Michael Gambon has to go

Rating: 4/10 (26 November 2005)

This review contains spoilers. First off I have to remark, that I didn't particularly like the book. One major plot flaw is, that Mad Eye Moody (or Barty Crouch Jr.) could have handed Harry a portkey whenever he wanted, Harry wouldn't have had to take part in the Triwizard Tournament. Any object in Mad Eye's study could have been transformed into a portkey and the only thing Mad Eye would have had to do is to have Harry touch it while having a cup of tea with him. It would have saved him all the trouble of getting Harry through the tournament and he could have done so at any time throughout the whole year.
Having said that, lets get to the movie. It didn't feel like a year at Hogwarts. There was just one DA lesson. The rest of the time was taken up by the Quidditch World Cup (without the actual match), the Triwizard Tournament, the Yule Ball (including one dance lesson with McGonagall) and the graveyard scene. Because of this the movie felt shorter than its predecessor even though it actually was not. Maybe it would have been better to cut some of the extensive action scenes (the dragon scene comes to mind  why didn't he just say "accio egg"?) in favor of the story.
In general Mike Newell's direction wasn't really inspired. The humor was crude. Why was Filch limping when he informed Dumbledore about the arrival of the Beauxbatons Academy? It looked just stupid. Why did Hagrid grab the behind of Madame Maxine, why did she eat a flea or whatever out of his beard? The list could go on. The introduction of the members of the Beauxbatons Academy was ridiculous and cheap. One of the worst scenes was the bathroom scene with Moaning Myrtle.
But what really annoyed me was the portrayal of Dumbledore by Michael Gambon. There is nothing left of the wise, calm and competent Dumbledore as he is described in the books. Dumbledore in my opinion would never raise his voice the way Gambon did let alone get physical with Harry or any other student. Gambon didn't even have his dialect under control, when he got emotional. The studio would do well to recast this role (Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Sean Connery, anybody else). The rest of the cast did a good job despite of the mediocre direction. That goes for our heroes as well as the supporting cast (unfortunately Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman didn't get more screen time). There were also some genuinely funny moments (e.g. Ron dancing with McGonagall) and the special effects were awesome.
Concerning music I have to say that Patrick Doyle has done a good job. The music complements the movie well even though it lacks the complexity and originality of the scores by John Williams. What I really disliked though were the songs by Jarvis Cocker.
Since I didn't like the book much to begin with - if you were to frack up the one of the movies, let it be this one. For the future I hope that the studio will choose directors more carefully. Maybe they can convince Alfonso Cuarón to direct another installment or even the final two. For continuity please don't switch composers again unless you're willing to go back to John Williams.