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Anyone who's read any of my previous Harry Potter reviews likely knows that I'm a Harry Potter fanatic. I've seen all the moveis, I've read all the books, and I have very specific opinions when it comes to them.
That said, I have to say, this is the worst of the movies so far.
Granted, I'm not that fond of the book, but I'm even less so of the movie. There was simply no heart in this movie. It was torn out by a screenwriter who is so caught up in his crush over a girl a third his age that he forgets the movies are about Harry, and not Hermione.
I'm not even going to go into all the minor issues here. But there is one major one--Barty Crouch. Now, I wondered how they would do this storyline. It's really rather vital to the underpinnings of this specific story, but also to the world at large. And I knew they'd have to do it right to make it work. They failed.
Barty Crouch and his son are the central part of this plot, and without that story there to flesh out what is otherwise a very rediculous year (I'm not even going to go into *why* Dumbledore felt Harry had to compete--that's a book issue.), the story feels rushed and rudderless. Without the knowledge that Barty spent time in Azkaban along with the other Death Eaters, or that Barty was one of the ones who attacked Neville's parents, why does he need to even be insane at all? And why would he have not gone straight to Voldemort's side as soon as he could? Not to mention the fact that he apparently only does his crazy-tongue thing when he's looking at his father?
Removing that one fact took about 75% of the punch of this storyline, and left me wondering why they were still bothering at all.
And then there is what that takes from the overall story of fathers and sons in this series. Barty and his son had such a bad relationship that it makes you see the flaws in the Wizarding World so much sharper than any of the father/son relationships we have seen before. And also shows that not everyone who is fanatical is just bad, and that not everyone who is "good" is perfect. A much more important story than focusing on the rediculous tasks Harry and the others had to compete in.
The only time the movie truly came close to redeeming itself was Voldemort's rise at the end. From the moment the boys appeared in the graveyard, we suddenly had a real plot again, and Harry had a true purpose once more. Magnificent.
Too bad the rest of the movie couldn't have just been excised so that we could have enjoyed it more.
6/10
