Saw the film last night...

Rating: 6/10 (7 November 2005)

I saw the film at its world premiere last night, and as somebody who was sorely disappointed by the first three Potter films, I was thrilled.
Mike Newell has really shaken up the formula - there are no Dursleys, no long introduction, no dodgy CGI moments - he has given it the grittier, more emotional reality that it's been missing. Much has been made of the fact that the series becomes progressively darker, and this is certainly reflected in the film's unnerving opening sequence and the unexpectedly brutal climax.
Inevitably, it does feel a little rushed at times, but for me this wasn't off-putting - the script incorporates the book's most important scenes (the World Cup, the three tasks, the Yule Ball) and includes several new moments which are both authentic and highly enjoyable for viewers who want to see more than a laborious word-for-word adaptation of the book. The film is also very, very funny, and the humour is very much in the distinctive, quirky style of the books which the other films have, to my mind, never quite captured.
It took a British director, but they've finally got it right. This is, for the first time, genuine Harry Potter on film.