visually enchanting, but flawed

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2013)

ah, the third installment of the harry potter saga. it's probably the prettiest and atmospherically the most magical of all harry potter movies, however! oh, there's a big "however", and the only way I can describe it aptly is - well, it's stuttering!
let me explain this - if one has read the book, one might be surprised at the mix-up of many a detail - chronologically, situationally, character-development wise. this film is bold enough to not be afraid of a change here and there. what was borderline hate in the book has turned into a very early blossom of romance in the movie. what took a few good chapters in the book only takes a single clever scene in the movie! brilliant! but with this brilliance there's also darkness - the film has distanced itself from the book enough to make the viewer think it has all it takes to have a proper structure and meaning, it makes the viewer think that the movie can stand on its own legs! alas, it can not. by distancing itself from the book with so many changes it hasn't been able to build up its own foundation. important scenes from the book have been cut short or out entirely to anger of the devoted fan of the book, yet the scenes almost unique to the movie do little to fit in with the whole story, at best. at worst, they make, well, no sense.
and all together this creates a problem of pacing - some scenes rush by in mere seconds, while others surprise you with their lack of sense, leaving you dumbfounded as to what they mean in the context of the whole movie.
it doesn't help that the acting's really weird in this one. it's almost campy at its most dramatic, yet it's also a bit more interesting than the previous hp movies considering the lead actors are a bit older in this one.
still, I feel great sadness. a magical movie, but deeply flawed for me - no longer being true to the book, yet not being too well on its own. 6/10