Total disgrace to the book.

Rating: 5/10 (20 November 2005)

The 5 stars are purely for the director's "effort" to give this movie a more "personal" feeling. Although much of that effort turned out badly, but it is still a Harry Potter movie and has its magic... I guess a single star is a little too harsh.
I was so disappointed after watching this movie, because it left out important scenes from the book that were crucial to the overall plot, and instead added some pointless scenes that the director created. I understand that the movie can't have everything that the book has, but Cuaron seems to lack the ability to pick up the more IMPORTANT scenes. I Frankly have no idea where the director got all his crazy ideas.
I might be repeating all the errors that other review have pointed out, but this is my opinion as well, so here it goes...
If the director had seen the second movie, let alone the books(it seems pretty obvious that he didn't read the books, not even 3rd book), he would know that Harry can't use magic in summer. Yet, Harry practically yells out, "Lumos Maxima!" like how many times? then there's the creepy weird man in Leaky Cauldron... Sirius was really disappointing because he looked like a crazy old man. That whole scene in the Shrieking Shack was not explained enough; if I didn't read the book before watching, I'm sure I would have got lost. Also, up till that scene, the movie dragged a little and actually made Harry Potter boring! How can that be? POA book had tons of thrilling, even shocking parts and was filled with unexpected secrets! A lot of people name POA as their favorite Harry Potter book, yet the movie is the worst so far. (well, I haven't seen GOF because I was so disappointed at this movie that I didn't want the same thing to happen again.) ahh, now the dementors. First of all, Cuaron decided to ignore Rowling again; his dementor is a totally different creature from Rowling's. His dementor's face deviates from Rowling's one. Dementors are supposed to GLIDE, which is quite important in the beginning of book 5, yet in this movie they always fly around like the book wasn't even there. And when they perform the kiss, the human soul doesn't come out of his or her mouth in the form of a tiny ball... what a cheapo scene... there's a reason why that action is called the KISS. The ACTORS/CHARACTERS!! New Dumbledore is plain weird and looks like a fraud, when he's supposed to be the world's most powerful, wisest wizard. The actors for Lupin and Sirius look WAAAY too older than they're supposed to be... especially Sirius, who's supposed to be a very handsome man, just covered in filth and 12 years of misery/hunger. He simply looks mad in the movie. But then, Trelawney can partner him for looking ridiculous. Yes, she's a fraud most of the times, but not this fake... Sirius the werewolf was just so strikingly fake that i actually laughed. where did the "looks almost identical to wolves except for a few differences" werewolf go? it also looked hairless, for some reason. The DVD. well, what is there to say about the DVD when the movie itself sucks?? it lacks of special features. Now THIS is a complete waste of money. DO NOT BUY!!! sorry WB, but you gotta do a better job to satisfy hard-core HP fans. the book fans, that is.
The magic of Harry Potter comes from the sense of a fantasy world that works like any other society, in my opinion. I wish movies 4,5,6,7 do a better job in following the book's storyline, because just doing that would make a huge improvement. and directors, PLEASE READ the books if you're gonna make a movie about them!!