Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (A Movie Review)

Today I went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Yay! I was excited, but not one of those people that would go at midnight. (Not that I don't think it'd be fun, but just because I'm too busy!) This post will be a little different than normal because I want to post my thoughts on the movie.

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you do! Like many others, I love the books, and the books are always better than the movies, though the movies are great too. This installment was was one of my favorites in the series, though it was not without some flaws. (Side note: Deathly Hallows is probably my favorite book in the series, so that might have something to do with why I liked it so much.)

Being only Part One, I missed seeing a lot of characters/locations from the previous books. This was the first movie where none of it takes place at Hogwarts! And a lot of supporting characters who I love didn't get nearly as much- if any- screen time. I believe Draco Malfoy had a total of one scene, and most of the Hogwarts students- such as Neville Longbottom- weren't even in the film. I guess I'll have to wait for Part Two to see them.

Unlike some, I really appreciated the decision to divide the movie into two parts. This movie felt a lot less rushed than other movies based on books. They weren't trying to cram 700+ pages into two hours. That decision was reflected well in the movie- we got to see more character developmen. The relationships between Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the central focus in this film. I think we saw those three characters- and only them- on screen 90% of the time. It's an important part and it wasn't rushed.

On the negative side, even though most of the movie was well explained, there were a few plot points that could've been better explained considering the movie only covered Part One. The explanation of the Deathly Hallows was done well, but other things felt like the audience might have had read the book to understand why something happened. For example, the lady at Godric's Hollow- maybe I missed it, but her snake transformation was never really explained. Also, like in the book, the main characters Apparate around, and I don't know if that was explainined thouroughly. Parts of the movie may have not made sense to those who haven't read the books.

Nothing major was left out of the book that I remember- a couple small things added, but I don't think it harmed the movie. Similar to the other films in the series.

There wasn't an enormous amount of action, though I'm sure the Part Two will be the complete opposite. In spite of that, this film is very dark. It fits the tone of the book very well- Harry and his friends are dealing with dark evils much larger than them, so it's not going to be lighthearted. I liked it, though the target audience is definitely an older group than the first couple of movies, just as our main characters are older. (Look at this picture- they were so young at the beginning!)

As I expected, it was terribly sad! I will admit I came quite close to tearing up (and I'm one of those people that doesn't cry easily). Emotional but really, really good!

Nothing else to say, except I highly recommend it. If I were to use my rating system, it would definitely be a 5/5. I hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did. :) It ended with such a cliffhanger, I'm dying here waiting for the next one...