OK, but a tad disappointing

Rating: Null/10 (1 June 2004)

I must say, I had high expectations for the third installment, and having enjoyed the first 2 was hoping for something of better quality than was on offer.
Major points of contention include: Script: This was hacked to bits - the first two films managed to convey all the important bits, but I don't consider this one faithful to the books at all. Character development for Lupin, Black, Snape, and Pettigrew were seriously lacking, and unless you have read the book there will be quite a few unanswered questions (such as how does Lupin know about the marauders map?) Although it manages to cover most of the major bits, there were just too many loose ends for my liking. I have no idea how they're going to fit the next one into less than 4 hours to give it justice ;)
Settings: Was it really necessary to change about every single backdrop? OK, it looked fine - but from a continuity point of view it just wasn't necessary. Costumes as well, they're in SCHOOL - where are the uniforms? I don't remember ever reading about a non-uniform policy being in force in the books...
Dumbledore mk2: Michael Gambon was pretty good as Dumbledore, but the mk2 shows quite a different character to mk1. once again, this is more of a continuity gripe - keeping the personality the same would have been nice.
The Dementors: Well, they looked pretty good on the train, but after that seemed to end up rather ethereal spectres. I don't remember them flying in the books (although i could be wrong there admittedly) but overall i jsut didn't think they were that menacing. It would have been nice to see the quiddich match where Draco and co pretend to be Dementors - Oh, and they missed out explaining the whole patronus thing - such as why its a creature when he does it for the last time...
Good points though...
Special Effects: As good as one would expect - special note to Buckbeak which looked great.
Cast: Ron and Hermione continue to be excellent - Harry still needs work though... Notably Snape is excellent (if underused) as always, Gary Oldman was good as Black, although the shrieking shack scene lacked the dialogue to make it properly cohesive, and David Thewlis made a good Lupin - once again he could have done with more character development though.
Overall: It just seemed somewhat hollow compared to the first two. Harry still needs to be sent to acting school, and there really was just too much missed out. Hopefully no.4 will be better!