I have a singing book. It does not actually sing, that is what is called. It is much like the Monster Book of Monsters in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Only the one in Harry Potter is actually a Monster book. Mine doesn't sing like it promises.
I still think that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the best of the films thus far. The first two movies were good, though they lacked any imagination apart from J.K. Rowling's magnificent creation. They were studio films with producers heavily involved. They didn't allow for the director to take off. They were fun popcorn pleasers though.
When the third film was released, the series went to some new territory. The acting got better, the direction was top noch. Hogwarts looked like it was something inside of somone's imagination rather than your default movie castle. The story, though it was presented quickly and consisely, contained everything the film needed. No more and no less, and still it did not seem short or rushed. The two films that follow Prisoner: Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix are rushed. They jump from one day to the next in Harry's precious time at hogwarts and they do not cherish each moment.
Goblet of Fire is one of the longest films in the series and it still is so jam packed with plot point after plot point. It is difficult to take in an entire year at hogwarts in so little time. The film manages to rush its audience to the end only to dissapoint. The final "challenge" in the triwizard tournament is the maze. It is a giant maze with fog, and the shrubs that make up the maze attack the champions. This hardly seems challenging to people who have overcome dragons as their first challenge, and being underwater fighting off mermaids in their next. The challenges seem to get easier and less exciting as the movie progresses. By the time Harry and Cedric get to the end, when Voldemort is finally revealled, he seems like an ordinary bad guy. All the hype of "he who must not be named" leads up to some snakey looking guy who kills people. The director gives his audience no suspense, and little to show for who Voldemort really is. He is some guy born from a cauldron. That's what the book says. But when you transfer this to film, you can visually make this a treat and something to fear.
Order of the Phoenix goes to a different level of scary that I think the series should be headed. The dementors are actually starting to be something to be afraid of in this film. Harry is having some freaky dreams about attacks and he is seeing what Voldemort sees. Voldemort becomes scary when Harry has to take some lessons on how to keep Voldemort out of his head. This is called Occlumency taught by Snape, Harry's Hogwarts Nemesis. The final battle lives up to its hype. There are wizards flying around dissappearing here and there, and people are throwing killing curses at each other. I was a little dissapointed at the show down between Dumbledore and Voldemort. These are the two greatest wizards of all time. One the defendor of good, and the other is the description of pure evil in the wizarding world. They were limited to throwing fire and water at each other. Although I thought it was pretty sick when Dumbledore transfigured glass into sand to protect himself from thousands of sharp ends of broken glass flying at him.
