A mixed bag of bullseye's and humbugs

Rating: Null/10 (10 June 2004)

With much anticipation I went to see PoA last night. Feelings mixed.
What I liked.
The movie has a darker Gothic feel to it. It sets up well the feel of a storm brewing (Voldermorts eventual rise to power). And darker days are ahead.
The movie itself didn't have any part which made me look at my watch or think when is this going to end.
The choir singing at the beginning of the movie, well the music has to come from somewhere (it reminds me of Mel Brooks. Bandstands in the dessert or a bus with an orchestra group in it driving by). Schools of this nature do have choirs. Showing that Hogwarts is more than Quidditch and study alone.
The acting was good and the younger actors are developing well.
Now What I didn't like or was lacking. SPOILERS
Must agree with others that Peter Pettigrew was too rattish, An animagus is still a person and understand and can think, they do not have the animals instincts which would imprint on their mind. Which is what I felt was being portrayed.
I am a lover of the book, and can well as many others have said. You cannot put everything into the movie from the book. However some key elements were dropped which are vital to the story going forward. Let face it. These are interrelated movies. Not one off projects even if you have signed on for just the one.
We get a brief glimpse of Prongs (stag) shape then it basically pulsates in a white flash and exudes force wave that repels the dementors. Why couldn't the stag chase down and drive the dementors as in the book? Also it is important that the Stag then goes back to Harry who reaches out to touch it and ask it if it is Prongs?
Others have said that the association of Mooney, Padfoot, Prongs and wormtail is an important omission. And the blatant lie that lupin gives. Which is backed up in the book by Ron running in and saying he bought it from zonko's
Lack of explanation of why Sirus, James and Peter became animagus. Also why the shrieking shack was there in the first place.
However my biggest Disappointment is that there were no flash backs when Harry dementor dazed of his parents death sequence apart from an initial scream in the first dementor encounter on the train. This is an important paradox it gives Harry a wish not to fight off the dementors in practice, as he wants more memories of his parents.
It seemed to me (I could be wrong) that the director suffers from Homer Simpson attitude. There is only one type of fade out and fade in when cutting from one scene to another. For Homer it was star wipe. For Alfonso Cuarón its fade to black to the centre of the screen whether or not someone is passing out.
When this comes out to DVD I will get it to watch again.