There was the good.....but the bad...

Rating: 5/10 (20 November 2005)

After reading all the reviews for this movie, I can't help but wonder if half of the people who seen this movie actually read the book? Well let's get straight to the facts.
The movie was OK. There were definitely its strong parts. The special effects are amazing; the acting has definitely got better, and Voldemort was portrayed beautifully, and I must say, the ending definitely saved the movie from a total disaster.
But if you would like me to ramble on and on about the good parts, well, that's what the hundreds of positive other reviews in this site is for.
There definitely was a lot of material to cover in the fourth book and being a 2 ½ hour long movie, I was expecting parts to be cut; I wasn't disappointed, but actually amazed on how much was cut! The entire movie felt like it was being rushed. Before you could fully understand what was happening, another event begins which caused so much confusion. I was glad to have read the book, otherwise I would've gotten lost in the first 10 min of the film. Key explanations of what was happening were condensed into sentences that the audience could barely catch. Many time, there were whispers in the theater; "what did he say" "did you catch that last word?" "what was that?" A prime example would be during the Defense Against the Dark art class scene. My friend didn't even know what any of the three unforgivable curses were because the scene was extremely quick and choppy (in fact the entire movie felt choppy).
Character development was horrible (if there was any at all). The fight between Ron and Harry, and Ron and Hermione was completely lost. One minute they're all together as happy as can be, then the next all three won't even speak to each other (once again, the choppiness of the film played a part). Key characters were also thrust into the movie with no introduction at all. Rita Skeeter, instead of being sly and devilish, was quite annoying in the movie and I couldn't believe her scandal was dropped entirely! Also Dumbledore was portrayed COMPLETELY WRONG! He no longer looks or act like a wise, all-knowing and powerful wizard whom Voldemort fears, but rather a old geezer in the background.
Key events where put in with no reason at all. The scene in Snape's potion closet where they were discussing about the Dark Mark was pointless because the movie never came back on the fact that Snape was also once a Death Eater and has a Dark Mark himself. The scene in the Prefect's bathroom where there was so many sexual jokes is so unnecessary and the stained glass window with the naked mermaid, what was all that about? The traps and the monsters in the maze were completely left out! The world Quidditch cup was so short; makes the audience wonder "where was the action?" The most annoying part in the movie I have to say, was the Yule Ball. OMG! WTF was that!? The set was horribly made, everything was modernized, and character choices were just plain bad (Harry and Ron going out with two Indian girls just really didn't fit in). There great hall where the ball took place seemed smaller and cramped. There was confetti and pieces of decoration littered allover the floor (and I could've sworn I saw paper party plate). The concert like dance thing was just a total disaster and did not at all fit into the movie. At times I was asking myself "am I watching a Harry Potter movie?" The sense of "magicalness" was taken away in this once scene. Hogwarts no long looked like a grand, magical place but rather like in the inside of a high school gym during prom.
I can't imagine in my wildest dream the ball turned out the way it did. I expected to be real formal and classical. The director did a horrible job doing it (this is probably the worst part of the movie and ruined the entire Harry Potter series). When the DVD comes out, I can just imagining fast forwarding through the dance.
Too much time and effort was done trying to make this movie look good with special effects and humor that the essence of Harry Potter was ruined; character and plot development. The director modernized the movie too much making Hogwarts seem like more of a typical American high school (with immature kids and even a school band) rather then a grand place where people of a higher society go to learn magic (which by the way there was hardly any classroom scene in the movie).
I'd much rather have the movie run four or even five hours long, then to sit through certain part of this movie again. I really hope the next movie is as good, or at least able to explain the book, the way the first three did. *sigh* (disappointed)