Incredibly disappointing!

Rating: 5/10 (20 July 2007)

I am a huge fan of the books. I own a popular fansite, snitchseeker.com, just so you know I'm more than an average fan.
At the same time, I have enjoyed the other movies, in spite of the many changes from the books.
Admittedly, I have been skeptical about this film since the announcement of the director, David Yates.
However, when two from my site's news team got early peeks of the film, they both had overwhelmingly positive reviews! (One slightly more positive than the other, but still!) If you want to read their positive reviews, go to snitchseeker.com and click the reviews links (one contains spoilers, one does not).
So I decided I would watch the film, completely unbiased - even excited about it!
** SPOILERS START HERE **
It starts out very well: Harry sitting on a swing in a small park, watching some kids playing, the kids and mums leave, Dudley and gang enter, Dudley teases Harry about crying for Cedric in his sleep, Harry gets mad and threatens Dudley with wand, the sky clouds up real quick, Dudley's gang flee the scene, rain begins to pour, Harry and Dudley run under an overpass for shelter, Dementors attack.
This is where it goes downhill.
I wonder if Yates has even read the book. He says he has, but maybe he only skimmed through it quickly. He certainly missed the details and nuances other directors have picked up.
Mrs. Figg was not in the slightest annoyed or frightened about the attack. She was casual, nonchalant, not really caring about Harry at all.
The Advanced Guard scene was hacked to bits with only the bare necessities remaining - and without Lupin. I swear, the entire affair is about 30 seconds long.
In the movie, the guard consisted of Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt and a silent Elphias Doge. (Nice to see him!) However, it left out the other witches: Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance. And no Lupin! Fine, I can live with that. But they arrive in Harry's bedroom, they don't explain anything, only say he is to come with them, and then it shows them lined up outside the house with their brooms and they take off! That's the whole scene!
On the positive side, they made the flight more interesting by soaring them through London rather than high up in the clouds.
The arrival at Grimmauld Place was done well enough. I liked seeing the houses magically stretch to make room for number 12. But the house was a MAJOR disappointment: No Mrs Black, no house-elf-heads on the walls, no disinfecting, no Buckbeak, no murderous ghouls, and hardly any Kreacher. While Lupin was present here, he had only one or two lines and Tonks had even less. Sirius Black gets all the dialog here.
On the positive side, the "extendable ears" and the twins apparating were cool and Mrs. Weasley was terrific. It was also nice to see Tonks changing her face a bit to resemble a pig and then a duck, with Ginny laughing at her.
After about three minutes of "The Order" we are whisked off on a speedy journey to the Ministry for Harry's trial. This was another major disappointment as it wasn't explained to the audience exactly what they were doing nor why they were traveling as muggles. I missed a line from Arthur along the lines of, "Harry, we must travel as muggles this morning, using no magic because we want to give a good impression before your trial." Instead we get a 5-second glimpse of their trip (a subway station and a sidewalk) and then the phone booth.
Perhaps the most disappointing of the whole film was the lackluster design of the Ministry of Magic. Supposedly a Governmental establishment and yet ALL of the walls and floors of this place are simply BLACK! It's just ridiculous! Not only that but it looks so small compared to how it read in the books. Supposedly 10 levels, my house looks bigger than this place.
Department of Mysteries? They only show the Hall of Prophesies and the Death Chamber (the room with the infamous veil). No exciting ROTATING ROOM (which you'd think would be a major part of this since it's even pictured on the cover of the US edition of the book!), no Time Room, Planet Room or Brain Room. Very, very sad.
I just realized this review is turning into an essay, and that's not the point here at IMDb. So let me finish off.
Here is the order in which I place the films (best to worst):
Goblet of Fire (9) :: Prisoner of Azkaban (more Marauders would have placed this on top) (8) :: Chamber of Secrets (7) :: Philosopher's Stone (better CGI would place this one higher) (7) :: Order of the Phoenix (6)
I fear for the end result of my second-favorite book so far: Half-Blood Prince. It's a shame Yates will be directing that one too. Let's hope the franchise ends with a bang by allowing another director in for Deathly Hallows.
Thanks for reading! :)