Falls short of required standards, unfortunately

Rating: 5/10 (25 November 2005)

When viewing Harry Potter, it is with three different views. There is that of the naive, 'new to the story' cinema goer, the Harry Potter fan, and the Movie Critic. Unfortunately, the movie falls short in every region-To be good, a film would require a good script, good acting, and good direction, and unfortunately the film has none of these. The condensing of the book, a far harder task this time around for the largest book thus far of the series.
It is clear from the first moments of the film that many things have been cut out, changed and switched, cutting out entirely any story lines including The Dursleys, House Elves, Dementors, Tri Wizard Money, School, or any of the more detailed parts of the book. The richness of world which JK Rowling prides herself on has been taken away completely, and we are instead left with a product which feels very rushed, as well as being played in a very hasty style. The quick movement on the plot is frustrating at times, and I am sure that I was not alone in wishing that there was more opportunity to linger over the quidditch world cup, or at least seeing some of the match. By the time we are half way through the movie we feel that we have had a great deal of information to take in, but no time to process it.
This, however, cannot be entirely the movie makers fault-After all, the movie had to be cut down to fit into one film, rather than being cut into two films, as originally planned. So we go on to the Acting. The kids, bless them, are all competent actors, and throw a great deal into the roles, however their emotions are implausible at best, almost as implausible, in fact as the idea that they are now fourteen years old. You can almost see them struggling with the fast paced screen time, and no one is given any moments to develop any real characters. You can see their faces trying to show fear/anger/joy and a whole range of other emotions.The movie is saved by Great performances by Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson,Roger Lloyd Pack, and Maggie Smith, however, again you get the feeling that they are struggling with performing their roles in such a script.
Finally, the direction, which shows the world in a much darker light, but does not recreate the world already created by Chris Columbus. The film suffers from the same problem as another recent book-to-film conversion, the Hitchhikers Guide to The Glaxy, another book which required serious change to accommodate all the elements. Both films seem to rely too much on the audience knowing what is going on, and move far too quickly, giving an unrealistic air of cause and effect, making the film seem more like the next scene is inevitable, not a natural event.
Ultimately, therefore, the film lacks the direction script, or ability to turn a good film into an adequate one, and while looks very good, and has the desired impact, too little is made of what the book is.