Disappointing and unsatisfactory, still better than most of what is out there.

Rating: 6/10 (14 June 2004)

This could be construed as having minor spoilers. I found the latest of the Harry Potter films to be very unsatisfying. While the acting was good, the story line was very episodic with no flow that told a coherent story. Too many things were left out such as the winning of the Quidditch cup and the identity of the creators of the Marauder's Map. Nothing was said about Sirius giving Harry permission to visit Hogsmeade. Not enough was made of Percy making Head Boy. Other unnecessary scenes were added, The chorus singing near the beginning of the movie was cute, but not pertinent to the story or even derived from the book. The Knight bus scene was too long and some characters changed. I don't remember a hunchback at the Leaky Cauldron.
The film quality looked very bad. I guess the director was trying to make a statement but it looked more like something that had been videotaped. The colors were muddy and many scenes almost appeared subtly out-of-focus.
Hogwarts looked like it had fallen on bad times and they had been evicted to shabbier quarters. The books talk of a sloping lawn, not an extremely steep hillside, I thought the landscape changes were largely unnecessary and not well done. The addition of the giant clock was totally out of character with the non-mechanical world of the wizarding community in the Harry Potter books. Having the giant pendulum swinging dangerously through the hall bordered on stupidity.
Clearly the director was trying to put his 'mark' on the films. He succeeded in making the film much less entertaining and less true to the author's world. The movie suffered from an attention to detail and had a very shallow feeling. There were confusing and unnecessary changes in plot and how characters acted. The shrunken heads and spinal column candlesticks should be sent back to Knockturn Alley where they belong and the director should be sent packing. If he had been responsible for the first two films I doubt they would have been nearly the success that they were.