Even if you have somehow never read one of the books or seen one of the movies, you probably know the basic premise. Boy wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while at the same time fighting the evil force of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). The seventh book is the logical conclusion of the fight ending in a final confrontation with Voldemort. Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Rhys Ifans, Jason Isaacs, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, and more fill out the massive cast.
The first movie covers nearly exactly two thirds of the book, leaving the final third all for the final movie. While this might seem illogical if you haven't read the book, it makes perfect sense. Of all the books, the seventh is the most uneven with the first part being long and drawn out with most of the action happening in the final chapters. The extended time allotted to each part of the story allows for more character development and inclusion of interesting details than the other movies have. It would have been interesting if all seven books were turned into two part movies but I don't think the American audience has that kind of patience and the actors would likely have aged much more than they have. As it is, the actors all fit their characters ages pretty closely, which is a pleasant rarity in movies these days. See Percy Jackson.
All the actors have matured and grown into their roles rather nicely, really becoming the group of magical friends they are supposed to be. One of the biggest weaknesses this movie has is that because of the extra time allowed and details explored there are characters and relationships that are shown here for the first time or at least the first time other than some passing mention. The average movie goer may be a bit confused by some things the characters seem to take for granted if they have not read the books and kept up with all the relationships etc. That said, for being the near conclusion of such an expansive story, things are, for the most part, not confusing and presented in a straightforward yet interesting manner. One of the pleasant surprises was the animated sequence that tells the story of the Deathly Hallows.
As is true with the books, this movie continues the trend of growing with it's readers/viewers, being the darkest and most serious yet. This is fine if someone started reading them when they were 9-12 - the reading level of the first book. Those people are now 22-25 and certainly old enough to deal with more mature themes. Not so for the 8-10 year old who devoured the series over the summer for the first time and now wants to go see the new movie. It is a solidly PG-13 movie.
Overall, this is a good movie that stays pretty true to the source material and manages to stay interesting despite the dry spells (no pun intended) that the book presents.
**** (4/5 stars)
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