OK in parts-- but what where they thinking?

Rating: 8/10 (21 November 2005)

I thought the film was one of the better of the four made. They missed many other plot lines, for example the whole "Hagrid's mother is a giant", there was also no mention of Doby or Winky. Another difference, some may considered unimportant, is at the end of the fourth book Harry gives his prize money to the twins, this does not happen in the film. I think that it does not set up the Twins joke shop idea, therefore, Malfoy doesn't have any where to go in order to get the blackening powder thing he uses in the 6th book in his plan to let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts and ultimately Dumbledore's demise. But I do understand various other plots may have been missed out due to time constraints, as GoF is a fairly lengthy book.
Also with reference to Dumbledore, I did not appreciate the changes they made. He is not portrayed as the kind, benevolent man I had envisaged, particularly when he pushes Harry up against the cabinet, this annoyed me as in the fifth book he shouts at Umbrdige for shaking Cho's friend and tells Umbridge that he cant have her man handling his students. I also found Hermione's character slightly weak minded, for example she refuses to tell Moody the killing curse and she gets completely hysterical at the Yule Ball claiming Ron "spoils everything", but this may just have been Emma Watson playing up the scene.
All in all I think the film is great for entertainment value, I'd just recommend to all HP readers to try and forget the book.