All fans will be pleased. Deathly Hallows is loyal to the book (with some exceptions) and I, myself, as a self-proclaimed Potter-obsessive fan, was extremely happy and excited to have finally seen the film. "That was freakin' awesome!" I whispered into my mom's ear as the credits started rolling at the end of the movie.
Beginning with what was good, I must say that the acting was the golden jewel of this film. Above all else, I came away noticing how great these young actors truly are. This part of the series is about the characters above all else, and the child actors all have come a long way. They started off in a series of kid movies, and now they've moved on to a good level of sophistication. That just shows how much the series itself has grown, too.
What didn't work so well? Screenwriter Steve Kloves obviously struggled with the amount of exposition you need for this final, complex story. Fans who have read the books will be perfectly fine, and fans whom have seen all the movies should, more or less, be able to follow. However, there will be moments where you feel like things haven't been explained. Hopefully explanations will just have been rearranged, and all will be clear come Part 2. But anyone who wants to jump on board now is going to have to start from Sorcerer's Stone. Basically, the assumption seems to be ‘if you don't know already, you don't care'. There were also some stylistic choices that weren't my taste: the jerky camera and fading to black got a little excessive.
The score was brilliant, and the visual effects, though not as wonderfully amazing as I've seen them before, were also very good. Alexandre Desplat's compositions have aided the movie well, and the progression from childlike and whimsical to dark and epic is evident. CGI was good, which is important as you will see, but I can't tell if the out-of-focus lens was intentional or just the movie theatre.
Now, I am going to take a moment to address those die-hard Potter fans out there. HP7 part 1 is beyond loyal to the book (some of the best and funniest lines of the movie were straight from it), and I have a good feeling that anything left out is going to be wrapped up in part 2. You'll feel over-joyed coming out, not disappointed. And the movie does a good job of having you save your tears for the final film.
Deathly Hallows Part 1 is DEFINITELY a PICK IT! You'll be beyond impressed.
