It’s easy to assume that the decision to split Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling’s wizarding series, into two films was a blatant money grab. And perhaps for Warner Brothers, it was an attempt to squeeze just one more multi-million-dollar opening weekend out of a series that has already grossed 1.7 billion dollars worldwide, and is in position to surpass the Star Wars films as the highest-earning movie franchise in history within the next few weeks.

But whether or not it was a crass business decision on the studio’s part, director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves have, for the most part, used the decision to their distinct advantage. As Rowling’s tomes escalated their page-counts and gained more heft, the challenge of fitting more and more plot into the same two-and-a-half hour space often left little room for anything other than plot points and action set-pieces piled atop one another. The result, in Potter installments 4 through 6, was a series of films where a lot happened, without much time to reflect on it.

Not so in Volume 7, Part 1: spreading this final chapter out has allowed the filmmakers to stretch their legs and create some breathing room in the film. There’s even time for a beautifully executed animated sequence, to accompany the reading of a children’s tale which explains just what the deathly hallows are. Most importantly, they’re able to include the reflective, character-driven moments that have largely been missing from the series since Alfonso Cuarón’s Prisoner of Azkaban.