Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) leads his army of Death Eaters on an assault on Hogwarts School in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

After ten years and eight films, Harry Potter gets put on the shelf for good. Elizabeth Kerr reports.

Listen carefully. That sound you hear? That's the sound of Warner Bros. executives weeping behind the wheels of their bonus Porsches. After 20 hours of screen time, billions of dollars in box office revenue, millions of books sold, thousands of pages, four directors, and three hormonal growth spurts, the most successful film franchise in cinema history comes to an end. More than one viewer is likely to sit down in cinemas this weekend with a friend for The Movie Event of the Year, also known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and be compelled to ask, "Where was I when this all started a decade ago?" It's not quite as monumental as the moon landing or the Kennedy assassination, but Harry Potter has been such a huge part of so many lives it's hard not to feel reflective at the series' closure.

In the interest of fairness, I will say this: pasty teenagers pointing magic chopsticks at each other while spouting variants on "Abracadabra" reach beyond my boundary for silliness. Space aliens landing in South Africa? Sure, bring it on. Super-rich weapons manufacturers building metal flying suits? Where do I line up? But magic in all its forms - so-called real magic as practiced by dorks Davids Blaine and Copperfield and Criss Angel as well as the fantasy fiction version - does less than nothing for me. That it all began on the basis of a modern Horatio Alger myth (author J. K. Rowling was far from a suffering welfare recipient when she sat down to write her less than revolutionary prose) is mildly irritating

But Harry Potter became a galvanizing force and got people everywhere to pick up a book again (in one of 67 languages), so kudos for that. And though Rowling may not be a Booker-level writer, she did manage to create a universe that hinged on relatable characters and unbridled imagination, and one that didn't talk down to its young audience. She certainly didn't reinvent the wheel, but she made a really nice shiny one. Many among us are going to be sad to see it go, and just as many can't wait for the summer to be over.

Part 2 hits the ground, well, jogging, and slowly picks up speed on the way to its grand finale. The film begins precisely where Part 1 ended, with a brief recap followed by Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), and Ron (Rupert Grint, the actor most likely destined for a career at fan conventions) summoning their reserves to find the final Horcruxes that hold Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) soul. Along the way there are (unsurprising) revelations about Harry's relationship to his arch nemesis, beloved headmaster Dumbledore's (Michael Gambon) relationship to the duplicitous Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), redemptions, tragic deaths, more contrived names (seriously, Luna Lovegood?) than you can shake a magic chopstick at, and Hogwarts reduced to rubble. Finis.

Regardless of the hoariness inherent in the narrative - it's a coming of age quest saga - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is a marvel of cinema industry. The entire series was written and produced by the same duo (producer David Heyman and writer Steve Kloves, scripter of all but one film), had the same production designer, and, obviously, the same cast. Rarely, if ever, has a franchise managed to maintain Harry Potter's uniformity of vision from star to finish. The net result is a cohesive world that was easy to become totally immersed in and which got darker and darker as the stakes went up. Which is the film's greatest strength as well as its greatest weakness. Part 2 is a film for the avid follower. Rewarding long time fans is admirable, and four-time director David Yates does his best to set a brisk pace tempered with emotion. But non-hardcore fans will feel a disconnect where avid followers will be weeping in the aisle. It feels as if the film is welcoming everyone to the party, but not sharing the Butterbeer.

Though it may be faithful to the book, the epilogue that sees Harry, Hermione, and Ron reuniting on Track 9 to send their own children off to Hogwarts is tricky to say the least. Once again, for die-hard fans, the visual manifestation of the end of a very long journey will no doubt force a few tears to fall. For anyone else, the focus will be on the unconvincing "aging" done to the actors. If a kindergarten child were asked to draw a 40-year-old, it would be this (nice hair, Ginny). Nonetheless it puts a definitive "The End" stamp on the proceedings, and drapes a satisfying sense of finality over the closing frames. How's the 3D? Much better than Warner's Clash of the Titans conversion, but Harry's been 2D up to now, and the technology doesn't add anything Rowling, Heyman, and Yates hadn't already thought of. It's not distracting, but the fundamental story is so retro the format contradicts the content.

Ultimately Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the last chapter of an old fashioned adventure about three friends who navigate a strange, frightening, complex world and mature into adults, and about a boy who learns to reconcile his latent darkness with that newly formed adult. Despite fawning critics, Radcliffe and Watson are mostly effective actors - better than they were as kids, not quite as good as they might be in future - and Grint remains about as nuanced as those broomsticks they ride. All three, however, get the job done well enough to make the entire series work. The added bonus of seeing a trio of unknown kids grow into young professionals in parallel with their characters lends a degree of veracity that blinds us to their faults. In reality, Radcliffe and Co.'s job was an easy one given viewers are coming to theaters with such a sense of anticipation any missing parts will be supplied by audiences. And the audience that can do that? Is going to be thrilled.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 opened in Hong Kong on Thursday.

(HK Edition 07/16/2011 page4)