Story hurt by too much missing

Rating: 3/10 (1 December 2005)

Another Harry Potter Movie. Another wondrous extravaganza full of glittering special effects and the unwinding plot against harry by the dark lord.
Only, there didn't seem all that much unwinding this time. The intricacy is gone.
The Dursleys are gone too, and it is a sad loss. Repulsive characters though they were, they were fabulous.
Even worse, Hogwarts is gone. Yes, the whole movie is set in Hogarts, but they've pretty much excised all the interaction in the classrooms.
At one point in the movie a major character simply disappears from the scene without any explanation or reference.
I assume all this was to try to keep the film to a reasonable length. They succeeded somewhat there, but the cost was too great. The movie lacks a sense of richness and depth of the earlier films.
I guess that most people will overlook this and just be happy that there's another HP movie, but I cannot help but be left with a melancholic sense of loss. There was an opportunity to make something great here, something truly remarkable, but they've settled for something that is just good.