Deathly Hallows Is Darkest Potter Movie Yet

The penultimate Harry Potter movie hits theaters today, and while reviews for Deathly Hallows: Part I range all the way from "best Potter movie ever" to "worst Potter movie ever," most critics are positive about it and are looking forward to next summer's grand finale. The movie currently has a 77% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

• The Potter movies have gotten progressively darker, and this one is no exception, writes Brandon Fibbs at the Colorado Springs Gazette. "The mischievous and playful whimsy that defined the series in the beginning is now almost completely absent," he writes. "Deathly Hallows lacks almost all perceptible warmth, hope, and fun. And that is precisely what makes it great."

• Director Steven Yates follows the book pretty closely, which has resulted in "a herky-jerky movie that alternates glacial brooding with unwieldy chunks of exposition and frenzied, rushed battles," writes Tasha Robinson at the AV Club.
• Peter Travers at Rolling Stone left the movie feeling a bit cheated. There's no Hogwarts, he complains, and the whole thing "plays like a 146-minute trailer for the actual final chapter."
• Deathly Hallows ends on a cliffhanger but audiences certainly won't leave feeling let down, argues Mike Scott at the Times-Picayune. The movie—"part thrill ride, part pensive allegory on the pains of growing up"—is "the most epic, in both look and feel, and—though not flawless—the best of the franchise to date, a satisfying, appetite-whetting setup for the series finale," he writes.

(More Daniel Radcliffe stories.)