I also noticed that the minor characters got pushed up to the front a little bit. My gf insisted that they were there all along and had about the same amount of time in the prior movies compared to this one. Neville had a MUCH bigger part in this movie than in the first one and he "saved the day" in the first one.
The acting was also superb. Interaction between the characters were realistic...although, my gf and I did feel some parts of the movie were rushed. Especially at the ball...we felt there might've been a scene missing in there.