great visual summation of a some of book 4's main themes

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2005)

this comment contains spoilers I guess there's no way to make even a 3 hour movie (this was less than 3) containing book 4.
Because of this the pacing of the movie was very erratic. The movie literally lurches from scene to scene especially at the beginning, trying to pack as much in as possible. And, even then fails to cover many important plot points.
Here are my main beefs: 1) Dumbledore way too dramatic and completely out of character with the book.
2) Rita Skeeter - why even bother including her at all without the payoff of her capture as the animagus beetle at the end. I mean, there were so many other things left out (SPEW, blast-ended skrewts, etc.).
3) Probably the most intriguing part of the book was why the wands connected during the Harry - Voldemort duel. This would have taken less than 30 seconds of the movie to explain. I am completely miffed.
4) I really love and have loved the casting of Harry, Ron, & Hermionne. I think the franchise has really lucked out. They are spot on for their parts and always have been. Unfortunately, they appear to overact in many scenes because of a contextual problem within the films flow. The movie is constantly in overdrive which makes the emotional scenes less poignant because there is no space for the audience to relax.
There are many things I like about the film, Voldemort being my favorite.
For those who were so happy with the resurgence of reading among children and then upset that these movies were jeopardizing this, you need not worry anymore. It's apparent that this movie and the next 3 will not even come close to covering the material in the books.