It was OK in places, but not for younger viewers.

Rating: 4/10 (22 November 2010)

To be honest, it was OK at best. There were a few good scenes where they were fighting, but a lot of the intentionally unsteady camera work made it uncomfortable to follow at times and I was horrified when it ended - just like that - as if it was a TV show that should have had "To be continued" at the end...we paid a lot to go, our round trip took four buses, and it was my 8 year olds birthday treat, I felt like I saw half a film - which I guess I did, but they could have had some kind of conclusion to end it at, rather than a scene that was clearly just going to be continued at a later date.
I think after leaving the house at 10am, not going in until 12:15, sitting through 45 minutes of adverts...by the end of the film, my little boy was just glad we were going home.
If the kids aren't dead set on seeing it right now, wait until Part 2 comes out then take a day and watch them together. By next year when the final part is released, my son will probably have grown out of HP and we'll be on to the next thing and I'll never know what happened...I guess I'll have to read the book.