Good special effects, excellent acting, terrible movie

Rating: 3/10 (12 July 2007)

I went into the movie somewhat... hesitant. I am a purist, do the story right or not at all. The first movie was fairly close, but the quality has dropped off dramatically since then. This movie was no exception. As is often said "The Devil is in the details", well this movie lost them all. From the opening scene to the closing credits any resemblance this movie bore to the story that spawned it seemed accidental. Many major characters simply vanished, entirely. Other major characters might as well have. Ginny Weasley had three lines. I counted. Harry's righteous anger in the book came off portrayed as childish whining, any scene that should have appeared that might have explained... anything really never materialized, and for all intents and purposes every minor plot line that tied the book together was omitted from the movie that insults it's name.
On the other hand, the acting of newcomer Evanna Lynch was spot on. Her portrayal of Luna Lovegood was stellar. The acting of our returning favorites literally paled next to her characterization, how much of that was due to the horrid writing of the screenplay for the rest is something I am unwilling to speculate. I hated Umbridge, just as I was supposed to. Not the actress of course, she did quite well. Finally Jason Issacs returned to his love-to-despise role of Lucius and quite effortlessly stole the show for the forces of darkness from the much absent Voldemort.
If you go in looking for great special effects, decent acting and a couple of hours of air conditioned explosions you will love this movie.
However... If you wanted to see a half-decent adaptation of the story you loved... rather than the badly made outline of the cliff-notes, transcribed by drunken monkeys in the dark.... well you'll probably feel as I do.