Pleased,touched with slight disappointments

Rating: Null/10 (9 December 2004)

An eagerly awaited treat to be treasured in the collection. Partly because of what it is;- the third film of the most exciting "children's" story in modern times and therefore a must have if you are following the adventure. (I am 46 but that is not old for a child........) A fabulous book needs a fabulous film to re-create it perfectly, a very difficult job. But then, if you are eagerly following as I am, there were slight disappointments. Unavoidable as it is, I feel Michael Gambon is only a substitute Dumbledore, not the real thing. Not his fault, it would have worked fine if he had been in from the start, it is the sad fact that he had to pick up where others left off. If only he had stuck with his own wonderful speaking voice and not used an Irish accent the exchange might not have been so noticeable. Other differences stood out rather glaringly, the alteration in position for Hagrid's shack gave us all a jolt. My friends and I felt there was rather too much attention to scene setting at the expense of the plot - why could we not have been told who Messrs Mooney, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs were, for instance? Why did not the children
meet up with Dumbledore inside the infirmary to be locked in so no suspicion could fall on them? We felt it was obvious that there was a new director, understandable that he wanted to do it in his own way but this is one episode in a complete story, isn't it? A friend who had not read the book found the plot quite confusing and the sequences rather staccato, the story did not flow for them. However, to put things back into perspective, it was a triumph of organisation and thrilling special effects. Buckbeak was simply perfect. Lupin and his transformation were excellent. All the great names were as wonderful as ever and I shall be watching this film over and over again - along with the others of course, and I confess that so far, I think I prefer them in their own way.