Very disappointing

Rating: 1/10 (20 February 2005)

Disappointing movie. Wasn't faithful to the book, didn't stand on its own merits.
Bad enough they had to change the plot to fit into a 2 hour movie. But why invent a scene with Lupin telling Harry how great Lily was? Where does sweetly sick belong in a Harry Potter film? And while I'm on the topic of Lupin, have you ever seen such a fake looking werewolf? Not the part of the movie where I would have expected to laugh.
Hogwarts offers its students many educational experiences but a choir? Singing such an unoriginal song "Something wicked this way comes"??? What was the point? Again, taking precious minutes of footage for something that had nothing to do with the book. I don't get it.
On the positive side, the filming location was exquisite. But it didn't justify changing all the surroundings from the first two movies. Bad enough we had to do without Richard Harris as Dumbledore, why did they have to mess with the sets? With a new director coming on board for HP4, maybe things will improve. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.