LONDON: Critics mostly applauded the latest “dark and despairing” Harry Potter film Friday just hours after its young stars were contemplating their future at its world premiere in London. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One” is the first of two movies based on the seventh and final book by J. K. Rowling, and its premiere was an emotional event for its stars who have literally grown up on set. Although early reviews praise the film's shift to the dark side, most are left feeling that it is merely an appetizer for the series finale next July. Hollywood entertainment magazine Variety judged the film “dark and despairing” and “lumbering and gripping by turns, suffused with a profound sense of solitude and loss.” Britain's Independent newspaper celebrated “some beguiling scenes” before calling it “an entrée before the main course next summer.” The Guardian's review however was dismissive of the whole franchise. “Deathly Hallows looks great, in the way that a show home looks great,” it said. There was a lingering suspicion, it added, that the whole series was “too lacking in wit, warmth and humanity to survive much beyond the moment.” Filming on both Part One – which hits the screens in most of the world on Nov. 19 – and Part Two ended earlier this year. Thousands of fans gathered in Leicester Square Thursday to catch a glimpse of Daniel Radcliffe, 21, Emma Watson, 20, and Rupert Grint, 22, who play Harry and his best friends Hermione and Ron in all eight films in the series. The central trio of actors are now multi-millionaires though facing an uncertain future as they throw off their on-screen characters and face the world as adults. “It has been a huge part of my life and I think I am always going to look back on it with fantastic memories,” Radcliffe told Sky News on the red carpet. “But 10 years as one character is a long time and I am ready to move on as well.” He added: “The fans would have been livid had we tried to make this into one film, we would not have been able to honour the book at all.” Watson, sporting a short haircut she was never allowed to have as Hermione, said: “It's really emotional, I cried the first time I watched the film. “It has so many memories for me, we made this over a space of two years and I grew up on that set and it's just very strange that it's coming to an end.” Despite the driving rain, fans had gathered in Leicester Square, the traditional home of movie premieres in Britain, several hours before the screening. One fan's placard paid tribute to Rowling, saying: “You made our childhoods magic, Jo.” “We've read all the books and seen all the movies, I've lost count of how many times, around three or four times, I guess,” said Sheba Sahir, 23. – Agence France
