J. K. Rowling is a masterful storyteller. The makers of this movie are not.

Rating: 4/10 (3 August 2011)

The movie only passingly reflected the second half of the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Corners were cut and a masterpiece of a book was turned into a misshapen and expensive failure. Oh, it may be a financial success, but because of what remains of the magic and greatness of the book.
In the book it was lies, hate, and abuse that separated one side from the other. Harry Potter's side was one of inclusion, of giving people choice and showing mercy. In the movie, both sides are vicious and stupid. The beautiful details and realism found in the fantasy of the book was cheapened and abbreviated in the movie. Where as the earliest movies also abbreviated from the book, as essentially all movies will, it was done in such a way that the true magic grown in the reading of the books could still be found in the movies.
I came into this movie with high hopes. I saw the high rating and I knew the last book really picked up in the second half. The makers of the movie had more time with which to delve into the details since they'd split the single book into two movies. Yet scene after scene in which I wanted to see and hear the mystery and beauty I imagined while reading the book, each scene was ultimately unsatisfying, unfaithful, and mediocre.