Weak-ish. Could have been much better.

Rating: 3/10 (21 June 2007)

First off, I will admit I have not read the book. If I had, I'm afraid this film would probably have gotten even lower than the 3 stars which I (grudgingly) grant it.
My overall impression of the film was that it had a very "rushed" feel to it- like the filmmakers were trying to pop it out for a holiday deadline instead of taking the time to carefully craft a film instead of slamming it together with a mallet and glue...
Truth be told, GoF had the same feel as the last horrible Star Wars film in that it rested on a lot of CGI and hoped that the wobbly acting, unbelievably clunky script and muddy time-flow would be covered up by the SFX. OK, Radcliffe and the others are growing up IRL as well as in the films, but there was just something wonky about the whole thing. Everyone's acting was just a bit plastic. They all lacked the sparkle that made the first 2 Potter films so fun to watch. Also, like I mentioned a moment ago, the time flow was stilted and confusing-I guess that's what happens when even an experienced screenwriter tries to cram the contents of a 700 page book into a film even if that film is over 150 minutes long.
Casting was *almost* OK, but Michael Gambon as the New Dumbledore was awful. He had NONE of the charm and wisdom that Richard Harris gave the character; he struck me as a half-senile wino trying to dry out. He was my least favorite part of GoF.
Frankly, I can't put blame on a single person for why this film wasn't as good as it could have been. I'm not sure if it was Newell's direction, the editing or the screenplay-probably all three. I did miss the deft direction of Chris Columbus. I was also going to say the filmmakers should have used the same screenwriter as they did on the first HP until I went back and checked; they DID use the same guy! Well, the book was pretty darn long-so was the movie, for that matter but it all came out as more of a mediocre, clunky SFX loaded demo reel with familiar faces in it than it did a powerful, character-driven film like the first two HP efforts were.
Hardcore fans of the first 2 films (as I actually am) will probably agree: not the worst, but certainly not the best. Hardcore fans of the book (from what I've heard) will probably be quite disappointed.
Let's hope ORDER will be better and let's hope Chris Colombus makes a return to the HP world.
All in all, GoF didn't suck, but it could have been a lot better.
PS: I clicked the "spoiler" box just in case I went too far, but I don't think I did.