Editing and Plot holes aside, it was amazing!

Rating: Null/10 (11 July 2007)

Out of five stars . . . I'd give OotP four of them. The movie is very emotional, not just because of what Harry is going through, but because the movie really tries, I think, to pull the audience into Harry's emotions so that you can connect with him more and really feel what he's feeling. They use very quick, brief flashbacks from previous movies to help achieve this and it's done really well. It's incredibly ingenious and I loved it.
My only complaint is the editing. It is really choppy in some areas. However, I think they made it choppy on purpose in order to visually get the movie's psychological point across: Voldemort is infiltrating Harry's mind and causing him to have these disturbing dreams and thoughts. Harry's afraid he might be "going bad." And the choppy editing is really a great visual for this. I liked the choppy editing in some places, where I felt it was appropriate. But there were other areas where I didn't like it, where I wanted the editing to be smoother. But it may just be a personal taste.
There were also a few moments in the movie where I really wished the camera would have stayed in place for a few more seconds before jumping to another scene.
The movie was very fast paced at times, but I was able to look past it mainly because OotP is a HUGE book and the filmmakers really did a great job overall condensing the movie. They make up for the fast pace by putting in several little moments from the book that only book readers would appreciate (like Tonks tripping on the Umbrella stand). As usual, there are some things in the movie that non-book fans will not understand because they are simply not explained.
Someone made a comment that they had laughed out loud more times watching OotP than while watching any other Potter movie. And I have to agree. There were also several moments were I couldn't help but let out a whoop. I've never cheered so much during a Potter movie . . . and I've certainly never cried so much. It's not the scene where Sirius dies. It's the scene where Harry is being possessed by Voldemort. I was sobbing. Literally sobbing in my seat. Everyone sitting next to me was crying as well, and I was crying so hard that I had to take off my glasses because I couldn't see.
I really liked the acting in this movie. I was hugely impressed by Dan (the possession scene! So incredibly well done!). Emma and Rupert have improved too. All three of them were very good. Kudos to the Phelps twins as well. I absolutely loved their performances.
And the adult actors are amazing as always. Hugs for Gary Oldman, who comes across perfectly as the caring surrogate father for Harry, but also as a man who never really recovered from his best friend's death. Alan Rickman is wonderful as always, consistently cruel and sarcastic yet absolutely hilarious. "I think I may vomit" he tells Harry after breaking into a sentimental memory of his.
I'm also impressed with what David Yates has done. I think he's a great director and I'm excited to see what he does with HBP.
All in all, I think OotP is a very good movie. I don't know if I would rank it above POA, but I would certainly rank it above SS and COS. I definitely need to see it again, and not at 2:00 in the morning. My only major complaint was the editing. If it wasn't for the editing, it would definitely be my favorite.