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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 2736362" data-attributes="member: 20741">I've read the reviews here and looked a little more carefully at who is saying what.I've also, upon reflection,  reconsidered my views on the movie. I think it is the worst of the 4 films to date.My comment re: objecting to "missed out on the fun at Hogwarts" was that I missed the point: it wasn't supposed to be a fun year...Look: I didn't miss anything. I never read the book. The people who really like this film have read the books and enjoy Potter as it becomes a more serious fantasy tale. I have enjoyed the movies because they were fun. This wasn't FUN. Seeing as the fun of Hogwarts was the central chamr of the movie series to date - it doesn't get much more basic than that.I have not read the books. I come to the table as a parent of kids who have read the books and love them (and my wife is a huge fan too) but otherwise - I'm tabula rasa on Harry Potter.What I know of HP I have come to know from the movies. To date, they have been fun and have captured the imagination by appealing to the desire that you really wish it were true; you wish there were some magical place like Hogwarts that you could be a part of and go to school there.That's the underlying success of HP. It is a captivating tale that appeals to the viewer's underlying wish fulfillment and interest.And none of that was present in the film. The ride on the Hogwart's Express is not to excite us about this wonderful place - but to show us that eating candy is a childish thing.Hermione is depicted not as the most brilliant Wizard of her Age, but as a mere love interest - she is reduced to being depicted a mere girl.The only classroom scene we get is the curses. The classroom scenes have in the past been brilliant - but not this time.The dance was good and a poignant reminder of what it was to be 14, but the film concentrated so much upon that aspect of their school year that the rest is wholly absent.A vast number of questions are left for those who have NOT read the books. Why isn't Malfoy exposed? Why isn't Potter believed? When has this kid ever been wrong so as to dismiss him in this manner so out of hand?Sure, if you've read the books you know the reasons for all of that (and so it has been explained to me patiently by my wife) and that the conspiracy at the Ministry of Magic which justifies all this is very much a part of the fifth book.But none of that is clear and is barely alluded to in this film.I really do think that those who are fans of the novel series are filling in the missing pieces from the film without appreciating how much those missing pieces greatly effect the experience of the viewer who is a not a reader.And if may be so bold Joshua: If the movie missed out in the FUN of Hogwart's I didn't miss the point - not at all.  I came to the film expecting something charming and fun. That isn't what I received. And that is not a small point at all.</blockquote>

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