Truly Pathetic.

Rating: 4/10 (10 December 2005)

The first two "Harry Potter" movies were disappointing, but were still good enough to re-watch. After seeing "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", I thought that the movies were finally shaping up, and that they would, like the third volume, take on the mood displayed in the books. Unfortunately, I was wrong. While "Prisoner of Azkaban" was truly a masterpiece, the fourth installment in the popular series was horrible. The movie was cut in the most awkward places, and the director neglected some important details. Some of the characters were pathetic, as was the movie itself. This director changed the wise and calm character known as Albus Dumbledore into a crazy, temperamental old man. In the books, Dumbledore is one of my favorite characters, and is wise, calm, thoughtful, and humorous. In this movie, he is constantly shouting and he gives off a feeling of anger and frustration, something which J.K. Rowling's character never does. The newly-introduces Alastor Moody hardly fits Rowlings's description and to top things off, they made him look even more pathetic thanks to the ridiculous eye patch-like device conceived to hold his magical eye. His appearance alone was nearly enough to make me want to leave...and that was before I saw the rest of the movie! The director tried to add in some humor. Unfortunately, added in way too much, and the end result had me rolling my eyes and wanting the movie to go on. The bath scene with Moaning Myrtle was simply ridiculous too. What a waste of precious screen time. Oh, and what about the time Harry found Crouch's dead body, ran to Dumbledore, but never mentioned it? The only part of the movie that was done decently was the scene with Voldemort. That was truly a success. The rest wasn't even worth seeing.