Early Harry Potter Reviews: Good, Bad or Indifferent?

One of the biggest offenders is Emmanuel Levy, who apparently can rest on his laurels of two decades' worth of Variety, etc. experience. He often posts a review way ahead of even the trades and I'm always amazed he doesn't get slapped. Or at least his handlebar mustache tugged.

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74% is much higher than i suspected, it might just influence me to go see it if people i know are going.

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I think it would depend on how negative the review actually *was* and what's the track record of my disagreeing/agreeing with the reviewer in the past.

As for the "embargo", gee, can I go and report my least favorite reviewer (who works for my local paper, in a major metro area) to WB?

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Well the problem with reveiwers today is they have no problem giving away a plot twist or even the ending of a movie, so we no longer have that "I am your father" moment that made us want to go to the movies in the first place.

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I saw the Movie Yesterday in in Sneak Preview - It is one of the best of the series and I did not care for movies 3 and 4. While there will always be things those of us who have read the books will miss - I thought there was some very subtle things that only the book readers will pick up nicely placed in this movie!

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I saw HP5 at midnight last night. I absolutely loved it. I felt like it preparing fans for what is to come. I love how Harry is really evolving. And I definately agree with the person who said that there are certain things that only people who read the book will pick up on. Brilliant movie and I can't wait for number 6 to come out...

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I am a fan of Harry Potter and have read each book at least 2 times, most 3, and I have to say that I was very disappointed with the movie. I mean, I understand that you can't put EVERYTHING into a movie from a book, but it doesn't make much sense to me that they made the longest book of the series, the shortest movie. I think that if I didn't read the books, I would of been lost in some, if not most, parts of the movie because things are just not explained well and many favorited events are left out, but this is just my opinion, although I do feel that I will not be alone.

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I just saw this in IMAX at 7pm. I was sooo disappointed with some of the story line that was left out. I mean come on!! You have 3 hrs to tell a story, and you don't use it all? So much of our favorite characters were given bit parts, and so much was left out that will be important in book 7. I hated the fact that Cho was blamed for the finding out scene, when it really was her friend! Instead of Harry and Cho just going their separate ways, they decided to give Harry a "movie" reason to break it off with her! So much in the beginning with the Howler to Petunia...IMPORTANT PART LEFT OUT!! and exactly how Dudley and Harry were together, and also the underdeveloped plots of the Weaslys....all of them. If you had not read the books, no one would have known that was Percy! Ron was at best almost cut out completely! I hated this director's views. All of us who have read the books loved this book, and the movie, while great scenes were filmed, was under developed and all fluff, no substance!

PLEASE let us pray for a better 6 and Super 7!! perhaps we need a movie #8 to help tie up the loose ends. 2 separate movies released together, so we can see 7A first, and then 7B later the same day! I just don't like all the cutting out Yates did, and the dialog was very shallow and totally out of character for the characters!

The Weasley brother's business venture was unexplained at best, and Neville's full understanding of what he had been through was left completely out.

I had fully expected to see Ron and Hermione with their Prefect badges and the whole going to the train scenes followed by the whole train scenes....they were good scenes that were left out entirely!!

Imelda Staunton was the bright spot of the movie, she was spot on, but Snape's memory was foggy at best, and it did not even show Lily defending him! The Weasley brother's exit was sort of shotty, and OH before I forget.....how in the heck did they get away with not even showing them cleaning house!!! I mean did we forget about the Locket and the horcruxes?? COME ON YATES!!! READ THE BOOK!!!

I love, love Harry Potter, and I suppose I need to lay in bed and watch this movie 3x in a row like the others to fully appreciate it, but I was so disappointed with the leaving out of some serious scenes that will come back to haunt them in the 7th movie!

Oh well!! I can't wait until next week!! :)

I think Snape is good, and maybe he will come back to show Harry how to kill Voldemort without having to die himself....even if it might mean he loses his powers?? I just want the main 4, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Hermione to live, and whatever happens to the rest, will just happen.

Who Else??

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I saw the movie last night. What a FLOP! Anyone who read the book cannot say the movie was even close to the book. This is like the movie Aragon. If I wasn't told it was Aragon I wouldn't have guessed it. When the producers change the way the author writes to this degree they change the story and what is an excellent book in the series becomes a joke. What was up with the ghostly movements in the ministry?

On the whole - Utter Rubbish! I am sorry I wasted my money and time on it - I recommend people to READ THE BOOK if they really want the color and wealth of the author's writing ability.

RECOMMENDATION - wait until it comes out on video - or better yet - don't waste your time...

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I agree with Bellatrix's (Bonham Carter) angst at having the fight scene cut from the movie as it was one of the primary plots of the story. The great magical fight of good and evil. We have seen some of this world as spoken of by the old heroes but now was finally our first view of it……and what did Yates choose to do?.....cut it!? We were so looking forward to not just a few lucky shots from a desperate young wizard but seasoned pro’s showing us what the wizard world is capable of. I assume Rowling wrote such a detailed and fascinating fight scene to give us a taste of the magnitude of the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. A fight scene that the author not only spent half the book preparing us for but spent 10% of the book detailing for us. I can only assume Yates did not read the book and was hoping that his audience will not have done either.

And in the current world of special effects and great animated graphics how can he pass sparklers and pretty fireworks for great feats of magic? I can only assume that was a budgeting issue which is probably why we now have a dreadful new director who has totally lost the magic of the story. I can only think that giving one of the epic stories of our time to someone so untested was to save money.

The previous director had worked to make the movies more dramatic and dark to reflect the growing complexity of Harry and the climaxing sinister return of Voldemort and now we are using fireworks and introducing redundant comedy routines by Finch. What did that add to the movie????

I’m also mad that the other half of the book was equally ignored. Though it does show Yates is at the very least consistent in his disregard of the book. My reading of the book was that Harry had become a tortured and angry young man struggling to fit into his muggle family, to define himself as a person separate from the myths and memories of his long dead spoilt father, struggling to choose a career and manage his school life in the face of institutional bullying and corruption and finally separated even from his best friends by their status of Prefects. Instead Harry is now a beautiful, mild mannered young man who was the worlds most perfect haircut and a ready smile. The stereotypical American cartoon hero. I guess they need to make more money in America. The opening scene shows him looking strong and sexy and easily standing up to his cousin and a couple of stray Dementors without even breaking a sweat let alone messing up his hair. This is not the Harry of the book or the previous movies.

The ending scene with Dumbledore is even worse. Here he is sitting calmly chatting about the prospect of becoming a killer. With a resigned twist, half smile on his face??? Well it did work for James Bond but I thought Harry Potter was someone more real who’s teenage struggles were never sugar coated in the book. The book shows that scene as an emerging young man unleashing his fury, grief and destruction on the one man strong enough to resist him and being met in return by love, tolerance and understanding. What a great father scene that was written to be! Harry finally comes to see the power of blood despite all else and of the strength of the love and friendship that we create with the people we choose to share our lives with.

It was a great book. Such a pity the director saw it as a child’s pretty fairytale. Can we have; the real Harry back next time, a director expert in technology and special effects who can create even a samall part of the illusions so powerful in the book on the big screen and no additional comic routines as the books have plenty of content.
elease can we have the uncut 6 hour version so at our leisure we can final get the story.
Finally for the DVD r

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