So, Harry Potter.

First, my disclaimer. I'm not a particular Harry Potter fan. I haven't read the books. Steph's a fan though, so we've been to see the new movie. Twice.

Now, that should say good things about the movie. And in a way it does. There's a lot to like about the new movie.

Firstly, the new director has managed to get far better performances from the teenage actors than Chris Columbus ever did. That may in part be due to them being older, but it is also because we no longer have to suffer Chris Columbus's little tics: the cartoon-wide eyes and mouth to indicate surprise, and so on. The adult cast are as good as ever, overacting their hammy way through the roles.

Secondly, the special effects are much improved. The hippogriff is a remarkably realistic effect. The werewolf was rubbish, but nobody seems to make werewolves look right. The effects aren't as good as those in Return of the King, but they are still good enough that (apart from the damned werewolf) they don't puncture your disbelief. Compare with the embarassingly awful centaur in film 1.

Not all is great, though. As with all the Harry Potter films, the plot is so full of holes you have to hang on to the edge of your seat to stop from falling through. I don't know whether the plots are better in the books, but I really can't see how the books could plug all those holes. (SPOILER ALERT: turn away if you don't know the plot). This time around we've got the ridiculous time travel element, where you go back and save yourself. SF has had to wrestle with this for decades; the movie dismisses it. Then you have the "cheating", where so much effort has gone into setting up Sirius Black as a murderer that when the reversal comes, it isn't credible and the past events don't stand up to scrutiny. Now, I wasn't looking for plot holes. I was trying to avoid seeing them, but I just couldn't. For me, the plot problems are the biggest issue with the Harry Potter films. (END SPOILER).

Another issue, which is both understandable and irritating at the same time, is the geography. Now, we have a new director, and no doubt he wishes to put his stamp on the movie, but... Everything has moved. Hogwarts looks different and it is in a different place. Gone are the flat areas around the school. Hagrid's house is no longer by a field, it is down a steep slope. The whomping willow is on a hillside, yet in movie 2 it was by the school and the car drove from it, past Hagrid's house, into the enchanted forest. Not now. Now you wouldn't even get an off-road vehicle on that route. And while we're on the enchanted forest, it appears to have disappeared entirely. It's been replaced a stand of a couple of hundred trees. And there's nowhere for the Quidditch field. And and and. I could go on, but have been far too geeky already.

My final issue was that a lot of what I liked about the first two films has gone. By which I mean the roles of the minor characters. In the first two films, these roles provided a lot of the humour and the texture of the film. For some reason, this third film has pared down everything that isn't part of the core plot, leaving the movie significantly shorter than the last one. It seems unnecessary.

A lot of the reviews of this movie have said that it is darker than the first two. I didn't see that. Movie 2 seemed darker to me.

On balance, I think my favourite of the movies is number 2. Still, this wasn't bad, even seen twice in less than a week. I would give it about 7 out of 10. Worth seeing.