Harry (and Hermoine) face off against Nagini

Since we’re mere hours away from the public unveiling of the beginning of the final chapters of the Harry Potter saga, I figured now’s a good enough time to add my two cents to the thousands of reviews that will be hitting the web in the next 24 hours.

The opening starts off nicely with the Order trying to covertly sneak Harry away from the Death Eater and Lord Voldy, only to discover they’ve been betrayed. All is well until we get to the middle part of the movie with Harry, Hermoine and Ron on the run, trying to find Horcruxes.

Emma Watson conjours a series of protection spells.

The second act seemed to drag a bit. It was almost as if someone from Warner Bros. handed the wirters a note that said, “Hey, we’re splitting this thing into two part, so stretch the story out.” There are some nice CGI sequences and some funny moments and this first part does a nice job in setting up Part 2.

The trio break into the Ministry of Magic.

The one annoying thing is the constant apparating (teleporting) that goes on early in the movie. It gets to the point of like, “OK, we get it, you guys know how to teleport! Get on with finding the Horcruxes and the sword!”

The animation sequence for the story of the, “Three Brothers Who Cheated Death,” was really neat too. All in all, DH is pretty good and it definitely feels like a two and a half hour movie. Be sure you go to the restroom before the movie starts and start counting down the days to the bittersweet end.