A good movie (although it could be better)

Rating: 7/10 (6 December 2005)

Like many others, I'm sure, I just couldn't wait to see the new Harry Potter movie. Unfortunately it was already 4. 12 when I finally got the chance to see it. Don't get me wrong, the movie wasn't all that bad, butsome things really bothered me (*don't read if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know what exactly happens*) When the movie started I was really excited. After five minutes I was sitting there, scratching my head. I wished I had the book with me, because I was like "WTF is going on?" Some of the beginning scenes seemed really unconnected to me and much of what happened in the book wasn't mentioned at all. Because of the choppy flow the beginning can be a bit confusing to those who have read the book many times and even more so to those who haven't. After another 10  15 minutes I relaxed and started to enjoy the movie. I thought it was pretty good until the Dumbledore-grabbing-Harry incident occurred. I must say that I was a bit shocked. Dumbledore was always portrayed as a friendly, grandfatherly figure. In this movie, Dumbledore was an old man with anger management problems. Not quite what I expected. I don't really blame the actor (even though I don't like him all that much) Some of the acting in this movie was a bit rough and overdone, most noticeably so when Ron and Hermione fought after the Yule Ball. Still, Radcliff's crying was *much* better that in the last HP movie (a cringe-worthy moment if there ever was one) and most of the actors were cooler (ahem*Neville*ahem). You can really see how they're growing up. I'll be really sad when they get too old to play the characters... Despite being the first PG-13 rated movie in the series I thought the humorous scenes acted as a really good counterweight to some of the more violent and scary occurrences the movie presented, making it darker than the others but still light enough. The graphics were good, music acceptable... (I must admit that the band at the Yule Ball surprised me and I'm still having mixed feelings about it.) Another thing that disappointed me was the absence of Ludo Bagman, who I really wanted to see. I'm glad I got to see Rita Skeeter -played by Miranda Richardson who was very convincing as the annoying (but funny) reporter. Another thing I noticed immediately was the lack of Voldemort's red eyes and (my personal opinion) the actors voice that kind of didn't fit with my image of the evil Dark Lord.
I think everyone agrees that changing directors practically every year can't be too good, as everyone has a different style. Still, the change wasn't as noticeable as it was when the third movie came out. I think it's also understandable that a lot of things had to be modified or left out completely to fit a 600+ pages long book in a 2, 5 hours long movie. You just have to know the book. In the end, I give it 7 out of 10. A lot of action and special computer graphics... While it may not be the best movie in the world, it's a must-see for all HP fans around the world. (But, hey, when has the movie ever been better than the book? I think most of us always get a bit disappointed because we have already created our own version of the movie in our heads and it doesn't fit with what the real movie actually looks like...)
P.S Please excuse my rather poor English ( I'm a 15 year old from Slovenia. English is my third language)