Did the professional critics see the same movie?

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2007)

Professional critics who previewed this film obviously did not see the same movie that my family and I saw! My children are now 14, 20 and 23 and have grown up reading the books. My whole family reads and loves the Harry Potter books and we enjoy the films, as well. Mostly, we love seeing the films together and then discussing them: what we liked or didn't like, what we would have done differently, etc. The five of us loved the fifth movie. We felt that it did a great job portraying the important points of the story while expressing the dark mood and growing tension. My 14 yr.old is the harshest critic of the films, and if she liked this one, then you know that it was good! These are no longer "children's" literature or films; the audience has matured along with the characters and the story line. If you haven't seen the film because of some mediocre reviews, do yourself a favor and go to see it! You'll be thrilled.
On the other hand, we felt that the editing was terrible: scenes were too short or ended abruptly, particularly in the first third of the film.