Best of the moves

Rating: 9/10 (18 June 2004)

The Harry Potter books used to be my favorites (until I discovered Tolkien), and like the books these movies can't hold a candle to the LOTR films. However, this was definitely a good film, the best so far. The Chamber of Secrets was my favorite in the series, but this movie is much more well done. Still, so many major details were omitted from the film, things that didn't necessarily confuse me, but disappointed me, especially more info on moony/wormtail/padfoot/prongs, because those names symbolize so much throughout the book (like Harry's stag patronus)and even more they are important in the fourth and fifth books too. Also,I thought Emma Thompson was awesome as Professor Trelawney (my favorite HP character), but was underused. The Quidditch Cup was a hilarious scene from the book, an extra 15 minutes or so wouldn't hurt the running time of this movie, so why not include it? Maybe I shouldn't, but I can't help but compare it to LOTR, which is unfair, but still. PJ's changes from the LOTR novels made relevant sense (except for the omission of Glorfindel) and didn't bother me but these HP changes are just too much. Also, in the books Hermione was mildly annoying yet amusing, but in the movie she was downright grating on my nerves. I wanted Malfoy to punch her instead. There was too much sexual innuendo as well...This is a good movie,very well done with nice scenery but I think you can appreciate it more if you HAVEN'T read the books, because then the omissions won't be as glaring and noticeable. Still, 8 out of 10.