An utter and thorough disappointment

Rating: Null/10 (5 June 2004)

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one here who feels that this 3rd installment really bites. Like most fans, we bought tickets long in advance and saw a late night screening to bypass screaming and disruptive children and the audience was quite mature so these were die-hard adult fans here. I should have taken my cue and known in advance that this would disappoint. Taking the escalator up to the third floor of the megaplex, I saw nothing but long, withdrawn silent faces coming down the escalator on the opposite side. It went downhill from there. Granted, the effects were spectacular, the hybrid animal creatures, the transformations etc. etc. etc. Top notch but with an unlimited budget, you can do that and nothing less should be expected or accepted at this stage of the game. What was the serious flaw in this film was the sense of continuity and the sense of flow. Truthfully, there was no flow at all but rather a series of choppy transitions from scene to scene and story point to story point. It did not feel at all like you were flowing along with the story. Rather, it felt like there was a stacatto sense of rhythm and you were being jerked around. Many, many points in the books were completely lost and I agree with another reviewer that if this is the way the film franchise is going, perhaps in the future "Loosely based on the book..." should be prominently advertised. Purists of the books will be disappointed and mostly anyone who likes Harry Potter Anything will most likely be the biggest fans.
To give a small example of the continuity problem, Hagrid's cabin was in the first 2 films in a level meadow right next to the Dark forest. In this film they've suddenly set up shop on the side of some Scottish mountain and have changed locations completely. Acting-wise, the kids are finally finding their feet with Emma Watson taking the lead. Daniel Radcliffe still needs some work. The film features some of the best actors in the English-speaking language. The sign of a superior actor or actress is how much they can make out of what they've been given and with what very little these thespians were given, all of them churned out decent work. Gary Oldman and David Thewlis did excellent jobs despite the bad editing and flow. Emma Thompson is clearly having fun as Prof. Trelawney and Michael Gambon does a different, but regal nonetheless, Dumbledore. Dame Maggie Smith is just a token presence in this film as is Julie Christie, a shame really. Alan Rickman is still tops as Snape. I also agree with another reviewer what is also obvious is the complete lack of genuine humour here. You have bits and pieces but nothing like that found in the spirit of the book. For the $11.50 I paid, I would tell film fans to save your money, wait for it on cable or for the DVD or better yet, watch it for free at a friend's place who happens to own the DVD or has cable. For sci-fi and fantasy film buffs, it looks like we'll have to wait for Chronicles of Riddick, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Spiderman 2 this summer. A real shame.