I saw it last night. It was alright, but the whole Harryness of it was irritating me a little bit. There was just soo much of him. The interesting characters (McGonagall, Snape, Bellatrix, Tonks, Lucius Malfoy, etc.) were just given fleeting glimpses.
The beginning was awful. The Dudley actor was terrible, it looked like they'd just pulled some random fat kid off the street. The dementors - why change them? Why take away their cloaks? Decisions that didn't work.
The DA part was fairly good, as was the Umbridge sections. I liked how they made Cho innocent at the end, although that does cause some problems - we would expect Cho and Harry to get back together after that. I thought the Ministry invading Hogwarts theme was well done, and the thestrals were good.
The battle at the ministry at the end though. The Ministry itself looked good, but what the hell was all that about the smoky Death Eaters? And the black and white 'smoke' for the two sides - cliche to the core. The Dumbledore/Voldemort fight was interesting, and I think the Sirius death scene was well done - although perhaps I was just pleased to see the Gary Oldman Sirius fall through the veil.
Also, they made so much fuss about who was gonna play young James/Snape/Sirius etc., and they're barely given 30 seconds screen time.
Good actors - Helena Bonham-Carter: very good as Bellatrix, she wasn't in it nearly enough (I know she's not hugely prominent in the book, but they could have included her a little more at the end); Ralph Viennes(sp): a brilliant Voldemort, again; Evanna Lynch: a hilarious Luna; Jason Isaacs: good, as usual, as Malfoy Snr; Imelda Staunton: a very convincing Umbridge. Also, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, and Emma Thompson, although not given enough time on screen.
Bad Actors - Daniel Radcliffe: sure, he's improved, but he can be guilty of over-acting - a lot. He did get better towards the end; Emma Watson: the script wasn't good for her, and she seems to have taken a few steps back acting-wise, although, again, she improved as the film went on; Harry Melling: Dudley - urgh. His acting was awful, I was cringing throughout the whole Dursley segment; Devon Murray: was a bit wooden as Seamus.
All-in-all, I did enjoy it, although the better characters were not given enough screen time, and the decision to adapt the longest book into the shortest film did not work.
An Luna - Luna was brilliant, I loved her. Umbridge was good, too, but that's all.
Anyway, what I wanted to say to you all is that at least you guys got to watch it it in English and wayy sooner than I did. In Poland it was in theatres a bit later, and the dubbing... It was because of the dubbing, I think, that I have all these negative things to say. The dubbing. Oh, my god. No voices matched, seriously, and it lost me when Harry spoke with Hermione's ever-so-girlish voice. The only good voice was Dumbledore (and that's another story, since I didn't like the acting), Luna, Umbridge and Bellatrix. Harry's, Ron's, Hermione's - again, no comment.
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