Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Directed by: David Yates
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort
Rated: PG-13

*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview
12 years ago, J.K. Rowling released the first book in her Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Since then, the tales of the young wizard have become an international phenomenon that spawned LEGO sets, toys, costumes, video games and, of course, a film franchise. With each novel having its own film adaptation and the seventh book being split into two movies, Harry Potter is the most successful film franchise of all time. Last weekend, the box office was once again swarmed as fans swept into theaters to catch Part One of the epic finale to the Harry Potter saga. But, did it live up to the hype?

Positive Attributes
As in every movie and book, Harry, Ron and Hermione are best friends who remain loyal to each other, no matter what. Though they do have their differences, they overcome them to help each other out.
Other characters throughout the movie risk their lives to protect Harry.

Negative Attributes
Most of the characters use magic throughout the film. Though it is never said where this magic comes from, some might have a problem with that.

Deathly Hallows is by far the most violent installment of the franchise. The wizard war is in full swing and casualties are had on both sides. Harry's owl is shot down, mid-flight. Ron's brother George loses an ear and blood is seen running down his face. Dobby, a house-elf, gets stabbed with a knife. Hermione has "mudblood" carved into her arm. We don't see the carving, but she screams and writhes and blood is seen trickling out of the cut. Several characters get shot with stunning and sometimes killing spells and all receive cuts and bruises. One character speaks of being attacked by a werewolf and his face has three deep scars as proof. Hermione has to shoot Harry with a "blistering jinx", which causes his face to contort and swell and Ron's arm "splinches" and is shown ripped apart. Voldemort takes a wand from a rotting hand inside a tomb and kills several people.

This movie contains teenagers, so it also contains: hormones. Harry and Ginny, his girlfriend-he-still-has-feelings-for, kiss passionately. Ron and Hermione obviously have a thing for each other, but Ron gets jealous of Hermione's relationship with Harry and leaves. Later, an evil device uses his jealousy against him, showing Ron images of Harry and Hermione kissing while apparently naked.

My Problem With It...
Perfectly adapting a book for a movie is impossible, and is made even harder when you are only adapting half of a novel at one time. I understand this, but even still, there were several bumps in the film that made me flinch.

Things are going to get cut in the transition and I understand that, I really do. What i don't understand is cutting them and then continuing as if the audience knows what's going on. Example: Kreacher.
In the 6th book, Dumbledore tells Harry that Kreacher, a house-elf, now belongs to him, and must obey Harry no matter what. In the seventh book, Harry uses this skill to his advantage in a rather important plot point. This plot point was included in the movie, but with no reason as to why Kreacher was obeying Harry. Now, I understand that this was really the 6th movies fault, but given the wonderful job David Yates did of skimming over everything else he missed, you would think there would be a line that went something like, "oh, yeah. Dumbledore told me Kreacher has to obey me now, guys". Saved non-readers a lot of confusion and would have eased a bit of choppiness.
Along the same lines, Harry's invisibility cloak and a certain letter were disturbingly absent in the film, both of which become important to the plot of the next film. However, I'm giving the crew the benefit of the doubt here to see how/if they recover from missing those this time around.

As for the rest of the film, I was very pleased. The cinematography was fantastic, showing the passing of time while hitting the important parts of the story and keeping it from becoming boring. As I said, I'd like to see the invisibility cloak, as well as a bit more exploration into the Dumbledore drama next time around, but otherwise, I was very pleased with the whole thing.

Summary
A lot more could have gone wrong, way more than I mentioned above, but, overall, the director and cast did a fantastic job.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is a well-rounded, emotionally charged film that beautifully follows the book better than any of the others. It ends on a cliff-hanger and leaves the audience steeped in anticipation for Part 2. Despite its minimal faults, part one of the Harry Potter finale lives up to it's reputation and surpasses it's predecessors. Now, if only the fans can survive until July...

Personal Rating: 8 of 10
Plot: 9.5
Sexuality/Sensuality: 1
Spiritual Aspects: 9 (if you look at it that way)
Drugs/Alcohol: .5