Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

I often purposefully sit through shit just so I can accurately tell you that a film is not worth watching.

But the Harry Potter movies are just too much.  I sat through the first one, barely made it through the second, and fell asleep in the third (which is the only time I have ever fallen asleep in a movie theatre).

I cannot, in good conscience, monetarily contribute to the Harry Potter mania that has swept the globe for the past decade.

However, here I have complied excerpts from a half a dozen reviews from respected film critics.  The mood seems mostly middle ground, and bad not great, but most everyone agrees that the filmmakers are circle-jerking us with Part 1, building up to the finale.

Thank God these critics exist, for they are willing to do what I am not:

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Like a virgin's padded bra, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I is all tease, zero payoff.

Richard Corliss, Time Magazine: Now the end is near, and the series' myriad fans, thronging to the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, face their gravest challenge yet: sitting through it.

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a handsome and sometimes harrowing film, and will be completely unintelligible for anyone coming to the series for the first time.  Though I’ve seen all the films, there were times when I had no idea what they were talking about.

A.O. Scott, The New York Times: But it is, to an unusual and somewhat risky degree, sadder and slower than the earlier films. It is also much less of a showcase (or bank vault, as the case may be) for the middle and senior generations of British actors. 

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Menacing and meditative, Hallows is arguably the best installment of the planned eight-film franchise, though audiences who haven't kept up with previous chapters will be hopelessly lost.

Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post: It's half of a really good movie, full of the enchantment, emotion and incident for which the Potter series has become so fanatically cherished.