What happened????

Rating: Null/10 (17 August 2004)

O.K. here's my beef, I saw the first movie (with low expectations I might add), then the second movie... then I read the books. The first movie and the second movie adhered masterfully to the books, which is how it should be with such superior literature. Needless to say I was incredibly anxious to see the new movie, and was disappointed in the extreme. This is the longest book of the bunch thus far (speaking chronologically as movies come out) and yet it's the shortest movie. Whole large chunks of the story have been left out, scenes are not in the same order as in the book, and all in all I was left wondering how something that started so well fell so far down hill. I understand that there is a new director for this one, and in that case I would seriously suggest not using him again and sticking with the original or at least someone who respects the written version as much as his vision of it. Also, I have to give kudos to the whole cast. While the story itself was chopped up and butchered in comparison to previous two movies, the actors all portrayed their characters to perfection, giving glimpses of the personalities that would have been clearer had the movie been done appropriately. And lastly; our new Dumbledore gives a great performance, while I respect the others work and applaud it, he is now more like the literature version of the character with his jokes, smiles and twinkling eyes.