Lackluster

Rating: 6/10 (18 November 2005)

Not a bad movie, but not a great one either. I realize going into this I shouldn't expect brilliant acting from the kids, Daniel Radcliffe in particular, so the moments of below par acting aren't what turned me off to this movie. The main problem was that the characters were changed. Dumbledore lost control, something I would never have pictured him doing in the 4th book. Cedric was made out to be more of an ass than he is in the book. The storyline about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was CUT! Now it's possible to have this line come back in the next movies, but much harder because there were never any mention of Triwizar winnings, so Harry never gave the 1000 Galleons to the Weasley twins. I realize there are time constraints for a movie and they can't show everything in the book, but they wasted time by adding new and unimportant things. Instead of Harry simply facing the dragon like he does in the book, there's about five minutes of him struggling without his wand. When he finally gets his broomstick, the dragon breaks free, and they go racing around the rest of the castle. It shows off the new technology we have for making special effects, but it doesn't further the story. Also, there was no point to show the students have a dance lesson, except for the sole purpose of getting an audience laugh when Ron has to dance with McGonagall.