There’s next to nothing I would change about this film - comfortably my second favourite in the series after Prisoner of Azkaban. I often like part 1s more than others for some reason - similarly with the Hunger Games trilogy and even Across the Spider-Verse (less similar comparison). I think the sense of hopelessness, darkness, and desperation polarised by the qualities of the lead characters we’ve grown to love over a number of years creates such a fulfilling and emoting watch for me. This film does this perfectly - Hermione, Ron and Harry all show their value and cushion each others troubles and down falls. It gives you time to reflect on how they’ve each grown and matured over the course of the films and appreciate the care they have for each other and their different ways of showing this. Harry and Hermione’s dancing scene in the tent is probably my favourite scene in the entire series - it carries so much emotion and perfectly depicts an amazing friendship and their love for each other in the most difficult situations they’ve encountered in their lives. The way they support each other in this middle period of the film is really beautiful and the slowness of their progress with the horcruxes despite their significant effort and emotional turmoil carries you perfectly on their journey. 

I think in the Half Blood Prince, David Yates focuses too much on comedy but here he gets the balance right. After the emotion of Harry and Hermione’s struggles without Ron, his arrival brings a comedic element back to the screen. This perfectly symbolises Ron’s character and his role in the group but also doesn’t make him any less significant in their pursuit of the horcruxes and in saving Harry’s life. 

It’s also a nice change from the Hogwarts school year structure of all the previous films, even if the magic of Hogwarts is missing. I get it’s not as action packed as some of the other films but there’s still so much that happens, so I don’t really understand why people don’t like this film as much. It doesn’t feel bloated at all to me - when there’s no action you’re getting the richest and most detailed look at the characters in the series - there’s so much to like and to takeaway. Also, anything that people like about the finale is set up by this film so well. Their struggle in this film adds all the weight to any success in Part 2. 

Final thing is the Deathly Hallows story animation is incredible. Perfectly captures the legend of the story in its style and is just amazing to watch. To get the penultimate instalment of a huge franchise to be in my eyes faultless when there was so much potential for things to go wrong, with the multiple director changes, the different incentives of studio and director, the pressure to stick to the books but to cut down to keep the films short enough, the issues with the Goblet of Fire and Half Blood Prince (even thought they’re still amazing films) is a great achievement and a big relief to me still. The tone and vibe of this film is something I’ll always love to revisit and even outside of the franchise, it’s an amazing adventure film and film about friendship.