Too much change

Rating: 10/10 (5 June 2004)

I agree 100% with the other critics in this forum; the director changed too much from the book; this was butchery, not editing. Hardly any character development, no real explanation of the relationship between Moony/Padfoot/Wormtail/Prongs, Dumbledore, McGonagall & Snape reduced to almost nothing...well I could go on and on, but it's been said already.
I loved "Y Tu Mama Tambien", but the quirky, offbeat humor & charm of that movie (not to mention the previous two HP movies) is entirely missing here. The director wanted "darker", and he got it, but "better"? Um, no.

Good points; lots of screen time for Prof. Lupin (possibly why other, established characters got such short shrift), Honeydukes & Hogsmeade (brief glimpse of both), Malfoy & co. get whupped--twice!--and the Dementors were truly terrifying. Oh yeah, and the Hippogriff was very cool.
My rating: 7/10.