Maturing cast, new director.

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2004)

The latest of Rowling's offerings to make the screen has all of the humor and interaction of the last two, but not as much of the magic (pardon the pun) of the previous editions. The new director, Alfonso Cuaron didn't pull off the same adolescent light-heartedness that Chris Columbus was able to portray in his two takes, adding a rather gloomy look to the film.
The story line was parsed a bit too much and made the character relationships in the film hard to grasp, unless you: A)Read the book B)hold a degree in sociology or C)you were just there for the popcorn. And can someone please tell me why Harry hasn't fried Malfoy? The romantic tension b/w Hermione and Ron is overplayed and the interaction of Harry and Sirius Black jumps to far too many conclusions without any reason why. Harry goes from shock and fear about having an alleged psychotic killer-wizard out to finish the apparent job he did on his parents, to being reservedly giddy about moving in with him.
The acting on almost all counts was stellar. The young troup is coming of age and have those problems to deal with, but Gary Oldman is always a pleasure to watch, as is Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson.
I did enjoy the film and recommend it to both the avid Potter-ite as well as someone who simply wants to do the escapism thing for a few hours.