Its Different, but its Good

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2004)

OK this may contain spoilers, you've been warned! So I've just got back from seeing this, and I liked it.
Yes its different from the previous movies by Christopher Columbus, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. As the trailers of the Movie, and even the picture show, its a darker movie then the previous two, but then, the book is darker. It shows that the characters have all grown up.
The actors picked to play the new roles were both good, and not so good in my humble opinion. David Thewlis, who played Professor Lupin, I'm not sure I liked him, I think I had imagined someone with more screen presence. And someone who was poor, but had those rugged good looks. Thats possibly just me. I liked Gary Oldman as Sirius, he played him very well, at times he reminded me of Johnny Depp when he was playing Jack Sparrow. Micheal Gambon did an excellent job of taking over from Richard Harris. Radcliffe, Watson & Grint gave excellent performances also.
If I had any major problems with it, its just the whole movie seems incredibly rushed, its like as if Cuaron didn't want the movie to pass a certain time so everything is very fast. For instance, I think we see the kids in class a sum total of 3 or 4 times. I didn't like how they portrayed the Patronus Charm also... you'll know what I mean when you see it.
Hogwarts looks fantastic though, as does the grounds. The Special effects are amazing also, the Dementors are very well done, as is Buckbeat.
Oh and one final question: Why did it seem that the kids had walked straight out of the Gap?! Why was there no wizard clothes, or very little.
Overall the movie is very good, even if very different from the others, I gave it an 8 outta 10. Also, be warned some things are very different then in the book.