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Rating: Null/10 (7 June 2004)

First off, I am a Harry Potter fan and have read all of the books, through and through. I own the first two movies, and I think they did a good job in portraying the story and being faithful to J.K. Rowling. The third installment of Harry Potter was, to me, a disappointment. With a new director, Alfonso Cuaron, at the helm, the movie undertook a new feel that I didn't care for. I understand that the books keep on getting darker, but Chris Columbus gave Chamber a much darker tone than Sorceror's Stone without changing the atmosphere of the Harry Potter saga. Cuaron wrecked it with his rapid fire paced scenes. True, this book had a lot more to dive into, but the pace of the scenes throws you from scene to scene before you can take in what just happened. Also, the new Dumbledore doesn't capture the character as did Richard Harris, which made me feel that it was an entirely new character rather than Dumbledore.
All complaints aside, the movie remained faithful to the book, the Dementors rocked, and the movie's young actors came through again with more outstanding performances. Daniel Radcliffe has captured the character of Harry to a T, and Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are an absolute delight to watch on screen. The addition of Gary Oldman and, of course, the reprisal of Professor Snape by Alan Rickman also added more power to the movie.
Overall, the adaption was superb, but the scenes were way too fast. My only hope is that Goblet of Fire will take its time in scene development, considering that a very major event will take place (those who have read the books know exactly what I'm talking about). The scene with the Dementors and the Potronus didn't have a very good buildup to it. I hope that isn't the case in the future.
7/10 C-