it looked nice, but...

Rating: 5/10 (19 November 2005)

this is the least excited i have ever been about a harry potter, well, anything. a die-hard fan myself, i have always been a bit disappointed by the movies. i mean, it is really hard to make a good movie from a worldwide acclaimed novel. but Newell could certainly have done a better job than he did. not only were all quidditch matches and house elves taken out, but key plot elements were not even explained, and i found myself having to retell the whole story to my father after the showing. sure, the aesthetic elements and cinematography was great, but ya need to give us more than that! the whole thing between Ron and Hermione's feelings for each other was completely exaggerated in the yule ball scene, as they end up screaming at each other towards the end, which i seem to remember being more subtle in the book. i didn't even realize until i got home that there weren't really any scenes of the kids actually doing any kind of school work, which is what Rowling does best in her writing, perfectly balancing intrigue and possible romance with the humdrum school life. instead, Newell put major emphasis on the three friends hitting puberty and finding the opposite sex attractive and less on magic. don't get me wrong, that stuff is fine, but c'mon, its just harry potter. Barty Crouch Jr. never gets to explain completely how he got harry to the graveyard, and we never see the true effect on Rita Skeeter's articles in the daily prophet, nor do we find out she is in fact an animagi. i thought the acting was quite good (the kids are really coming into themselves, and Michael Gambon was great), but the film was really unsatisfying. make two movies if you have to! i would wait, wouldn't you?