Disgrace to Harry Potter Series

Rating: 3/10 (17 July 2007)

Before I get eaten alive by fans of this movie, I'd like to stress that my review is based upon having read the books. As I die-hard HP I was sincerely looking forward to this movie until I saw it in theaters. Initially though, when I heard it was only 2hrs & 18 minutes long, I wasn't sure if such a short film (by HP standards) would live up to its predecessors. Unfortunately, my premonitions about the movie were dead on.
One of the movie's major down-falls is that it completely fails to do the book justice in movie form. Inaccuracies fill the movie in droves throughout every major scene of the movie. Many key plot pieces or events such as Quidditch or Ron & Hermione (not to mention Malfoy) becoming prefects. Others seem completely disorganized such as Fred & George's escapade on their broomsticks because so much was left out. Then of course come the blatant alterations, such as Harry's collapse during the escapade scene.
The movie seems to have lost the luster of the previous Harry Potter movies because there is simply not enough of the story present to determine otherwise. Although many critics say this is due to the darker undertones of the movie, I believe it's simply a product of poor directing. Maybe the writers would've fared better producing at least a 3 hr movie. A final thought: What happened to leaving the movies true to the books?