Not bad, but nothing special (Spoilers)

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2001)

Note: Although I plan to, I haven't read the books yet, so this is only based on the movie... (Some spoilers below!)
While I did generally enjoy the movie, I was somewhat disappointed in a number of aspects:
1) Too many plot twists from left field with no explanation or foreshadowing. I really feel as though the movie betrays the audience by hooking them along and then going in an entirely different direction. From what I've heard from others, the books were much better at ambiguity and keeping the twists in while keeping them plausible. 2) Bits of continuity-related problems; some big, some small. A small example - is anyone else bothered by the number of times Harry casually discards the (incredibly rare) Cloak of Invisibility on the floor, yet in a later scene has miraculously recovered it? (More annoying is the times that he's dropped it when it would seem fairly useful in the next scene, but would clearly spoil the plot. It's just too convenient a literary/cinematic device that - like the physical cloak itself - seems to get used or neglected at whim.) 3) Some characters are barely tokens or archetypes with no fleshing out whatsoever. However, given the length of the book and what they're trying to accomplish, that's somewhat understandable. 4) It almost seems like some of the morals/lessons of the story are questionable... Maybe it's just me, but it seems Quidditch teaches showboating and that the team really doesn't matter; it's all largely in one person's hands. Likewise, there's no evidence why Slythernn was so far ahead in points, but it seemed somewhat unfair and arbitrary to simply promote Gryffindor. Heck - they were trailing at the bottom; it seems like it also unfairly punishes the two other houses (which were largely ignored)... Anyway, not a bad movie, but nothing incredibly gripping in my opinion. The effects weren't anything special. The acting was generally good and the story did move along, but as I mentioned above had some weak points in construction and execution...