Lucrative as all hell, but HARD AS FUCK. He has to please big-wig studio execs, throngs of adoring fans, and Jo Rowling, for whom Harry Potter is a cash cow beyond her wildest dreams...beyond the fact that she lives and breathes this story and has done so for over a decade now.

So naturally, for all the gushing, his attempt is imperfect.

We all knew it would be...as they have been in the past.

When, in Prisoner of Azkaban, it was never mentioned that Prongs, Padfoot, Mooney, and Wormtail = James Potter, Sirius, Lupin, and Peter Pedigrew, and the true depth of their collective friendship was only alluded to a couple of times (like, they never mentioned that three of them learned to be animaguses for the sole purpose of dealing with Lupin during his werewolf phase), it struck me that the degree to which "heart" serves as a center piece in the books is necessarily diminished because of the limitations of "film," namely time constraints. Or perhaps the unlimited resources are the problem...like if they were on a shoestring budget, they might focus more on the acting and the characters because they couldn't afford 15 minutes of a flying Bulgarian horntail).

I don't think any fan of the Potter series reasonably expected 700+ pages to be effectively made into a big budget, wide-ranging movie without losing some of what made it so wonderful to begin with.

And so it is that the book is, indeed, better. No revelation there.

That said, the movie was, nonetheless, amazing. I'm going to sound hyper-critical because, well, I'm nitpicky, but I thought the movie was a solid go and trying to capture the things that happen in this book, leading up to Voldemort's corporal resurrection.

I'm no special effects geek, but it all looked and sounded pretty damn good to me. I felt like I was at the quidditch world cup, except, I do feel like something's amiss when the visuals are that good, and there's no proper quidditch match. I mean, we didn't get to see why Krum was so amazing, and why it should have been really shocking when he walked into the school.

Acting-wise, the kids are getting more and more complex, which is another word for "confusing."

Ah to be a teenager again. Even so, the Ball scene ending with Hermione sitting on the steps, taking her shoe off and rubbing her foot...um...weird.

So since I'm talking about the Yule Ball, I'll say that my biggest criticism of the whole movie is that I AM disappointed in that the relatonships in this movie got the shaft. You assume that Cho is important to Cedric (btw, HOW CUTE WAS KATIE LEUNG WITH HER SCOTTISH SELF???) because she was tied up for him to save in the second challenge, and she went to the ball with him, but nowhere do you see her interacting with him in a way that that would actually make sense.

Same thing with Krum and Hermo-ninny.

Even Fleur. We didn't really get to see much from her at all. And actually, she seems mad weak as of now. We didn't see her fight the dragon. She was dq'd from the diving challenge, and the first one out in the maze. I know that's what happens in the book, but I feel like we got more of a well-rounded snapshot of who she is in the book. If I hadn't read the book, and just saw the movie, I would have wondered how she made it into the TriWizard Tourney to begin with.

Hell, same thing with Hermione and Ron. I think I need to re-read because I don't remember them being to "blatant" with their feelings so soon in the series. I mean, clearly Ron was hating, but the way he reacted to Hermione calling him out at the dance didn't even phase him mopiness. At the very least, you'd think he'd give an inkling that she has exposed something that wasn't out in the open before, but it was like nothing happened...like Ron was just being moody in general.

And even in terms of really *feeling* the impact of Cedric's death...we didn't really see what a great guy he is, and why Cho, and the whole school would be DEVASTATED by his murder...not just saddened. I remember Dumbledore's speech at the end had me BAWLING on the public bus when I read the book. Of course I was crying at the end of the movie, because that's just how I do (I got teary the moment Cedric first came on screen...the tears started flowing when his dad gave him that big ol' hug before he went into the maze...when his blue ghost said, "Take my body back" it was a WRAP!), but it wasn't the same punch-in-the-gut loss I felt when I read it. Also, there was no exploration of Harry's sadness and regret about his choice to "save" Cedric and to go for the cup at the same time. I thought that spoke to a part of Harry's character that we hadn't seen before in the books, but they cut it out of the movie. Also, in the book, didn't Dumbledore tell EVERYONE that with Voldemort's return, that everyone would have to choose a side, and that when that time to decide comes, for them to remember Cedric? That really got to me emotionally, but again, it wasn't in the movie. He reserved the language about choices for Harry and Harry only.

I love Neville Longbottem to DEATH. He was dynamite this movie, and I think Kloves definitely did him right by setting up his increasing importance in the story. He's just where he needs to be for Order of the Phoenix

As was already mentioned, Mad-Eye Moody was marvelously on-point as played by Brendan Gleeson. Though, again, I guess I have to re-read the book, but I'm not sure why he was so vicious toward Malfoy if he was the "bad guy" the whole time? Why'd he even show the Unforgivable Curses, and why was he so compassionate toward Neville afterward? Then again, what was it he gave to Neville? I can't remember right now...

And while I'm talking about Barty Crouch Jr. as Moody...how about those re-writes, eh? I know they've had to tweak and edit here and there in the other movies, but I don't remember any subplots being completely re-written as dramatically as they were in this installment.

-So an audience member who did not read the book is to believe that Barty Crouch Jr. just slipped out of Azkaban when there was an all out, relentless search for Sirius all through Prisoner of Azkaban? I mean, it can turn out that they go back and fill in the blanks in the fifth movie in a way that's close to the way the "Barty Crouch hiding his son in his basement for the last umpteen years" situation went...perhaps that's why they kept saying how much it broke Crouch Sr.'s heart to put his own son away.

-No house elves at ALL? No Dobby stealing the gillyweed and telling him, "They've got your Weezy!" No Winky getting faded off the pumpkin juice? (BTW, she was so important to the Barty Crouch story, but whatever...)

-In the beginning, they didn't have the cloud of suspicion around Harry because the first Dark Mark was done with HIS wand.

-(Almost) No Rita Skeeter? She was a riot...Miranda player her pitch perfect, and the fact that she disappeared after the first challenge was a bit hard to swallow. No animagus revelation! No fun! That was Hermione's cerberal project in Goblet of Fire.

-So Filch is a clown now? Not really a "re-write," but an interesting twist nonetheless. That fool had me cracking up everytime he came on screen. Slow dancing with Mrs. Norris? Come ON! lol.

I'm sure there were more, but I guess they don't really matter anyways.

One last thing. I realize this is a dumb observation, but am I the only person who thought "Them chicks is AKA than a MUG!" when the French girls came in?

And then when the swarthy East European dudes came in with the canes...I was like, "You're kidding. They had the girls come in like AKAs and the dudes come in like Kappas, what's REALLY going on though?"

Maybe that was just me...

Sorry for the rambling. The movie's not fresh in my mind since I saw it one Friday...but I'll be seeing it again this weekend. This is the best my brain can do for now.