A Horrible Disappointment!

Rating: 3/10 (5 June 2004)

This movie would be too dark for a child less than 8 years old but too childish for anyone over 12. The effects were horrible, the plot line disjointed, and the screenplay a far cry from the book. I a 24 year old, avid reader and huge fan of the Harry Potter books and the first two movies. Now I understand that it is a large book and it is impossible to literally translate a book to the screen but Chris Columbus did a great job with the first two films.
I have never been so let down by a film in my life. If you haven't read to book recently I feel that you would be lost for the most part, so much is left out. However if you have read the book, you spend so much of the movie lamenting the wonderful material that was butchered for this production.
Now the acting, rarely have I seen such "over-acting" in such a heralded movie. The reactions of the actors, young and old alike, brought to mind old cartoons with bulging eyes, melodramatic crying, and buffoonish grins. I spent most of the movie thinking how the acting and character portrayal was so much better in the two previous films.
Please bring back Chris Columbus, and please consider that most of the fans of Harry Potter, immaterial of age, like the series because of it's well written, well thought out story lines, and please try to stay true to that. I would thoroughly enjoy an epic long film or even a two part film released separately or together, for the remaining four films if only they stay true to the wonderful spirit that J. K. Rowling so artfully and lovingly created in our hearts.