An Outsider's Viewpoint

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2005)

When a film has a fan base or is based on a book, it is difficult to find reviews by people who are not part of that fan base and/or have not read the book. I am neither a fan of Harry Potter nor do I read the books, so some of you may find my review of interest in that respect. I am not going to summarize the plot; many other reviews already do that nicely. Instead, given that I have seen every Harry Potter film so far for one reason or another, I will focus on giving my basic opinions on the film and also comparing it to the previous films.
This film seemed a bit darker than previous films. Almost every scene had an ominous weight to it. Yet in other places, like in the introduction of the all female troop, it felt downright silly, like Charlie and the Chocolate factory with the dancing midgets. Moreso than previous films, it had that kind of awkward clash in that it seems like a children's story attempting to be an adult story -- or vice versa -- I can't really figure it out. I think that would be my biggest reason for not being a Harry Potter fan. If they were to replace all the child wizards and adolescent behavior with adult wizards and behavior, I would probably like it a lot more.
Many of the scenes seemed rushed. The film sometimes jumped too quickly from one scene to another. And there were characters who seemed out of place, like the seeker champion who was built up as if he was a main character, yet never seemed to fill that role. This is a difficult issue to address in such films that are based off of books, so you could say it is to be expected. However, the problem seemed a lot worse in the this film than in previous films.
I got a little bored around the middle of the film and wasn't entirely satisfied when it ended. However, I was also feeling a bit tired at the time, so that probably didn't help. I thought the visuals in the film were very well done. Most of the sets felt real and created the ambiance that I think was both good and as intended. Overall, despite the drawbacks, I think it was a fairly decent film. However, I still don't understand the mass appeal of Harry Potter.