If you do a review, please ping me. I saw the movie tonight and would love to discuss it, but would hate to be a spoiler.
I won't be writing a review. There are 150 reviews available at rottentomatoes.com.
I will say that Rowling should be forever grateful to Chris Columbus for launching the series. Most famous and successful fantasy writers have been thoroughly screwed by their movie adaptations. T.H. White, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Madeleine L'Engle -- I could go on. Roald Dahl has one good adaptation, Matilda, and several afternoon TV quality films. With the exception of Lord of the Rings. I have trouble thinking of any fantasy series that has been taken seriously on the screen.
POA has moved Harry Potter from the BBC style of adaptation to the Hollywood style without ruining it. Having proved that this can be done, it is up to the remaining directors to build on this accomplishment.
The movie industry seems to attract a certain kind of person wit no sense of history at all. One POA review started out by pondering whether the Harry Potter movie would have to pay royalties to Ray Bradbury for the phrase, "Something Wicked This Way comes."
heheheheheheh....
I just got back from the movie. It was the best of the series IF you already knew the characters. However, it was EXTREMELY busy. There was no downtime in the film. The worst part was the bus ride which didn't make sense in light of the book. I also thought the very ending was poor. But everything in between was great film although it could end up being the red-headed stepchild of the Potter movies.