“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” opened in theaters worldwide the week before Thanksgiving. For once, the film stays true to the rich details of the world created by J.K. Rowling.
“Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and last book of the series, ties up loose ends from the previous books and leads up to the ultimate battle, Harry versus Voldemort. Much of the first part of the book is spent on the search for Horcruxes, which contain parts of Voldemort’s soul and therefore need to be destroyed to kill him.
The book starts with Harry being brought from the safety of his home to the Burrow, where his best friend Ron’s family lives. Harry has an important mission to take care of – destroying the Horcruxes – so he decides not to return to Hogwarts for his final year of schooling. His best friends Hermione and Ron join him on his mission, but the trio is quickly disappointed by their lack of success.
Without the leadership of headmaster Dumbledore, Harry has no idea where to search for or how to destroy the Horcruxes. The three friends struggle with loneliness, hunger and the lack of a real plan.
The book concludes the Harry Potter series in a great manner, as J.K. Rowling not only writes well but manages to solve the mysteries presented in previous books. She perfectly reveals secrets while still presenting new story lines and characters. “Deathly Hallows” certainly is the most mature book out of the series, coinciding with Harry’s adulthood.
Unlike previous film adaptations of Harry Potter books, “Deathly Hallows” won’t disappoint avid readers of the series. In previous installments, fans had criticized differences between the books and movies. With this movie being split in two parts, the filmmakers were able to include important details.
Some scenes even work better in the film than they did in the book. One example of this is the scene in which Ron and Harry destroy Salazar Slytherin’s locket.
After Harry opens the locket, Voldemort’s soul begins to show Ron the secrets of his heart. He tells Ron that Hermione and Harry are secretly in love, something Ron fears. In the movie, the two ghostly-looking best friends appear out of thin air, seemingly naked, locked in a kiss, and the special effects used made this scene more powerful than it had been in the book.
Overall, the book will probably always offer more than the movie. Given the history of the Harry Potter film series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” is certainly the most satisfying Potter adaptation so far.
