Awfuly silly and dull

Rating: 4/10 (19 July 2009)

I suppose as children's entertainment this film could be called good, but to anyone with a brain it is a messy, overindulged concoction of bad ideas and silly execution. I know nothing of the Potter books so this is based simply on the film. So much has been made of the books and film that I was predestined to be disappointed in some ways but little did I realize how trivial this movie is when cast against a powerhouse like The Lord of the Rings, really two completely different worlds. As with most modern tales of this type (HP) everything is so magical, everything moves (in some ways stupidly like the changing staircases) and it seemed so simple that no matter what issue that came up they all had an answer for everything. The worst part of the movie had to be the game played with balls and broomsticks. The whole point of having a separate game within a game is just retarded. Name one sport or game that has a special sideshow that can win the game at any moment? Imagine your team is about to win the Stanley Cup and their up 3 games to 1 and it's 4-0 with only a minute to go, but wait, don't forget there's a fan from each team playing a separate game in the men's room, and they just caught the golden plunger, so sorry your team has lost, too bad. Seems like JK's writing is a little on the light end don't you think? Why didn't the professor who is already through to the stone need to play the chess game like they did? What adults would announce the winners of a year long contest that meant so much to the kids, then seconds later say "but wait, there's points that I forgot about"??? How cruel. Very childish and overrated.