I loved it very much, am going again tomorrow to see it with my sister after seeing it alone on Wednesday night. I was literally twitching with excitement while waiting for it to start. In my theatre they showed a "making of" piece before the film which was very unusual for any Aussie theatre to do, but I really appreciated that. Is it different from the book? yes, in spots, both less than and more than. Did that matter to me? Not at all. As you say, the books and the films are different threads, almost parallel universes. And I recall throwing a small "thank you" into the air for the Snape scenes because, even with my ability to accept variation, any distortion of "those" scenes would have broken my heart. So go, enjoy, squee, sigh with pleasure, sniffle and laugh and go "thank you" for two hours of a special treat for the senses.