I have read all of the books and this film can stand on its own. I went with my 12 year old son and his friends who have only read up to "Goblet" and they appeared to understand a sufficient amount of the story. Regardless, they all asked how long did they have to wait until the finally. It holds fairly well to the book line, as well. Character selection has developed deeply in this film and it is cool to see the vast collection of bad characters. The scenery is part of the experience and frustration. You feel like you are there with valiant three. Yes, it is a dark film but there is determination that keeps everyone going as they attempt to discover the remaining horcruxes before it is too late.
We really enjoyed the 3D IMAX experience and were sad that it ended. It was a fairly simple story with no surprises that looked like "Dances with Wolves" but I still liked it. The story of Sully weaving in and out of the his normal life and Navi world was very clever and took me on a suspenseful rollercoaster throughout the film. I loved the scenery, charater selection, the animals, and the war machines. The final battle was very exciting and I am OK with the body transfer logic. On a side note the 3D technology in the forest scenes took on their own story and it was extremely gratifying. My 11 year old son would have worshipped this film but it is PG-13 and deserves it. He will not be seeing it.