Cheap Halloween Skit... Doesn't touch the other's

Rating: 4/10 (19 November 2005)

Cute and watchable at times but for the most part, this left me feeling like the whole thing was just phoned in from wherever... Adult characters far out acted the "stars" who had some moments. I think better editing and a little more substance to the script could have made a huge difference in how well this picture played.
None of the dialog felt authenticated. Details seemed gratuitously STUFFED-in by a focus group and not by an artist. Everything felt like it was cut for time, not timing!
A shot near, the beginning, of Harry's amazement at (what I thought to be) the last thing that would ever amaze a guy that's seen what we know Harry's seen, was probably the biggest gaff I ever saw in a movie. It certainly didn't strike anyone else as unusual. Why Harry? Even I saw it coming a mile away.
This movie was a coming of age story and the acting in the related scenes was as awkward as the situation was supposed to be, and I didn't mean that in a good way.
The big contest (which I assume came from one of the books) had no basis in the ethics it was hypocritically attempting to preach.
Then the ending came along with an anticlimax "take it home parade" shot worthy of a TV series and we got to leave...
I'm glad I saw Zathura afterward and, actually, wished I had skipped the "appetizer"...
P.S. Having written this before reading many of the other comments, I am actually aghast to realize that this movie represents a whole school year...! Sure, many of you will say "Well of course it does, you idiot!", but there was no indication, production-wise that this was not some aside special event. I didn't get a clue from all the rushed scenes that any more than a couple days passed because the production had absolutely no respect for any part of the story or communicating such trivial details as time passing.
I can't believe how many reviews I've seen that claim this to be the best yet...!!! I can NOT believe that these are not Ringer reviews to just to prevent the box office from tanking! The more I think about what I saw and to find that so much of the story was completely bastardized, the more I regret this waste of my time...