After ten years and eight films retelling the story of seven books, we’ve finally reached the end of the Harry Potter film journey. It feels like just yesterday that I sat down in the Kensington Odeon cinema to watch the first of the films the day after I graduated from high school.

Enough reminiscing, there’s plenty of that in the trailer/featurette below. The real question is… how was the final film? Was it the epic conclusion we’ve been promised for months through the global advertising campaign?

In a word – yes. As a fan of the books, I felt the magic (pardon the pun) was translated well onto the big screen. There were spectacular effects, a satisfying tying together of loose ends and a few good one liners thrown in to ease the tension.

I can’t imagine you would want to see this film if you hadn’t seen the previous seven but really, there’s no point. If you are familiar with the back story, it doesn’t disappoint.

I should also mention that this is the first film of the series I’ve seen in 3D and while I normally prefer Harry to be the only person wearing glasses in cinema, I was very impressed with the effects. One scene towards the end is particularly powerful, though 3D is used subtly to great effect throughout the entire film.

The boy has been teasing me for bursting into tears about half way through and not stopping until the credits, but I cried just as much in the book so I guess that’s a positive for the film, right? The take home message here is don’t forget the tissues!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two is a powerful and well-executed conclusion to one of the most successful film franchises of all time. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Rating: ****