It grew on me...

Rating: 7/10 (21 March 2005)

The first time I saw POA I was so disappointed I wanted to cry. I've read the books, so the unexplained parts didn't confuse me, but the people I saw the movie with, people who didn't read the book were left clueless. Now, I'm not one of those fans who wanted to see every sentence of the book on the screen, but important parts had been left out, things that needed explanation. If even just a sentence's worth, but should've been made clear. The names on the Marauder's Map meant nothing to those who didn't read the books, as did the reason for Snape wanting revenge on S. Black. The Hogwarts area layout change was quite rattling, although I find myself wishing things would've looked this way in the first two movies. I liked this arrangement better, but the difference was still jarring. The new Dumbledore was another shock, instead of the wise, twinkling, soft spoken old man we got a bit of a goofball. There is something "off" about Gambon's Dumbledore, he is a bit too loud for me, but since he had such a small part in this movie I'll wait for seeing him in GOF before I decide I really don't like him. Aside from him I found the entire cast excellent, Radcliffe and Watson more confident in their roles as ever, but poor Rupert Grint got the short end of the stick: he was more of a buffoon than ever. If that kid decides to leave the series I will not be surprised, his character is not treated very well. A pity, I really like him. Thewlis is great as Lupin, Oldman is just like I imagined Sirius, and Spall is delightfully revolting. I would've loved to see more of Alan Rickman, his character is another one not well treated by the screenplay. The rest of the movie is excellent. The music is beautiful, and the Special effects are incredible. The Dementors, the Patronus and Buckbeak simply blew my mind, although I thought the werewolf was a bit of a laugh. All in all, despite my first disappointment I learned to enjoy the movie. It simply grew on me, after I was finally able to slip over the unexplained parts, and just let my eyes go wide at the beauty of it. So this isn't a great movie, but certainly a pretty one.