Page by Page Adaption this is not...Great Fantasy Film it is...

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2004)

First off I should start by saying that if you are a die-hard anal-retentive fan of the books and you are expecting a page by page adaption sequentially than listen to an audio book because this is not what you are looking for. One thing I really enjoyed about this film in comparison to the other two is its new look and cinematography, it really captures the darkness of Rowlings book and I cannot wait to see what they will continue with in the future (the books only get darker). Cuaron is most definitely a stronger visual director and perhaps even a stronger transporter of the literary medium to film than Columbus was. He shows the wizarding world in a much more fun and colorful way than Columbus ever did and I sincerely hope that Cuaron stays on board for the upcoming films. He is excellent at showing lots of neat stuff going on around Harry that simply brings the world to life a lot more. He also brings key scenes that might have not been touched on very much in the books to exciting life, the knight bus sequence for instance was really a hoot and a lot of fun to watch.
The acting is getting much better as the kids age. We can expect that as they mature, their acting will as well. It is a lot of fun to look at how the three have changed over the films and I hope they don't replace them for the last 4 films (Emma Watson is going to be hot when she's older...).
The creatures are getting a lot cooler. When I read the book when it first came out I was really exited about seeing the Dementors on screen and when I did I was well pleased...they are the coolest and scariest monsters in the series yet and I wanted more scenes from them (and in future movies they will come). Buckbeak the Hippogrif was also very well done (and a lot less annoying than Dobby), they did a good job of making him real and believable.
All in all this is my favorite Harry Potter film, it went by the quickest out of the three and I think it will be more accepted by those not too interested in the books as a great fantasy film...