saw this movie today, and it was very good.

the plot may not have followed the book word for word, but you can never expect a movie to follow the entire book. the acting was spot on. the kids are growing up nicely. there was a lot of action, and a lot of harry brooding solo, so there wasn't much exploration of harry's relationships with ron & hermione. well, other than ron & hermione looking concernedly at harry as he had nightmares or fainting spells or lashed out or shut down. it definitely had all the characteristics of a middle story -- coming into the plot as it was already on the run, and leaving again when it was still barreling along; characters coming & going without much specific introduction under the assumption that you already know them; settings, sets, environments, props, all used as familiar backdrops without explanation. but, since it is a middle story, all that's good & appropriate and saves time for the story itself. this one is well worth seeing on the big screen.