My least favorite of all the movies so far... but still good

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2007)

Well, as a certified Harry Potter (adult) addict, I must say that although this is technically a great movie, it does leave the die-hard book fans wanting more. While visually, this movie is stunning, and at the end of the 2 hours, you understand the basic plot, there were so many important plot lines left out. With an additional 1/2 hour of time, all plots could have been marvelously developed, and the watchers could have been brought into Harry's world with so much more understanding. Daniel's anguish was not portrayed at the opening. His loneliness, desperation, and isolation do not come through to the audience. Who are the Order of the Phoenix? Why are they there? What type of family was the House of Black? None of this was portrayed. Also, where was the mirror given to Harry by Sirius? Without it, how can viewers understand the mystery and guild Harry feels with Sirius's death? How can they understand that if he had only used the mirror, Sirius may have remained alive? All in all though, for non-insane book readers (unlike myself), who don't look for deeper meanings and connections, it is still a wonderful, although dark, story which leaves you with the basic understanding of the dark times to come. I'm still looking forward to all the rest of the movies, and hope that with a little extra play-time, which all Harry Potter fans are more than willing to sit through (as long as there's lots of popcorn), movie audiences can hopefully be brought into the extremely important next few movies with a deeper understanding of what J.K. writes about.