Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1: Press reviews

'The sorrow you experience may well be a premonition of the imminent end of a long and, for the most part, delightful relationship.'

'Even at a running time of just under two-and-a-half hours, it feels as if Yates is cramming in as much as he possibly can. Can Part II be better than this? You'll have to wait until July to find out. But it'll be no mean feat'

'Appetiser that will leave Potter fans hungry for the finale'

'The first and third acts are over-busy; the middle one moves like an arthritic house-elf. Still, a decent smattering of magic moments and tension's pumped up sky-high. Bring on Part 2.'

'It's gripping alright, but ends all too abruptly'

'The stand-out performance among the other characters was definitely that of Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix.'

'It may not be the most lucid or entertaining of her yarns, but her three leads have matured into genuinely interesting characters. The millions who have grown up with this trio should certainly feel that they have had their money's worth, even if the big, decisive moments and action set-pieces are still to come.'

'I have become resigned to the Harry Potter movies having only as much interest and power as one of the rides in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. They will be efficiently made, interesting-looking entertainment. Anything more would be magic.'

'In the absence of the eccentric, outlandish staff of Hogwarts and Voldemort's wicked crew, the film becomes a rather pale affair. Harry, Hermione and Ron, personable as they may be, and the bickering adolescent interplay between them, are not sufficiently interesting to hold our attention.'

'But if the film's main job was to whet the appetite for the next one, it does that well. The three leads deliver the emo with skill, there is a phenomenal animated section and yes, I am now excited for the Next Last Ever Harry Potter Movie... Part 2.'

'The episodic plot wanders as aimlessly as the children, culminating in the would-be tragic death of a character we've barely been introduced to.'

'But all three are emerging talents who've awkwardly grown into their craft as they've grown up in public. Their uneven performances are an inevitable side effect of the pressure exerted by the film's over-reverential treatment of Rowling's books. '

'Harry's penultimate quest looks and feels like an entirely adult affair. Yet while a dark, brooding tone is part of the literary DNA of The Deathly Hallows, this faithful cinematic translation is exhaustively serious, offering only a fraction of the relief its predecessors relished so freely in'

'The trouble with Harry, as becomes clear from this seventh and penultimate installment, is not that we have lost the plot -- the film is as tangled and as corkscrewed as Bonham Carter's hair -- but that we are in danger of losing everything else.'

'Stuart Craig's production design, including his black-tiled, gold-trimmed enormity of an underworld, is still the saga's classiest asset.'

'Farewell Harry Potter, the literary marvel who became a closed book at the movies. You endured and you prospered. You took up space and leave no trace. After all this time and all these films, it is as though we never really knew you at all.'

'It's impossible to view this film as a seasonal treat: it is too gloom-ridden, too gothic, too goddamned humourless to rate anywhere on a scale marked "fun". True believers will howl at the thought, but this Potterthon is a bit of an ordeal.'

'It seems that Yates's only goal was to get all the key scenes down on screen in the correct order, and he does that well enough to keep the fans happy. What he's made isn't really a film at all but a lavish set of book illustrations which are a splendid visual accompaniment to Rowling's text, but which don't mean much without it.'