Pretty bad

Rating: 4/10 (20 December 2005)

Watch the degradation of the Harry Potter series into a reality type show -- there's entirely too much touchy-feely emphasis; the whole thread of the plot is disrupted. Add the heavy use of extreme close-ups -- Good Lord, I remember Mad Magazine making fun of that, way, way back!! After seeing another (4th?) closeup of Voldemort, I started wondering about the biologic sense of his face -- "How can he exercise with those nostrils?". (Okay, I was a biology major, plus I see all the the "nose tape" openers on the NFL players) So maybe Voldemort doesn't need air -- but the point was he was brought back to the biologically living!!
More than once choppy transitions have the watcher going "Hunh? -- though usually one can pick the thread up in the next few minutes. Not very smooth. One should not have had to read the book to follow and enjoy the movie; it should stand on it's own merits.
The soundtrack is typical of an "epic" -- alternately blasting and then too quiet to understand the dialog. (Think ""Bored" of the Rings"") There were a lot of "Whaddid they say?" in the theater. I hope it was the acoustics.
I actually wonder if this episode will be better on the little screen -- I certainly wouldn't see it again.