Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II opens in theaters next week, marking the final installment in what's become the most successful movie franchise of all time, with a $6.3 billion haul over the last decade. And just as Potter fans are anxiously awaiting the film's release, a handful of critics lucky enough to catch an advanced screening couldn't wait to post their reactions online. The verdict: Deathly Hallows Part II is "sensational," "thrilling," and "the grandest of grand cinematic endings." Indeed, the last film is receiving the best reviews of any in the eight-movie franchise, but its most effusive praise raises a question that may be controversial to fans of J.K. Rowling's beloved series: Is the movie better than the book? (Watch a trailer for the film.)
It's a "gorgeous" improvement: Deathly Hallows is "monumental cinema," says Philip Womack at Britain's Telegraph, and its "greatest triumph" is that it overcomes the "deficiencies" of Rowling's novel. In her pages, the climactic final battle at Hogwarts was "a damp squib," failing to "muster the epic feel needed." But the film manages to turn Rowling's fight scene into a "genuinely terrifying spectacle." The film, in turn, becomes a "triumph."
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