Hogwarts explosion

So, Harry Potter. Well. I've seen the movies at midnight opening night several times, and this was by far the most intense pre-Potter experience. Danyeal and I drove down to River Park Square at 10, thinking that was more than early enough for even the most popular midnight movie. By the time we got there, though, the theater was already a Hogwarts explosion. There were people everywhere -- every one of the 17 (I think) theaters was set to start showing the movie at precisely 12:01, and our assigned theater, 17, was completely packed with people. Billions of seats had been reserved by coats, bags, and broomsticks. We had a group of four, and there were no groups of four seats to be found anywhere. After scavenging for a while and covering random groups of two and three seats with our sweatshirts and purses and stuff, Autumn found a much much much less crowded theater, lucky number 12, so we just ignored the fact that our tickets had assigned us to a certain room and headed down there. By the time the movie started, even theater 12 was completely packed. I think the entire place was sold out.

A few highlights of the pre-movie experience:

• 10 zillion people running around from theater to theater, wearing 10 zillion awesome costumes
• ranking our favorite Harry Potter books, movies, and moments -- and gasping when I saw Danyeal's shocking book rankings (The Goblet of Fire as the number one choice?! I did not see that coming)
  
• playing a Harry Potter version of "would you?" (or, our favorite adaptation, "Kiss or Push?")
• Autumn watching a teeny little bit of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on her portable DVD player
• Popping DayQuil at 11 in an attempt to fight off a giant coughing/running nose/sneezing catastrophe

As far as the movie itself goes, I'm sorry to say that I didn't love it. I have very low expectations for each of the movies; the books are what I really care about, and since I think they are almost perfect, any greatness in the movies is just a bonus. But this one was disappointing, I thought. Quite a few scenes were added, removed, or changed. I know that's what happens when you make a book into a film, but some of these choices seemed to lead to some mediocre storytelling and shortchanged really good stuff. Ginny Weasley was pretty bland. And a huge part of the book, a part that seemed destined for movie greatness, wasn't included in the film at all.

Of course, I am an old lady and did take a few teeny tiny catnaps from time to time, so to be fair, I should (and will) watch the whole thing again. There are a few things I liked a lot: Ron Weasley, who was a fine and hilarious specimen throughout; Horace Slughorn, who was way more likeable that I'd ever imagined while reading; and hunchback Harry on his lucky day.