After reading this io9 post (an outraged rant about the new Harry Potter movie), I’ve somewhat revised the opinion presented in my previous post.
While everything I said before remains true, I would like to add that it was, in retrospect, extremely disappointing that there was no funeral for Dumbledore. This scene, in the book, brings almost every living character from the rest of the series back to Hogwarts for the funeral, and it would have been an amazing ending for the movie. Instead, we are treated to a scene in which the population of the school raises their glowing wands to the heavens, and then later, a shot of Fawkes flying off into the distance. No white tomb, no tearful congregation of every amazing character, beast and human alike, that J.K. Rowling has to offer.
Also disappointing, as the article points out, is the lack of a battle between the forces of good and evil. When the Death Eaters arrive, they simply kill Dumbledore, set Hagrid’s hut on fire, and leave with Snape and Malfoy. In the book, there is a rather epic fight scene throughout Hogwarts, where Fenrir Greyback bursts into action, flinging curses right and left into the crowd of teachers and trained students. It’s a great scene, and was ultimately not present, at all, in the movie.
Lastly, to add onto my complaint about Dumbledore’s death scene, Snape was simply not evil. To the casual observer, who knows nothing of the events in book 7, Snape already appears to be a double-crosser for the good side. In the book, Snape kills Dumbledore in cold blood, and truly seems to be evil, to the core. It is later revealed that he is, in fact, a good guy, but in the movie this seems blatantly obvious from his and Dumbledore’s countenances.
I still thought this was a very good Harry Potter movie, and if one had not read the book and known what they were missing out on with the battle and funeral, one would not even notice these problems.