Harry Potter franchise casts its final spell

The hour is upon us. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 will be unleashed on the general public, and, judging from critics' reactions, it promises to outdo all its predecessors.
 
After almost 20 hours of film, seven books, four directors, two Dumbledores and one promise from author JK Rowling that this really is it, the final film sees Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and best friend Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) take on Voldemort once and for all in an apocalyptic battle in Hogwarts school.
 
"It's dramatically satisfying, spectacular and terrifically exciting," says Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian. "The Harry Potter series gets its groove back."
 
Uniquely, the films, which chart seven years in the boy wizard's life, have developed in real-time with the actors. So when they began at age 11, they, like their characters, were on the cusp of adolescence, and as they grew, the whole world watched them – often awkwardly - grow into their bodies and morph into adults, just like in the books.
 
"Never before has any film – or any book – brought home to me how terribly brief childhood is," says Bradshaw.
 
But the greatest triumph of the film, writes Philip Womack in the Daily Telegraph, "is its ability to overcome the deficiencies of J K Rowling's writing."
 
David Yates has directed the last four films, and Womack praises him for turning the book’s ending - a "damp squib" - into "a genuinely terrifying spectacle", adding, "This is monumental cinema".

In pictures: the Harry Potter films from beginning to end
 
For some, it is an emotional farewell. "Some of the other blockbusters this summer have been as spectacular," says the Daily Mail's Chris Tookey, "but only this one will have audiences brushing away a tear by the end."
 
For others, it is a welcome burst of action after a series of uninspiring prequels. Although "far from a perfect film," admits Tom Huddleston in Time Out, it is "eye-scorching, ear-battering, heart-pounding cinema of pure spectacle".
 
Radcliffe, Watson and Grint are all commended for their performances, though behind the praise there is a hint of relief at some improvement after a decade of sub-standard child-acting.

The real stars are the adult cast, from Robbie Coltrane's memorable gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid to Ralph Fiennes's snake-eyed and flat-nosed Lord Voldemort. Channelling evil like no other villain before him, he "dominates this last instalment", according to Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. Indeed, "it's apparent again in this film that the three leads are upstaged by the supporting characters". ·