It's hard to remember a world before Harry Potter. But it is only 13 years since the first book appeared, and 9 years since the first film. So the actors playing Harry, Hermione, and Ron (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint) were 11 years old in HP and the Sorcerer's Stone (see pic above) and are about 20 now (see pic below). It took me a while to get caught up in the Harry Potter mania, but by the time the last book came out I was a believer. I was observing at Mauna Kea when HP and the Deathly Hallows was released so someone had to drive down the mountain and buy books for everyone and bring them up to the observatory.
The movies have had four different directors including Chris Columbus (1 and 2), Alfonso Cuarón (3), Mike Newell (4), and David Yates (5,6,7,8).There are 8 films because HP and the Deathly Hallows has been split into two films. Part II is due out in July 2011. On the whole the movies have been good, and have followed the books pretty closely for fear of a backlash by the teens (now twenty somethings) who have memorized the books. The main actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint have been more than adequate, but it has been a joy to see the panoply of British character actors who play the supporting cast. The author of the books, J. K. Rowling, had asked that the whole cast be British so we get to see Richard Harris, Michael Gambon, John Hurt, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Julie Walters, Helena Bonham Carter, Bill Nighy, Richard Griffiths, Jason Isaacs, Timothy Spall, Rhys Ifans, Maggie Smith, John Cleese, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson, Miranda Richardson, Brendan Gleeson, Robert Hardy, and Imelda Staunton. These great British character actors have 28 Oscar nominations between them.
If you haven't been living on Alpha Centauri for the last 13 years, you know all about Harry Potter, and you know that HP and the Deathly Hallows is the last book of the series in which Harry is on a collision course for a final confrontation with "He Who Shall Not Be Named." But that is going to happen in Part II along with the decimation of the cast of characters that we have come to know and love. With the exception of Mad-Eyed Moodie (Brendan Gleeson) everyone is pretty much still alive at the end of Part I. Unlike the other books (and movies), HP and the Deathly Hallows is not set at Hogwarts. Instead, Harry with lots of help from Hermione and a little from Ron is scouring the Earth for the pieces of Voldemorts soul that are hidden in seven Horcruxes. As Harry is about to leave on his quest, Ron says, we won't last two days without Hermione. He is so right. She has this great bottomless bag which contains among other things, a tent. Besides Horcruxes, the big word in HP and the Deathly Hallows is Apparate. Every time that Voldemort sends someone to kill Harry, which is basically all the time in Part I, he and Hermione and Ron are forced to Apparate, which is the equivalent of "Scotty, beam me up" in Star Trek. 
I went to see HP and the Deathly Hallows with my girlfriend who has seen all of the Harry Potter movies but hasn't read any of the books. She was whispering to me all through the movie asking who was who and what was happening. HP and the Deathly Hallows is a bit similar Lord of the Rings. I don't think you can follow who is doing what to whom if you haven't read the books.
All this being said, HP and the Deathly Hallows Part I is pretty good. It is really nice to see Harry and Hermione and even Ron again. There is a fair amount of standing around wondering what to do (by Harry and Ron, never by Hermione). But the movie gets going, and I do love it when the Avada Kedavra curses start flying. There are one or two new faces including Bill Nighy as the Minister of Magic. He won't be back for Part II. As usual my fav, Nymphadora Tonks (Natlia Tena), is given short shrift. But Snape (Alan Rickman), Neville (Matthew Lewis), and Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) are only in about one scene apiece, and McGonagall (Maggie Smith) none at all.
Even though there's so much going on (it was a very thick book) that only Harry, Hermione and Ron get a lot of screen time, pretty much every character from the previous six Harry Potter books, who is still alive and kicking, shows up in HP and the Deathly Hallows on one side or the other. Although, we only see Dumbledore dead. It was nice to see Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy) (Book 4) and Ollivander (John Hurt) (Book 1) again, but do you remember who they are? There are lots of details mentioned maybe once or twice in some previous book like the fact that Harry and Voldemort's wands are related that come into play in HP and the Deathly Hallows. And did I mention that you really need to know what a Horcrux is. HP and the Deathly Hallows suffers a bit from the fact that it is Part I and is setting the scene for the climactic confrontation between the Order of the Phoenix/Dumbledore's Army and the Death Eaters, and in particular between Harry and Voldemort. Now we just have to wait until July. I'll wait until then to go on and on about how I can't accept Hermione and Ron as a couple. At least they don't kiss in HP and the Deathly Hallows. The only kissing that Hermione does is with Harry while naked! Better go see it....
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