Better than expected

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2005)

I consider myself one of the harshest critics of the Harry Potter films - unlike everyone else who seemed to adore the third one, I myself was left uninspired - but I think that this was very good considering how material they had to fit in, and was the best of the lot.
Daniel Radcliffe has improved (much better crying than his emo rant in PoA), and Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are also very good. Newcomer Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody also fits in well. However, I still haven't warmed to Michael Gambon as Dumbledore - he acts completely unlike the Dumbledore in the book, and never gives off an aura of being particularly wise or of being the most powerful wizard in the world.
Of course, cramming all of the story into a 2 and a half hour film is quite a considerable task, but I think they did it better than in PoA - it followed a much more structured storyline, and while the pace did leave you feeling a bit "... Huh?" at times, it didn't seem to just be showing the main plot points, like in film 3. Some of my friends were sad they cut out SPEW and most of Rita Skeeter, but I agree that while they're great in the book, they don't really have much point in the film.
The Yule Ball is incredible, and deals with their teenage emotions properly without making it seem like an episode of 'Saved by the bell', and, as expected, each of the Triwizard Tasks are spectacular. And the final dramatic confrontation, while not quite how I imagined it in the book, was actually surprisingly creepy and a little disturbing - not good for little kids.
The only thing I'd say about it was its lack of subtlety. I know they have to fit in a lot of plot points, but did they have to make some of them QUITE so obvious?? Even the weather seems to be trying to alert the trio that evil is afoot.
All in all, I liked it, and I'd definitely recommend it to HP fans (though they'll hardly need my encouragement) and even to those who didn't like the last three films - this is in an entirely different tone, probably thanks to the director Mike Newell, who not only being British and understanding our school life but also predominantly a romantic comedy director, managed to inject some much-needed humour into what is otherwise the darkest of the four yet.