Loyalty to the book.

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2005)

My congratulations go to Mike Newell. Despite the length and detail of the book, Mike maintained a good degree of loyalty to the story. Granted, there were a few skips and jumps, and the speed at which the events move were clear from the outset. I read all the books a number of times, and then saw each movie just after release. My expectation was not too high, because the kind of detail contained in the books would take much more than a single movie to exploit. This was evident in The Prisoner of Azkaban, and therefore it was often difficult to keep up with the plot.
In GOF, I found myself laughing and crying in equal measure, and found it to be thoroughly entertaining. The one lasting memory of this movie, is that of a 'class' product. The effects were not overdone, the acting was as good as any of the movies so far, and it certainly paves the way for the continuing story created with such spellbinding effect by Joanne Rowling. My best tip for the growing army of Harry Potter fans, is to treat the books, and the movies, as separate entities. If you allow yourself to judge one against the other, you will be left wanting.
All round, an extremely good movie, and well worth seeing.