A big disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (25 February 2010)

This remains my least favorite translation of Harry Potter to the big screen. The book was basically hacked to pieces and re-written into a stock action-adventure movie. So much of the wonderful detail and substance of the book were abandoned. The original idea to make this into a two-part movie was spot-on. That would be the only way to tell the story effectively.
The focal point of this tale is Mad-Eye Moody. In the book, that character comes across as very frightening, both physically and mentally. He is a dangerous man who has lived through some horrific events. But in the movie, Brendan Gleeson comes across as comic relief. He seems wacky, but not threatening. And that eye patch is absurd. One of the most frightening aspects of Moody in the book is the spinning eye in his head. That becomes significant in later books. But it the movie the patch Gleeson wears looks like a comical toy. There's also never a real sense of him being a mentor to Harry. In the book, it's obvious that Harry is looking up to him as a father figure.
There are other little things that bothered me. Hermione's SPEW movement is completely written out, a movement that has important ramifications later in the series. Rita Skeeter should seem more sinister. She seems, like so many characters in this film, a caricature. What's with Barty Crouch Jr. and his wiggling tongue? The mer-people looked absurdly CGI, and didn't possess the sort of mournful quality they had in the book.
I liked the very beginning of the film and the confrontation with Voldemort at the end. But the rest of it needed more breathing room to properly develop the story. Perhaps one day, someone will re-do the books as a mini-series so that Rowling's remarkable worlds can be given their due.