Too Short, Too Little, TOO LATE!

Rating: 2/10 (12 July 2007)

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!! CAUTION!!!
Fist off I must admit that I have watched the previous movies too many times to count Since I watched the last movie I have read the books (I had not read them before this movie). This book was the turning point for me in the whole Harry Potter series. In my opinion the story goes from good to excellent in OOTP. With that said, I had some pretty big expectations for this movie, some of which where realized.
The high points of the movie where seeing the fruition of some of the more lovable elements of the book such as Weasley's Wheezes, Tonks, Askaban, Kretcher, and the OOTP Head Quarters. It was fun to see the characters but it was hard to see such main characters like Tonks totally be ignored by the story. I mean I had such hope when she was pulling faces at the dinner table then after that, nothing.
The movie really just cut too many corners to the point that it did not look as amazing as it could have been. I mean the ministry of magic looked like a hallway and that's it, Sirius' family apparently lived in the connect-a-house projects, and Cho was border line illiterate! I don't think that movies have to follow the books exactly, for example, I think Lord of the Rings did an awesome job at condensing one of the most complex and awesome stories of our time into 12hrs of movie. But the movies do have to make sense.
I asked my wife after the movie (she has not read any HP books) if it made sense (because he continuity and back-story of the movie was not easy to follow for me) and she said yes. I just worry that the movies are so out of control at this point that peeves, Hermione & Ron's Prefect Status, Percy going bad, Quidditch, the Dursley's, Trelawny, etc All those stories are now so corrupted and twisted by screen writes and directors that they can not (in my imagination) be reasonably recovered.
My Suggestions:
1. If your going to make us wait two years between movies at least put in enough film to cover the subject. Why not do a 2 part (or dare I say 3) part movie. If you need help spending your production time wisely see Peter Jackson. (Really I know that this would never happen, but hey) 2. Try and get the story back on track. Some how. 3. Lets see the actors! (Really Lupin, Snape, Hagrid, McGonagall, did you have another gig? Were where they?