What's the verdict on 'Potter'?

The first reviews for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" are rolling in, and the verdict is... overwhelmingly (and unsurprisingly) positive.

David Yates received across-the-board praise for his directing, as did the ratcheted-up action and the satisfying conclusion to a 10-year franchise. EW's own Lisa Schwarzbaum declared, "'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' is proof that authentic movie excitement is its own form of magic. Half the spell-casting formula lies in what the audience itself brings to the eighth and final movie made from J.K.Rowling's culture-shaping literary epic.... This is an ending suitable for The End."

You can check out more critical responses to the film below:

Time: "One imagines future generations will watch [the eight Harry Potter film series], in its nearly 18-hour expanse, as one sprawling, enthralling story. The battle scenes are finely etched and boldly presented; yet the heart of 'DH2,' as in the earlier films, is found in more intimate exchanges involving the amazing cadre of British acting royalty enlisted for the enterprise."

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