I didn't read the books.
Prisoner of Azkaban— and to a lesser extent Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire— had a necessary mix of whimsy, humor, color, and charm, and also seriousness/darkness. The series should have stayed that way.
But then first they sucked out the literal color, then the literal light, then the happiness out of the movies. By the time I saw the earliest part of Deathly Hollows, I just stopped caring. Every moment became joyless and hard to watch.
If there's no more discovery of the whimsy of the wizarding world, no more wonderment, no more seeing characters be just plain likeable, why do I care anymore? The series slowly became about friends being jealous and petty, people being double-agents, and about death and loss.
I had to read a summary of the events of Deathly Hollows, because I couldn't subject myself to 4 more hours of misery after the latter two-thirds of Half-Blood Prince. Now I'm just going to enjoy the full LEGO Harry Potter collection game.
I grew up with these books, then came the movies, and I felt the same about the movies. As the series progressed it was supposed to get darker, but there was also a feeling of hope caused by the actions of Harry and his friends. I didn't feel that. Especially the last 2 films, the feeling of dread is ever persistent and it doesn't go away even when they make things right. It becomes just dreadful & hard to watch, bordering on boring
Thanks for your viewpoint. I agree.