The Harry Potter Camping Movie

Rating: 3/10 (24 November 2010)

Gosh, I thought, trying to stay awake through the middle of the film, who puts a half-hour camping trip in the middle of a movie? Just maybe the answer is JK Rowling in her first try at movie production. Is that a spoiler to say so? I don't know.
This is a pretty flawed movie. Not to say that the 1st six were great cinema, but this is obviously the worst of the lot. The situations (the wedding is only one) where the script and actors conflicted with the purported circumstances and mood were just too many. The pacing of the film is clumsy or just wrong. The story does not flow and therefore the movie does not work.
I was fairly dissatisfied with the film after watching but was left wondering why it was so distinctly patchy and sluggish. I checked my neck but I wasn't wearing a Horcrux.
The movie does pick up a bit at the end after they (Rowling & co) are done stretching it out but, again, it is disjointed.
Was it wrong to cheer (inwardly) when the Potter franchise equivalent of Jar Jar Binks, Dobby, got his? I don't know. But the hokey death scene and the burial (on the beach of all places) did nothing for the story.
In summary: too gloomy and not enough action for the kids. In addition, it's difficult to think a hard-core fan would be pleased by this movie, especially the long, boring parts. Some may be disappointed by the general production/direction of the film, as was I.