I SAW IT! But I think I have to see it again. I went to the midnight showing where a lot of die hard fans showed up. Every time Daniel or Rupert (or hell, even the Weasley twins) showed up, a group of fan girls started SCREAMING!
And every time someone said something funny or did something cool, everyone started clapping/screaming/etc. So some of the movie I missed because people wouldn't shuuush!
But anyway... I LOVED IT! Well worth my lack of sleep.
But Tigerlilly, I agree about all the fading in fading out stuff. There was quite a bit of it... and it got a bit annoying after a while because you felt like you were missing something in between. And yeah, the choir... random!
What I did like: The dusty art house movie feel. Critics have been mentioning that the movie isn't the technicolor/Disneyland feel movie. The kids might not like it, but I did. I thought it gave it a more mature feel. And the scenery was awesome. I just don't remember Hogwarts being surrounded by that much water. I also enjoyed all the symbolism. I read a review that Curon (sp?) wanted to focus on "time" and I think he achieved that well. And the goofy little voodoo guys cracked me up. And all the little added humor that wasn't in the book had me rolling in the aisles. Even if it was subtle. Ron had a lot of funny lines that had me giggling. And Emma Thompson stole the show. The changes in the wardrobe were also refreshing. Even when the kids were in their uniforms/robes, they all looked like teens trying to mix in their own style at a Catholic High School.
What I didn't like: They left A LOT out. I mean every other movie was 3 hours, if they had the added an extra half an hour, the ending wouldn't have felt like something was missing. There was a lot more information about Sirius and James and whatnot in the book and the last half hour just seemed sorta rushed. BAH! I know that this was supposed to focus on Harry and the relationship between Black and everyone else, but very important stuff happened at the two Quidditch matches that were omitted. I wished they were included. And the Firebolt, which was huge in the book, seemed like an afterthought. I'm surprised that Crookshanks didn't have a bigger part in this either because he was pretty big in the book. I also noticed that tensions were bigger in the book between Hermione and Ron/Harry due to her studies. It all seemed like the movie wanted to focus on the activity outside of Hogwarts instead of what was going on in the school. Fine by me. It was still a cool movie. I just wish some of these things were included.
Lines of the movie that had me giggling (because I am just really immature): Ron - "You have to stroke it..." (the way that was placed in the movie was just kinda random and it just cracked me up.)
Lupin - "Yes, I knew her... *awkward silence*" (He was refering to Lily.)
And then the whole scene when Harry has the Map and Ron wakes up from a nightmare, I forget exactly what Harry said about spiders, but the look on Ron's face was priceless. Ron is good comic relief.
That is all!