BRING BACK COLUMBUS (Spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2004)

----SPOILERS ALERT-----
I was lucky enough to catch a sneak peek of HP&TPOA. And I was disappointed. It didn't come close to doing the book justice. Things start off okay, but get progressively worse. The reason for this is the new director, Cuaron. Things are rushed. Very rushed. Lines from the book that explain things are never spoken.
Some things are out of order, Harry receives his Thunderbolt in the end of the movie, not the middle as it should be, for example. Other sequences are off too.
The characters from the other movies are underused, Dumbledore (now played by someone else) only appears in 5 or 6 scenes, tops. Mcgonagall barely appears at all. The only teachers we really see are Snape and Lupine (who is played pretty well by David Thewlis).
The evil (or is he?) Sirius Black is played so-so by Gary Oldman, who is a bit too much of a madman for the part if you ask me.
The big redeemer in this is the special effects. Yes, o yes, the special effects. From a lady becoming a balloon to a eagle/horse hybrid. The special effects are great. Sadly, the Quidditch scene is very short, had it gone on even 5 minutes longer, this movie would've probably gotten a 7.5 instead of a 7.
Final Verdict: Go if you like the books or previous movies, but keep your expectations at a bit lower standard. I give it a 7.