Another movie... another disappointment

Rating: 2/10 (17 October 2006)

Having been so thoroughly let down by the previous three movies, I waited a long time to see this one. Not for its big-screen release, not for the dollar theater, not even for the DVD release... I waited until I could borrow it from the local library. I didn't miss anything.
Peter Jackson has proved that a complex and intricate fantasy novel can be translated convincingly to the big screen with Lord of the Rings. The team working with Harry Potter however, is not proving as successful. The HP movies are less of a brilliantly realized vision of JK Rowling's fantastical wizarding world and more of a caricature; all of the high points exaggerated with none of the depth and texture of the original.
As usual all the interesting details that made the books so enjoyable are completely missing. The movie lurches along from highlight to highlight, special effect to special effect with no thought for the plot whatsoever. Crucial characters are left out (Sirius, Bagman, Dobby, Winky, Fudge) while the effects-laden first challenge takes up way more screen time than necessary. Where is Dumbledore's final disagreement with Fudge? What happened to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Where is Percy as Crouch's assistant? Where is the back-story with Bagman, Crouch, his son and the Death Eaters? Where is the end of the movie with Dumbledore sending out his team to combat the growing threat of Voldemort's return? Where is the budding attraction between Ron and Hermione? Why does the director seem to be an advocate of Harry and Hermione getting together? No part of this story holds together, because all the little bits that tie it together are missing and it's certainly not setting OOTP up to be a success either.
With the exception of Snape and McGonagall (excellent performance as always), the rest of the cast appears to have mistaken voice-volume for acting. Characters scream and holler at each other during every critical point of the film. Hermione makes her Oscar-bid by resorting to near-tears-shouting every time she tries to make a point. Moody yells his way through each scene. Ron bumbles his way around, far more clueless and stupid than he should be. At one point Dumbledore actually grabs Harry, yells in his face and shakes him, so totally out of character for Dumbledore that I was ready to turn off the movie altogether. Harry actually doesn't do as much yelling as his fellow actors; he plods through his performance with all the emotional range of a garden rake. Apparently he thinks that if you throw out enough baffled looks and end every scene with a meaningful-seeming raised eyebrow, the audience will mistake this for a stirring performance. The end scene with Cederic, Voldemort and Harry's parents should be tense, exhilarating, frightening and passionate yet I felt nothing; Daniel Radcliffe isn't a protagonist that you can really root for.
Worst of all is the portrayal of Dumbledore. Gone is the kind and wise yet subtly dangerous old professor, to be replaced by a confused, bumbling, shouting (of course) and abrupt one. Dumbledore in the first movies was exactly as the books depicted him, this new character falls far short.
If you haven't read the books, I don't know how you could possibly expect to understand the movie on its own. It doesn't set up the 5th movie very well. I think I'll wait for that one to come out on TV to save the trouble of driving to the library to borrow it for free. It's a nice movie to look at, just don't expect to understand what is going on. All in all, a major disappointment.