Worst one yet

Rating: 3/10 (4 December 2005)

I actually liked the first 3 (?) but this one just isn't worth seeing, at least not in the theater. There's not much of a story here. The special effects just get int he way of the story, the attempts to address the students' coming of age seem disjointed, and basically its more of the same. Even within the imaginary world of the storyline, things don't seem to make sense. The main mover of the plot is a gruesome tournament among wizard schools which is over the top and doesn't serve well as a basis for a plot. What did I expect? I thought this might develop from the earlier charm of the first movies to something more thoughtful as far as story, development of character, and development of the fictional background for these stories. Admittedly, I don't read the books so perhaps I set my expectations too high. More of the same without the charm of the previous ones.