Harry Potter and the Pile of You Know What

Rating: 3/10 (17 November 2001)

To put not too fine a point on it, this movie manages to destroy everything good about what was an adequate piece of children's literature. The CGI is frequently ropey, all the money evidently having been spent on the Quidditch match. The performances of the adult actors are going-through-the-motions as a rule, while among the young actors, only Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Sean Biggerstaff as Wood stand out as new talents. Daniel Radcliffe is given virtually nothing to do as Harry other than grin or look puzzled as the occasion demands it, and Emma Watson's performance as Hermione Granger is so gut-twistingly awful as to spoil any entertainment that might otherwise have been obtained from the film. Chris Columbus' direction is stodgy - you would have thought after Bicentennial Man that they would never have let him near a book adaptation again - and even the normally excellent John Williams manages to provide a score which is mainly unfitting and intrusive.
In short; if you are not a fan of the books, the film will not convert you. If you are a fan of the books, you would be well advised to stay away and thus preserve your enjoyment of them.