Mike Newell Ruined a great story

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2005)

I finally saw this turkey last night and was terribly disappointed by it. The director, Mike Newell, should be sent to Azkaban for high crimes against the wizarding world.
1. The music was not by John Williams. The themes Williams created for the characters and the castle were not there and were sorely missed.
2. Lousy editing. Scenes were cut critically short and the edits left out crucial data.
3. Who won the World Cup?
4. The script hinted that Harry's wand launched the dark mark at the World Cup, but if you hadn't read the book, you wouldn't even have picked up the hint.
5. Re: the above...Harry's wand did not disappear nor get found at the scene of the crime.
6. The scene of the crime (Dark Mark) was in the woods, not in the campground.
7. Hagrid had a pathetically small role, but none of the characters had major roles in the movie and they screwed up the ones who did, for example:
* Dumbledore is a pillar of strength, not a nervous and scared old man as portrayed in this film.
* Snape is not a slapstick character as portrayed in the study hall, or exam, or whatever that scene was. (What was that scene? It was never explained.)
* Harry would never address a letter to Serius Black as "Serius Black." The letters he sent were to Snuffles.
* Snuffles had only one scene - and in a lousy portrayal of the Floo Network, at that. Shameful to leave Serius out like that.
* Hedwig took the letter to Snuffles and was never seen again.
* They had a new actor playing Flitwick, but so what? He added nothing to this portrayal.
* No Professor Trelawny, and Rita Skeeter was captured in her classroom.
* Speaking of, Rita Skeeter did not get her come uppence.
* No Dursley family, and the delightful story of the Weasleys rescuing Harry was sadly missing.
8. Harry's dragon never broke the chain in the story, and if she had, there were a dozen handlers there to prevent the needless car chase that followed. All that was missing from this silly chase was the requisite fruit carts to get overturned.
9. Did I mention that the editing was crappy?
The editing was so bad that watching this movie was like watching a 2-1/2 hour trailer.
I am not optimistic about Order of the Phoenix. I fear this director will screw up that story, too.