Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

I was pretty excited to see the newest Harry Potter film. In anticipation I listened to the book. I know, I know, that can ruin a movie, but I hadn't read it since it came out in 2007, and I thought brushing up would be good.

For the most part I thought that the movie was pretty true to the book. There were some definite changes, but I found myself not bothered by most of them. I thought about why they didn't keep certain things by the book, and decided that most of what they did were time savers that still kept the main story line in tact.

My husband thought it was kind of boring, and I can see what he meant, although I didn't feel exactly the same way. I felt that the 7th book dragged on while Harry, Ron and Hermione are wandering around trying to find Horcruxes and hide. While some parts of the movie were a little slow moving, there was a lot of action.

Part of Matt's beef was that the whole 2 1/2 hour movie was spent finding and destroying one Horcrux. That's not all that happened, but as that is the main goal of the trio, it does seem like a lot of time spent on one item.

I thought where the movie ended was actually a pretty good spot. The trio had some success, so it wasn't leaving on a defeatist note (although they weren't the only ones with success, so there's the suspense angle).

Some of you may have been curious about nudity rumors you've heard. Having just listened to the book, I knew that the only nudity in the book would have been in Part II (near the end, and hopefully that part wouldn't be in the movie since it doesn't seem necessary-but when does Hollywood ever go for necessary). So, for a little refresher. The horcrux that the trio finds is a locket. They don't have the means to destroy it, and when they wear it it affects their moods (in a negative way). So, they take turns wearing it to carry the burden. When they finally get what they need to destroy the locket, Ron is the man given the task. But, the locket is trying to stop him, so he thinks all these things that aren't true (namely that Harry and Hermione have a relationship). With a bit of a cartoonish look to their images, you see Harry and Hermione apparently shirtless embracing and making out. Although I think the book did have a relationship between those two as one of Ron's fears, this definitely was not in the book. The shirtless-ness was totally unnecessary.

Anyway, I did like the movie, but it's not one for young kids that have probably seen the other movies. I'm looking forward to the final movie.