Great if you haven't read the book - virtually unrecognizable if you have.

Rating: 1/10 (20 August 2004)

Onward and upward!
Lets hope the next one is better: Dumbledore is whiter, the Quiddich World Cup hasn't been cancelled, Hagrid's hut hasn't slid down the mountain side, Sirius has become an aristocrat and Ron gets a few lines (amongst other things).
And why are the special effects so patchy? Dobby and Buckbeak are superb but Remus's werewolf is - well - words fail me! Sirius's dog wasn't brilliant either.
On the plus side, something few people mention - John William's music. Without Hedwig's Theme all the Harry Potter films would be infinitely poorer (it peels merrily from my mobile phone!). His music brings a 'shivery' magical quality to every scene. Two particular scenes which leap to mind are the very first scene in the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone and also the giant Chess scene in the same film. Thank you, sir.