This was the first Potter film we actually saw in the theater. My daughter was too young when the films were first released (she read the whole series start to finish in 2007 when she was just 6) and we felt that it was “safer” to watch the films at home (the last few are obviously pretty dark). Just the other week we got “Deathly Hallows: Part 1” from Netflix and she seemed to do okay with the more intense stuff. Since “Harry Potter” is the “Star Wars” of her generation (with wands instead of lightsabers), I wanted her to have that theater experience to remember so this was her last chance (until they re-release them in 20 years with newly enhanced digital effects … oh, wait, that’s just Lucas’ gig).

Part 2 picks up right where Part 1 left-off (after 20 minutes of trailers!), so I was glad we had just watched the first one. It also helped that I was sitting next to our family expert, who’s read the books multiple times. I was able to to whisper questions to my daughter about who was who, or what was going on (it’s been years since I read the books), to get the scoop. Overall, it was a great movie, although all of those actors spent a lot of time being wet, dirty, and bloody. 😉