Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Review

 There are some spoilers in this review.

PLOT: As Harry races against time and evil to destroy the Horcruxes, he uncovers the existence of three most powerful objects in the wizarding world: the Deathly Hallows.


THE GOOD: Animated sequence. My absolute favorite thing about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and one of my top 3 favorite scenes in all of the Harry Potter films, was the animated sequence with Hermione telling the story about The Tale of The Three Brothers. Ben Hibon was chosen to direct the animated short. He is a Swiss animator who has really only done video games and short films before. I thought his work here was gorgeous. It's all in black and white, but the way it flows and moves is simply beautiful. Looks like he is directing his own film inspired by Peter Pan where Pan is a villain being hunted by a police captain named Hook. Anyway, I'm glad they decided to keep the tale about the Horcruxes in the film. It goes along with my request that director David Yates show a story rather than just tell it. Wish he could have done the same thing with Mad-Eye's death.

Comedy. Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is not afraid to make the audience laugh every once in a while. And when it does make you laugh, you giggle pretty hard. I think Steve Kloves has a lot to do with all of the humor in the entire franchise, with the exception of Order of the Phoenix. I wish he hadn't sat out the fifth movie, but it's beyond my control. I especially liked when everyone took Polyjuice Potion to look like Harry. Also, the little Easter egg of having the Equus poster up in the restaurant that Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape to was funny.

Special effects. I thought the effects in this film were a lot better than previous ones. Yes, this installment doesn't exactly have the most action in it, but where there is some, it goes over well. This includes the aforementioned polyjuice potion scene, the escape from the Dursley's scene, and destroying the locket. This changed from Half-Blood Prince where I was distracted by the poor use of green/blue screen. I can get technical and talk about the different effects studios used, but I'll just leave it at that.


THE BAD: David Yates. My distaste for David Yates should be nothing new to my readers. Bottom line: The guy doesn't do anything spectacular. He doesn't even have a style. I walk out of the Harry Potter movies with no glee or excitement in what I just saw. It's just, okay. A little worse than okay. Bland and sometimes even a little boring. I understand how difficult it had to be to film this movie with all the camping that the trio does, but still, there's enough content to work with. I really don't know what else I can say about this guy that I haven't already said.

Original music. Nicholas Hooper opted out of doing the music for Deathly Hallows, which I think is a good thing. I thought his score for the fifth and sixth films was mediocre. However, I don't think Alexandre Desplat's was much better. I've enjoyed his work before, but there was nothing outstanding or memorable here. It really irks me that John Williams did not come back, especially after the composer expressed interest in returning.

Shaky cam. Stop it! Seriously... Hollywood directors and DOPs, stop it! There's a time to use the shaky hand-held camera effect and then there's not. The camera shook so much in different scenes, it got to be ridiculous. The part where the trio are being chased through the forest was one of the worst shaky cam scenes I've ever seen. It looked terrible. I couldn't tell what was going on. I know that's part of the effect, but it was too much. Way too much. Hated it. By the way, cinematographer Eduardo Serra did an alright job overall, which is why he does not get a section in THE GOOD or THE BAD. Loved his wide location shots, but hated his action shots.


THE END: Out of all the Harry Potter films, Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is my second to least favorite. My order from best to worst would currently go PoA > SS/PS > GoF > CoS > HBP > DH1 > OotP. Deathly Hallows is not a bad movie like Order of the Phoenix, but rather just a decent addition to the Harry Potter franchise. I kept my expectations low and it barely met them. It could have been better. It could have been a lot better. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you've probably seen the film already. If you're not, then just wait to rent this one.

DISCUSS: Did you like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1? How would you rate all of the movies of the franchise so far? How would you compare DH1 to Yates' other films? What do you wish they would have kept in or not changed in the movie?