The music has also been redone in this movie adaptation. Although I personally prefer the original OP song, and the original soundtrack too for the most part, there's nothing to fault with the changes made. In some places, the new soundtrack actually enhanced the experience. For example, during Mami's second transformation, or the scene featuring Charlotte the witch. In other places, I felt indifferent to the changes made, though I appreciated hearing a fresh take on an already great soundtrack.
My only issue with this adaptation is that due to runtime restrictions, a few scenes have been cut that are greatly missed. Being a movie, it was inevitable that some content would be excluded. Although most of these scenes are not essential to understanding the story, one in particular has an important piece of exposition that may cause confusion for the viewer later on in the film because of its removal (the scene is about witches and their lesser forms, familiars). The other cut scenes are not necessary for following the plot, but they do add a decent amount of extra depth to certain characters and their relationships, which is now missing in Beginnings. It's worth noting that without these cuts, the pacing of the film may have suffered.
In summary, I greatly appreciate this version of Madoka Magica's first few acts. When I re-watch this series or introduce it to friends, I tend to go for this movie adaptation because of the superior animation and single watch session runtime. If my friends really enjoy the movies, I then recommend they check out the original series the next time around to catch those extra scenes, as I feel the original series is a more 'complete' version of the story.
