The magic is lost! And he stole it!

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2004)

I'm sorry to put it this hard, but the director ruined the movie entirely!!!
Lets see, where do I begin? Locations. Hogwarts is a school of Magic, where everything looks and really is magical. It is NOT a common educational institution where students busy themselves on their assignments. In this movie, the School of Magic looks more like a respectable British university located in some antique building. Even the paintings in the walls have lost their fantastical charm, they seem like some portraits hanging from the walls of a pretentious country club (they should have been inanimate, it would have been preferred). The haunting and fearful Forbidden Forest, where mystical (and sometimes evil) creatures lure, looks in this film like a botanical garden in the middle of suburban boredom. The Hogwart's Express is no longer that magnificent and beautifully preserved old engine, that takes the audience on a fabulous journey to a enchanted land; now it looks like they shot the whole train scene in a neglected West Line Coach or so. Throughout the movie, ALL the magic is just gone.
The story is very poorly underdeveloped. I had read the book beforehand, so I was able to understand it. But after the film ended, I had to explain the plot to my friends (and about a dozen other people that remained sitting at the theatre listening to my explanation) because barely anyone got it. Even some key elements of the story (Crookshanks, Ron and Hermione conflict, the relation of Moony and friends, who was Peter Pettigrew and what was his role, how the hell Black escaped from Azkaban? Etc.) are just ignored.
Acting Oh dear! Let me be clear, it is NOT the actors fault. It is A DISGRACEFUL DIRECTING!!. The Dursleys seem to have grown bored of despising and fearing Harry, they almost treat him like one of their own. Aunt Marge is not annoying enough to deserve being blown up. The mischievous Wesley twins may as well have reformed. Hagrid doesn't seem to give a damn in the end about Buckbeack's fate. Ron could have been erased completely from the film and nobody would have noticed. Hermione has lost all of her annoying but charming know-it-all attitude. Malfoy is no more Harry's nemesis, but a pathetic coward kid that gets butt-kicked by a girl and just runs away crying. Sirius Black looks as menacing as a poor homeless man who cleans windshields for a penny. Dumbledore is no longer the wise and powerful Head Wizard, but a pitifuly senile circus magician. Even Harry himself looks plain and bland ALL the characters, for that matter, are flat, insipid and bland. That can not be blamed on ALL the actors, can it?
And the final scene well, that was just insulting!!!!.
In summary, the movie is sadly (if not infuriatingly!) disappointing. This was a Mexican teledrama (yuck!!!), not the fantastic and enchantingly imaginative world of wizardry and magic that the books and the previous films portray. Even my 9 years old nephew was bored (and actually angered) at it! Did Cuaron at least SAW the previous two films before ... perpetrating the third!? Or did he watch "Batman & Robin" instead?!!!!!
If the first movie had been like this one, I seriously doubt a second and third and fourth would have followed. Cuaron just ruined it all. And his mother too!