Have to admit I was a little disappointed

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2001)

Saw the film last night. I had a lot of expectations going in, but while I still enjoyed the movie, it didn't nearly live up to my expectations. I didn't have a problem with the length, and even though it closely followed most of the book, the book was able to flow, but the movie felt somewhat disjointed. The Quidditch scenes were easily the highlight of the film, and the general sets and special effects were extremely good too.
There were a few pretty big problems with the movie though. Firstly, Radcliffe can't act. Grint and especially Watson easily outshone him. It might be partly the director or screenwriter's fault, because to me it didn't feel like Harry was the main character- he was just one of a few main characters. He simply didn't have the charisma or ability to carry the film. But he's still young and hopefully he'll improve by the next movie. The adult actors were all brilliant, in particular Coltrane and Rickman.
Columbus had a tough job with this movie, since he had to cater for not just children but also a lot of adults. He had a good dose of humour in there, but some of the (cornier) lines didn't work on screen, whereas they did in the book. It's really a shame, because the movie could have been so much better. I thought Tim Burton would have been able to capture that gothic feel a lot better. With that being said, I'll still be looking forward to the next one.