HI, I was lucky enough to see the midnight showing of the movie. I have to say, as a rampant HP fan I was dissappointed. There were a few things done well, Dumbledore's fall was well portrayed. The carving up of major subplots that become important for the next book was not done well.
I watched the movie with my fiance, and I thought it was not as good as the book. I was really disappointed. There was a lot of information missing. At the very least they should have given Professor Dumbledore a proper burial.
I was confused at times, trying to figure out the questions that popped into my head. Well then I picked up the books. I started from the first and went straight thru to the last. Now, when I watch it, at least I know the backgrounds of some of the scenes that left me going "huh?"
You know, it's kind of been this way with all the movies. There are scenes in the book that you fall in love with, and they just don't make the cut. I guess it's really hard to condense all that material down into a 2 hr timeframe. I am very glad that they are splitting the last book into 2 movies. It just is not possible to do the 7th book justice in 2 hours. There's way too much depth there. I just hope that they really stay trued to the story line on the next two. :)