‘Harry Potter.’ A weak mumbling voice, a voice that is so recognisable and so sad, that it’s already clear that something bad has happened. The camera pulls out into a wide shot to show a little, lovable creature hunched over and facing away. His pillowcase wrapped around his slight body, and his trainers sinking into the wet sand. Heavy breathing, and a stumble, into the arms of Harry Potter, revealing the dagger plunged into his tiny chest. A halo of blood surrounding the hilt. The weapon removed and laid on the ground, a moment of instant recognition, realisation and hatred momentarily eclipse the overwhelming sorrow. A desperate plea from Harry that all know is futile, “such a beautiful place... to be with friends. Dobby is happy to be with his friend; Harry Potter...” a small smile then he’s still. The end of a creature that we all came to love. The end of Dobby – a free house elf.
This part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows always makes me cry, it’s up there with the old couple in ‘Titanic’ Rafe and Danny’s deaths in ‘Pearl Harbour’ and Mufasa’s in ‘The Lion King’.
Dobby is an animated creature, so having an animated face on the screen rather than their own, the actor has a much harder time getting the needed emotions across on to the screen. Luckily, with today’s technology we are able to make an animated face as realistic as a real face. But Toby Jones, who plays the voice of Dobby, doesn’t rely on this alone, he uses his voice to tell us the story, within the few lines of Dobby’s last scene Toby Jones makes us sad, just with the way he delivered those lines. Adding pauses and small cracks in his voice, Toby makes us believe that Dobby is dying, but that he is content. Over the past years, the past films, we came to love little Dobby and his squeaky voice, each gag and each disobedient act making us love him more. And the last line just makes you love him, feel sympathy for Harry, and hate Bellatrix even more than we previously did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1mHtnhBXoU
