"I mean, what the heck did they do with Dumbledore's character? "
Don't even get me started. The movies have completely failed to capture the true spirit of the books, the quirky behavior and droll humor of the character of Dumbledore is gone, replaced by a stern, seemingly always angry autoritarian, whereas the actual character in the books is kind (almost too kind), soft spoken, rarely raises his voice, and almost drifts through the books in a befuddled, child-like innocence (hiding the true nature of the man). That character is Rowlings greatest creation, not Harry or the kids. Dumbledore is well written in the books, Richard Harris as Dumbledore was fantastic, the new guy is horrible.
I give them credit for making the movies, the Goblet Of Fire was an enormous book, and they manages to retain enough story to make sense, but it's too dark -even at her darkest, Rowlings still manages to have FUN. The movies are simply getting ponderous.
True, though. The books are simply tremendous and presenting them in only two hours or so is a herculean task. It might have been justified to release them in two parts (close together.)