The weakest Harry Potter film to date

Rating: 4/10 (25 July 2007)

I found this a disappointing film though it has some successful new characters. Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge may not be in the least toad-like, but she so perfectly captures the smiling, 'girly', evil of the book, while Evanna Lynch has captured Luna Lovegood perfectly.
I am unsure whether the problem lies with the script or the production, but I left the cinema feeling I had seen only the highlights and not the full story. This is not simply a matter of condensing a long book: while The Goblet of Fire omitted much, it still had a sense of coherence  a sense of being a whole. Another reviewer on this site (and I had not read this or any other review when I saw the film) summed it up well by saying she felt the produced was given a list of key scenes and just filmed them.
If you have seen the earlier films, be prepared for disappointment.