Okay, let me say this: I have read these books, but I don’t remember them well, and I was fucking baffled by this movie.

Entire plotlines exist only as token events that are nods toward people who’ve read the books. Taken solely on its own terms, this movie is baffling and incoherent. It’s unclear why anyone in it does anything they do without reference to the books, because nothing makes any sense at all in pure in-movie terms.

Still, my young son thought it was the best of the bunch, as it had lots of funny moments (all the teen romance) and sad moments (Dumbledore dying), so there’s that.