Too Short

Rating: Null/10 (15 June 2004)

This is ridiculous. Hasn't it occurred to them to do the whole Volumes 1 and 2 like Tarrantino did for Kill Bill? They are cutting out HUGE amounts of information and not even bothering to explain how/why certain characters are aware of what they do know. Newsflash! The books are getting longer! It's only going to get worse...
That said, I was much more pleased with the overall feel of PoA than I was with either SS or CoS. It was darker (right direction), a little more grown up, and the CGI was a nice departure from the old effects (the big spiders in CoS never looked real to me). They threw a lot of money at this one, only to come up short. It's a good thing that they are getting bigger name talent for the adult roles, so that the kids can have several someones to draw ideas and techniques from, but they are learning much too slowly, Radcliffe in particular.
Personally I think that MOST of the shortcomings in this film could have been righted by the whole Volume idea. 5 hours of film would have dealt nicely with the holes in the story, and let's be honest, they could have made MORE MONEY by splitting it up, release one now and the second half during the holidays...
Goblet of Fire is going to need at least 5 hours of film, perhaps 7...they need to get their acts together or NO ONE is going to want to see these....