Be Prepared (Very Minor Spoiler)

Rating: 5/10 (11 August 2008)

Anyway, I felt that from this movie onwards there was a lot missing. Richard Harris played Dumbledore as a very wise, fair and most importantly kind old man. Gambon plays him with an Ulster accent like that of Ian Paisley. It sounds abrupt, preaching and everything but friendly. The Dawn French lines made me cringe, and the Granger girl seemed to become the main protagonist. There seems a lot of cost cutting like, "Don't bother going to the Alley to get your books because I've conveniently got them all for you" and let's just cut out Platform 9 and 3/4 and jump straight to the train chugging along with everyone aboard. Many scenes are drawn out to a yawn inducing length which sacrifices quality for quantity.
Overall it felt like this movie and the next has a different Director and Screenplay Writer. I checked this out and it says they're the same, but it doesn't look it. Perhaps the cutting room editor is different, I just don't know. If it isn't broke then don't fix it, but someone has tried. It definitely looks cheaper.
The time travel scenes were blatant 'Back To The Future II' rip offs and they reminded me of accusations of old, primarily that J.K.Rowling had collected many ideas of other's and passed them off as her own. Many people do this to some extent, but not quite like Rowling does. She's like those Hip Hop musicians who rip off sections of popular songs by changing a few lyrics or beats and incorporating them into their next hit.
The first two movies were great and when watched back to back they followed on seamlessly. Prisoner Of Azkaban and Goblet Of Fire look only vaguely related and this is glaringly so when watched straight after Chamber Of Secrets. I found it immensely disappointing.
I found myself persevering with Prisoner just to understand the next movie. Towards the end it picked up a bit but that's scant consolation. I found myself doing the same with Goblet Of Fire, but only this time it didn't pick up. Yawn.