Brilliant special effects and some genuinely scary moments!

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2005)

I saw this film with a friend who had not read the book and she was (understandably!) rather confused! It is very much the fourth film in a sequence and expects some prior knowledge from its viewers. However, I don't think this is unreasonable - you can't keep explaining the rules of Quidditch!
It was never going to be possible to please all the book's fans but I think Mike Newell has done a great job. I don't know if it's because he's English but you certainly get a more authentic sense of boarding school life in this film.
The relationships between the young characters come across very well - I was particularly impressed by the Weasley twins who at last seemed comfortable in their roles and were genuinely funny. Ron Weasley was - as ever - a delight, spluttering his trademark 'Bloody hell!' with gusto but also revealing his burgeoning jealousy of Harry and his feelings for Hermione. Harry was excellent - much improved from the awkwardness of Prisoner of Azkaban, and showing real depths of emotion, especially after the tragic finale of the Triwizard Tournament. The real disappointment for me was Hermione - Emma Watson looked very pretty but turned in a really 'actressy' performance, every line sounding very mannered.
I did miss the other members of the Weasley family - no Molly or Percy, and we didn't get to meet Charlie or Bill. Neither Rita Skeeter nor Madame Maxime quite worked for me, though I find it hard to say exactly why. I also found it disconcerting to see the latest Dr Who as a 'baddie'!
The special effects were truly amazing in the first two tasks but I was rather disappointed by the maze. That scene in the book is very intense and the maze sets various challenges (the sphinx, the spider, the Boggart and the screwts) but none of these was in the film - just a lot of shifting conifer hedges! However, the terrifying graveyard scene made up for that and Voldemort's transformation certainly justified the film's 12A certification.
I had been waiting impatiently for this film, and I was not disappointed. I came out of the cinema buzzing and I now want to see it all over again! When does it come out on DVD?!