a bit disappointed

Rating: 7/10 (23 July 2007)

As an educator and an avid reader, I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. When I was in college I had to read some middle level titles of my choosing for my middle level reading class and to my great fortune it was at the beginning of the Harry Potter series, not all the hype yet, just great books. I fell in love with these books not only because they are well written, but also because I saw my students fall in love with reading. I had a 7th grade student who was reading several grade levels below and hated reading. Once he was hooked on Harry Potter, it was impossible to get his nose out of any book. To me, that is the wonder of Harry Potter.
Up until this last movie, I thought the screen writers had done a fantastic job of portraying the books. Now, I know every detail can be in the movie from the book (The Orders 870 pages is a lot of content), but there were some major points left out. What about Harry being kicked out of Quidditch and Ron being joined to the team? What about his horrible muggle aunt sticking up for him in the beginning? And the prophecy was not dropped by Malfoy in the book. Cho did not tell Umbridge about the D.A. either.
Luna and Umbridge I thought were well casted however.
So, even though I thought the special effects were great and the parts of the book that were accurate were good, I felt such a let down after watching the movie that I did not feel after watching the previous Potter movies. I am sure for those who never read the books found the movies outstanding, but for me it was a bit disappointing. I guess that is a compliment to J.K. for her superior writing and the ability to transport the reader to this special Hogwarts world.
I would still recommend the film, but for those who love the books, I would not get your hopes up.