Disappointing to readers

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2007)

I'm a grown-up muggle who looks forward to All Things Harry way more than is probably appropriate, but OoTP disappointing to me. Maggie Smith is perfect, as is Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid, and the actor who portray Harry, Ron and especially my girl Hermoine are wonderful, too. The last two movies have just been such superficial renditions of the books. The CGI effects are very much improved over the first few movies, but at the cost, it seems, of the emotional truth and depth of the first movies. Harry and Sirius are on screen together for what... six minutes? Umbridge? We see hardly any of her true wickedness! It was bad enough how Cedric was a cardboard cut-out in TGoF, but now his murder is marginalized from everyone's emotional landscape. I just felt a little cheated at all the shortcuts.
All that said, these movies are like Cary Grant movies. Even when they aren't great, some Harry (or Cary!) is better than none.