This Harry Potter didn't meet expectations.

Rating: 5/10 (2 July 2004)

Our family are avid Harry Potter fans, and to say that this installment of the series left us wondering what happened to the Harry Potter style is an understatement. There was so much important information left out of The Prizoner of Azkaban we wondered if it was the same story. Our oldest child who has read all five books several times (even out of order), and our second child who has also read them several times, were telling us what important things were excluded that lead into the fourth installment.
For instance,leaving out Cho Chang who has a significant role in the next two books, or changing the location of Hogwarts all of a sudden- what happened to the field outside? And since when do the students dress in their street clothes all the time they're out of class? The pond in the middle of the woods is not there in the book, it is near Hagrid's hut which is not at the bottom of the hill. No hill in the book.
Also. What's up with Fred and George knowing about the invisibility cloak---no one knew except Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore (whom might I add would have been better played by Ian McKellen (Gandolph from the Lord of the Rings). Also, when Snape went into the Whomping Willow he wore the invisibility cloak, in the book. Also. The broom was given to Harry for Christmas and was used in several Quiddich games, which were not shown nor were they mentioned, which brings me to wonder why the Quiddich tournament was is not mentioned as is usually is. And most importantly. The dementors do not fly---they glide on the ground; and the patronous is a stag not a shield. We do not appreciate the extreme(in our opinions) detour from the plot of the books. There were many things that should've been in, and many things that shouldn't have been in this installment. If this one does as well it will only be because of the Harry Potter name. Please do not use this director again.