A big disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (16 November 2001)

I was so disappointed with this movie. The first part of the movie before Harry gets to Hogwarts was just terrible! If I hadn't read the book, it would not have made any sense. Crucial scenes were cut out so that there was no transition, and the acting was weak. The changes between really dark scenes and really bright scenes were not well done either. The Dursleys were not as I had imagined them to be, especially Mr. Dursley. The casting of the Weasleys (except for Ron) was just downright wrong. The twins fun, happy-go-luckyness, and humour were not captured - the lines that were supposed to be funny were delivered without conviction, and the twins became dull barely existent characters.
I really liked Harry, Hermione, and especially Ron. McGonagall was good too, but Dumbledore was not characterized very well - he didn't show his friendly wise side well.
The second half of the movie improved, but it wasn't enough. The movie lacked good focus and pacing. The adaptation from book to movie failed. The movie attempted to follow the book almost exactly while keeping the length down so that the result was a choppy movie. For example, in one scene it has Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Hagrid watching the dragon hatch. The next scene was Hagrid, unconvincingly, saying that the dragon was taken away - no explanation, and if it wasn't for the fact that Hagrid getting the dragon egg was important to the plot, it would have been a scene with absolutely no importance. I wasn't looking for every scene to be included in the movie but important scenes that explained the story should not have been left out.