Rented this a few days ago and was nicely surprised by it. Although I don't consider myself a fan of the series*, I've watched all and enjoyed all of the movies. (Except for that loathsome first one) But this was the only one that I think went beyond being "a good Harry Potter movie" and managed to be a good movie in its own right, independent from the original book. Which it was, I found, far superior too.
They managed to actually fit in a decent, self-contained story into this one, unlike IV and V which (although enjoyable) felt a little like a semi-random bundle of highlights from the books, and unlike the novel which substituted "story" for "unforgiving slog". In particular, I really enjoyed the increased focus on the characters and dialogue - and a
lot of the background humour - as compared to, well, any of the other films. This also incidentally makes it a nice companion piece to the preceding film, which is far more action-y and far less talk-y.
So yeah, not amazing, but surprisingly good. I'm considering opening up my poor abused student wallet and buying my own copy to watch on its own, and just ignoring the rest of the movie franchise.
*With that said, I
do own my very own replica Gryffindor scarf. Because, you know,
nerd.
hee hee (http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/)
