Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Film Review

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Please note this review contains spoilers

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is the seventh movie in the series, with this being the first of two parts of the final book by JK Rowling with the same name. This film was originally released in 2010 and was directed by David Yates.

The movie opens with members of the Order of the Phoenix arriving at Privett Drive with other volunteers - the plan being for Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) to be moved to a safer location, and others use polyjuice potion to turn into Harry so any potential attackers won't know who the real Harry actually is. The group is attacked almost as soon as they head off and by the end of the battle - both Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and Hedwig have been killed - Hedwig protecting Harry.

The safer location turns out to be Weasely's Burrow - which is bursting with activity for the upcoming wedding of Bill Weasley (Domhnall Gleeson) and Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy). But it's not all happy for Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) who get a visit from the new Minister for Magic with items left to the trio by Dumbledore. Ron a Deluminator, Hermione a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Harry the Golden Snitch he caught in his first Quidditch match at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had also bequeathed the Sword of Gryffindor to Harry, but it has gone missing, and as the Minister advises, not his to give to anybody.

During the wedding celebrations, news arrives that the ministry has fallen and the attending guests are quick to leave as an attack starts. Ron, Harry and Hermione quickly escape to London - eventually ending up at Grimmauld Place. They spend many days trying to figure out their next move, soon discovering the identity of RAB and the location of the real locket horcrux - with the help of the Black family house elf.

The trio set off to the heart of the Ministry to retrieve the locket, but during their escape, Ron is badly injured - forcing them to stay in theone place for several days for him to recover. Frustrated with the lack of progress and infected by the darkness of the horcrux - Ron leaves the campsite and Hermione and Harry are forced to continue the hunt without him.

Sometime later - very close to Christmas - Harry and Hermione visit Godric's Hollow, where Harry's parents were killed, hoping for more clues and possibly the sword. Instead, they encounter Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) snake Nagini and in the escape, Harry's wand is destroyed.

Whilst standing watch that night, Harry sees a doe patronus which he follows to a frozen lake - under the ice is the sword. Diving in for it, the horcrux he's wearing senses the danger from the sword and tried to drown Harry so he can't get it. Harry ends up getting rescued by Ron - who used the sword to destroy the locket.

As the trio go set up their next camp, they run into a group of Snatchers who capture the trio and take them to Malfoy Manor and Bellatrix Lestrange. Realising they have Harry in their possession, they go to call Voldemort, but Dobby randomly turns up - helping the trio along with some others to escape. This leads to the end of the movie with what I say is the saddest part of the whole series - the death of Dobby the house elf.

The movies have gotten darker as they went along, but my eight year old was still quite happy to sit and watch, only getting scared a couple of times. They were also rather sad when Dobby died at the end.

Fans of the books will not be disappointed with this movie adaptation.

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