Harry Potter and the Horrible Disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (7 January 2006)

Honestly, I do not see where the praise for this movie comes from. I found the acting decent, the direction sloppy, the effects adequate, and the screenplay horrendous. It more or less fell into every trap the film version of "Azkaban" did.
I do not request that everything from the books make it into the movie. It is impractical and much of it would slow down the pacing the director was obviously looking for. But there were many important events in the movie that are simply never explained. This movie has plot holes through which you could fly a dragon. And watching the attempts in the sequels to patch up the stuff they have messed up in this and "Azkaban" would be interesting, if I cared to ever watch any more movies in the series. Some other facts are either skimmed over or given dumbed down explanations that save time now, but will be costly in the even longer stories to come.
While interpretation of books will always be debatable, I could not help but find certain characters to be off the mark. Nobody major, just characters like Michael Gambon's Dumbledore, and Ralph Fienne's Dark Lord. Gambon did some things in the movie that Dumbledore from the books would never do. And the Dark Lord seemed like a hyperactive child instead of the calculating dignified character I expected not only from the books, but the first movie as well. Christian Coulson in "Chamber of Secrets" came off as more mature than Fienne's performance, and he was portraying a teenager.
It was not all bad, however. The portrayal of the young characters' teen angst is fairly well captured, especially at the Yule Ball which comes off with style and aplomb. It appeared that this was the director's prized scene as it is about the only one that has any heart to it.
I can see the entertainment value for the under-8 crowd who do not care about plot and characterization, but like seeing those flashy special effects with which the movie hits you over the head. But as someone with high standards like, "wanting their movie to make sense", and "wanting the movie to stay true to the important points of the source material", I can only say that I want my $6 back.