You may or may not be aware that the LAST Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 hits theaters TODAY! Well, it does. And it’s certainly worth seeing if you’re into wizards and dragons and good triumphing over evil, which I am. The movie itself is satisfying, if you’ve read the books and just want to actually SEE the story play out on the Big Screen. If you haven’t read the books, then I can’t help you with whether or not you’ll be able to follow the movie, because I read (or devoured) them (all 700 + pages) in under a week. I loved the world that JK Rowling created and I can’t WAIT to take Reagan to Universal Studios in Florida when she’s older so that I (yes, me) can see the Harry Potter world that they’ve created there.
However, watching this last movie with my husband got us talking about just WHEN/IF we’d allow our children to start reading the books AND which movies we’ll let them watch at what age. There is plenty of blood and scary things jumping out at the screen in this movie. Sure, there are tender moments between friends, but a majority of the movie (and the book for that matter) is about fighting for survival and people dieing in a great battle to fight the evil You-Know-Who. And I have to add that Emma Watson had some unnecessary cleavage showing here and there (not a little girl anymore).
There is plenty of content for an after-movie discussion. Questions like: What do you think about what Harry did at the end of the movie? Harry rescued his rival from the fire, what are ways we can be kind to those who aren’t kind to us? What did you think about the way that Voldemort treated the people on his side (i.e. killing them)? What was Voldemort’s biggest flaw? — See where I’m going? These questions aren’t ones for your toddler, or even your elementary-aged child to answer. This movie is PG-13 and for good reason. This content is pretty heavy and the consequences are life and death. Sure, an elementary-aged child can understand life and death consequences, but may they don’t need to have a snake jumping at them on the big screen and then replaying that in their head at 2am. Just sayin’.
I love make-believe! I love (and I mean LOVE) fairy tales. I love stories about dragons and princesses and dragon princesses and magical capes or carpets or cats. I love how stories can encourage imagination and can inspire insightful conversation. And, I really enjoyd reading the Harry Potter series. Although, I reread the first 5 books several times, the 6th and 7th books were pretty dark (lots of evil doing evil things)… they gave me nightmare at 25. I usually think that these books are best consumed when the child reading the book is the same age as Harry. i.e Harry is 11 at the beginning of the first book, perhaps this is a good book for your 11 or 12 year old?
As for this movie, my recommendation is find a sitter and leave the little ones at home for this film.
What do you think? Will you let your children read the Harry Potter books or watch the movies? If you have children old enough to read, what are your thoughts about this series? Avoid it altogether or let them read them all?
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Joy is the Co-founder of Scottsdale Moms Blog and absolutely loves living in Scottsdale with her hubby Kevin, their daughter Reagan (born August 2009) and their son Elliot (born May 2011). She is a lover of nature, a research analyst on all things related to life, a home manager, a crafty art-eest, Chief Marketing Officer for Cactus CrossFit, mommy, daughter and friend.
I’m with you Joy…love stories with imagination. Great words on being a discerning parent too. xoxo
Our 9-year-old super reader loved Books 1-3. Then we made her stop. My husband and I are both huge fans of the books and the movies, but the end of Goblet of Fire is too intense for a 9-year-old. We also have a fun rule: you don’t get to see the movie if you didn’t read the book.
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