Okay...but certainly not as good as the first 2!

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2004)

So many important details from the book were left out in the movie.
*Contains Spoilers*
The animosity between Snape, and Lupin, Black, Pettigrew, and James Potter was never really explained. Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs are never explained. Who created the Marauder's Map is never explained. Why was Harry's patronus a stag??? These are all very important items in the book and should have been included somehow.
I almost got the feeling that the person writing the screenplay breezed through book 3 and figured he could use the storyline as a basis for his version, especially by including many scenes that didn't happen...like the animal sounds scene and the bird/whomping willow scenes. Take those out and add more details from the book. The movie could easily have been longer to give more depth to the relationships between the major characters or to give us more of a sense of being at Hogwarts.
There was also very little reference to Scabbers or the Grim sightings. What about Crookshanks and all his involvement? Did the students ever go to class? They were rarely seen in school. And when will someone finally add Peeves to the movies???
In my opinion, the special effects were not fantastic enough to use as a tradeoff for lack of details.
While many of the ideas from the book were used, they were taken out of context, or used out of sequence. People who love the books for how they have been written, and liked the first 2 movies for their ability to stay as true to the books as possible will be disappointed by this movies "creative license".
I won't go see this movie in the theatre again, and may not even buy it on DVD when it comes out. I'd rather read the book a few more times.
5/10