Harry and his friends try to find the pieces of Valdemort's soul, and to stop a plot by the Deatheaters to infiltrate Hogwarts.

While it's not perfect, this movie has so many terrific elements that it sits up at the top of the series for me. The friendships are finally growing into love, the plot around Valdemort is thickening, and Dumbledore is finally showing us that he's doing something to help defeat the evil wizard. The inclusion of Slughorn was brilliant, because he's a coward but still can't help himself continuing his old life.

I kind of liked the way the writers turned this into a love story. The overall material is dark, with murder attempts and the death of a major character, so it was really nice to see the playful attitude between Ron and Hermione, with the added triangle of Lavender, and especially the dynamics between Harry and Ginny. Where in the book, Hermione knows about their feelings but stays quiet, here it's done in a way that they both know about the unrequieted love, and can support each other. The movie does a really good job moving from one major event to the next, while leaving behind the things that the book does better. I don't know what the first scene was about, in the metro, but I suppose it set up Harry's love life.

The movie really enhanced the book, just recently read, and I was able to fill in the missing gaps. I liked being able to visualize everything that happened. Having the characters grow and grow together was a lot of fun, especially seeing Ron and his girlfriend, with the pouting Hermione.

Knowing what is to come, I think it's now obvious that Snape was told by Dumbledore that he had to murder the headmaster and take the plunge, or else Valdemort would win. There were several scenes hinting at this, and Dumbledore was ovbiously pleading with Snape to do it. I wonder what is to come of this development. I do find it odd, though, that in a school of magic, that nobody can catch a body falling from a high tower. I also didn't see any blood.

Although well made, and interesting, there really wasn't a lot to this movie. It focused a lot on the teenage romances, on getting people together as couples. The character work was great, though. Plotwise, the real surprise comes as Snape kills Dumbledore, and we wonder if the Magus will come back like his Pheonix, and if Snape has really changed sides. I liked the romance between Ginny and Harry, and the new professor provided some great moments, as well. Not the best Potter movie, but still good. It didn't feel as long as it actually was, which is a good sign.