It really highlighted the end of innocence for the two cousins in a farewell with Dudley that was shamefully left out of the film. The book started with a scene between Harry and the Dursleys much like all the previous ones. What's the problem, then? Everything important in the book was abandoned. Each of those things have been top-notch in the former stories and continued in this one.
The special effects made me see the fantastic world in visual form. I can't say enough good things about the casting and acting throughout the series, and that continues in HP7. From the heroes to the villains, every one of them played their parts to perfection. The actors did a great job and have proved themselves as professionals, and the special effects are brilliant. Everything that made the book a real conclusion to the story was skipped in favor of shaky-cam dramatics that jumped from scene to scene, leaving the important and symbolic portions on the cutting room floor. When I read the book, I mentioned to my husband I had no idea how they would cover everything in one movie and was pleased to hear they split it in two, but this movie was a huge disappointment. Unfortunately, HP7 is the exception to that. I usually dislike movies based upon books, but the first six Harry Potter movies were a very pleasant change and stuck as closely to the books as could be squeezed into a few hours of screen time.