A movie that feels rushed and ends up disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (15 July 2007)

The whole problem with this film is the length of the book it is based upon. Trying to cram over 700 pages into two hours ends up being very frustrating to those who love the book. While the writer of the screenplay manages to hit all the highlights, he leaves much out. The director makes some unfortunate choices as well, too many swooping soaring camera shots, and a final battle that is very rushed, and hard to follow since he chooses to use special effects with people disappearing into a swirl of light/sand regularly. This does not match the description of J. K. Rowling and ends up just being a confusing mess, rather then a climatic moment. Had the director paced the final scene better it might have worked. The character development is uneven. Harry is developed fully, and we truly sympathize with his teen angst, and anger at the world, although the latter could have been developed better at the beginning. Minor characters such as Neville, and Luna are fully developed, and Neville really grows up nicely in this film, but Ron, a major character, is nothing more then a bystander in this film, and is given virtually nothing to do, this may be because Grint is the worst of the kid actors. Hermione gets a few shining moments, but is again reduced to the role of bystander, which she is anything but in the book. Watson remains the best actor of the kids, although Radcliffe is slowly growing into a very good actor in his own right. The majority of the rest of the regular cast have one or two scenes each, and that is it, making almost no use of a very talented group of actors and actresses. The result is the weakest film in the series so far, and it is very disappointing indeed.