Too many essentials to the story left out

Rating: 5/10 (11 January 2005)

The first and second movies were golden. This one however left out many important details that I felt really should have been included. Yes, it is a long book so they have to leave out a lot to fit it into a reasonable length movie, but not at the expense of cutting out essentials of the main storyline. One example of the many important features left out: The climax of the film was when Harry was finding out the truth about Sirius. It happened so quickly and so much was not explained. Did they explain how Sirius was able to escape from jail? How did they all know about this secret location below the whomping willow? And they hardly touched on everything about how Black, Lupin, Pettigrew and Potter were all a group of friends and the entire betrayal that occurred. Why was Snape so against Black?...(they never mention snape's history with that group. I mean, it explains why he never liked Harry) And finally, why didn't they explain the patronus looking like a stag? I'm a big fan of Harry Potter books and movies but this one just didn't meet my expectations. I give Harry Potter #1 a 9/10, #2 a 8/10 and #3 a 5/10.