The Least of Potter Films So Far

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2004)

Maybe I am too jaded today, or maybe I don't like a lot of change, but change came plenty in this third installment of the Harry Potter films. I have never read one printed word of the series, but I did see and enjoy the first two films immensely. They were gorgeous, splendid, exciting films laced with suspenseful action scenes, quirky, genuine acting performances, and likable heroes. Not so for this film. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione age and become teens, I found that I liked them a good deal less as rebellious teenagers(another viewer touched on this earlier). Don't get me wrong. I know it is the natural progression of events. But I see too much of this in real life(and am not fond of it at all), I just didn't seem to care or appreciate Harry's problems in this one. Point number two: the acting in this film was not up to snuff with the other two. There are I think two reasons for this. One, the "bad" guy Gary Oldman has virtually nothing to do or say. When he is on screen he gives one of his most boring, humdrum performances I ever seen from someone with his talent. Emma Thompson is wasted in her role as an instructor, and Michael Gambon has none of the charm Richard Harris gave to the Dummbledorf(?) role. There was no Jon Cleese cameo. Richard Griffiths has a very small role as Harry's bad uncle. Maggie Smith has maybe two lines. Why bother having her in the film? At least Alan Rickman and David Thewlis add some meat to this otherwise lean offering in terms of acting. The second reason is that the actors were not nearly as developed as they had been in the previous two films. Where was the tenderness between Harry and Dumbledorf? Daniel Radcliffe's angst over his parent's series of unfortunate events was not realistic nor was it even passably believable. Another thing that happens with child actors as they age is that much that they could get away with as younger children they cannot as they age. The cute factor or the believability factor decreases or in this disappears. What the film does have going for it are some well-shot action sequences with some impressive CGI effects. The game scene in the rain was especially breath-taking and the hippogryph was amazing. The movie is not bad, but, for me at least, it just doesn't conjure the same kind of magic the first Potter films did. Of course much of that change came with a new director with few legitimate screen credits to take on a project of this size. It is a bit darker in some ways, but the plot doesn't seem to be nearly as cohesive as the first two. I guess as its cast will not get any younger - I probably will never feel the same way about future Potter installments. Mouthy teenagers just don't seem to engage me at all but rather enrage me.