so, i saw the movie and for the most part i was pretty impressed with it. i've always looked at the movies as completely separate entities from the books anyway, because if you're really a fan of the books first and foremost, then no movie will ever truly satisfy you. it just never lives up to what you've imagined, so i make it a point to never compare a film to the book it's based on. just maybe to the spirit of it.
having said that, i've always enjoyed the Harry Potter films for what they are, for the most part (aside from the first two). starting from the third one, they became much more cinematic and were basically able to stand on their own i thought. and i definitely think it's an impressive feat that they've managed to make all these movies that are basically solid, quality films over the course of ten years. they were never perfect, or even GREAT adaptations, imo, but they've been very consistent over the years.
this one is too, but there are a couple of things that were noticeably better in it. one was Emma Watson's acting. i've always thought the boys had improved over the years, but she was the weakest of the trio, so i was shocked to see that all of a sudden, between the last film and this one, she learned how to act. but it's true, she was very good and you really felt all of her emotion in this movie. there were also some genuinely suspenseful scenes and the action was was well done throughout. it's a really solid entry in the series, and i think it validates the decision to split the last book in two.
i think what's always prevented the HP books from becoming really great movies is that there is SO much plot in each book, that it's difficult in the length of a movie to develop the characters enough so that casual audience members can care about them before the plot interferes. so that pretty much leaves the movies to cater to fans only, who already know what's going on and don't need to be enticed. i think each film has TRIED to push in some character moments, but they're so few that to me it always stands out and comes across as a bit forced. and it's almost impossible to downsize the plot in these books, because every twist eventually comes together in the last one. i think what needed to happen was for the movies to have turned these characters into their own movie characters, with interactions btw them and maybe extra dialogue and chats that weren't in the book, so that people get more of a feel for their personalities. you can take the essence of someone's character in the book and make it into a separate film character for the actor. of course, one of the greatest examples of all time is Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind. Viven Leigh made that character entirely her own on-screen, and book Scarlett and movie Scarlett are different from each other, but both are still great.
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