Horrifically Bad Adaptation.

Rating: 2/10 (27 August 2005)

This film was just plain poorly made, there is no trying to deny that. It was based on a 300 page (fairly easy to adapt) world record breaking novel that in the opinion of many is one of the best books ever written. When it was announced that director Chris Columbus would helm the project, many moaned and groaned, his previous works have lacked in... erm... entertainment. Steve Kloves was assigned to adapt, Kloves is not as seasoned a man as several other talented screenwriters. So we now have a mediocre director and screenwriter assigned to one of the potentially greatest films of all time. It was expected that the actors who would eventually play the trio would have to be 'green' (unexperienced) because veteran child actors are often not right for franchise roles. So a new ensemble, a poor director, and a mediocre screenwriter. But it could still have come out good right?... WRONG! Chris Columbus' direction was absolutely appalling! His incoherent transitions, unchanging camera angles, lack of any use of dolly shots, over-use of tracking shots, monotonous lighting, and complete ignorance to inform his actors how to actually act, immediately contributed to the collapse of this picture. Kloves' writing didn't contribute any quality to the abysmal film either. The novel was an epic: written as an epic, described as an epic, and sold as an epic. So why was the script written like a quirky independent film? Furthermore the CGI in this film (despite Columbus' excuses of time restrictions) INEXCUSABLE! You do not have ghosts float in 2D patterns as though designed on Apple iMovie when you have a budget exceeds 100 Million dollars! Now: The Ensemble. Too many reviews have been published tearing apart the acting of the three actors portraying the most well known characters in history. So I won't... JUST KIDDING! The acting was and remains now, encased in DVD releases, some of the worst in cinema history. "You mean? That thing was Voldemort?" was meant to be spoken in a spine-chilling and dragged-out way that made the audience cringe in terrifying realization, and was instead spoken as though Harry Potter had stumbled upon a surprise party. Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson deliver some of the MOST irritatingly bad lines ever spoken, it's rather easy to simply learn to not over-act, to not under-act, to just act! Espesially in a role so perfectly described in books. Rupert Grint was tolerable. The movie was an enormous insult to the well-written book of the same name and despite the hype surrounding the apparent attraction ten year old girls have to Daniel Radcliffe (whose normal weight does not fit the skinny persona described in the book) and the "amazing" (gag) special effect, most critics and fans alike cannot bare to even watch the film a first or for those unfortunate ones like myself a second time. I only wonder if, somehow seeing how bad the movie adaptation would be, J.K. Rowling would have instead named the Centaur Firenze: Torgo.