True fans of the Harry Potter books would be less psychologically scarred, I feel, if they did not go and see this cinematic version of the book. Though the book is long, you can put it down for a bit, but there’s no escaping this long-winded and frankly dull portrayal proffered to us on the wide screen. It’s true to the book... and that’s probably what went wrong.

In the book the plot is bitty, but all works its way in to the finale. In the film, you’re sat there for so long that you’ve forgotten what day it is, let alone the plot directions that were before you two hours ago. If the first three films, could be characterised by their fast pace, great scripts and excellent actors, I’m afraid that in this one, neither appears to be the case.

There are plenty of famous faces again, but you feel that however hard Michael Gambon tries he’s just not quite Dumbledore. Alan Rickman doesn’t really get a chance to be the nasty Snipe we’ve come to love and Gary Oldman is nothing but a face in the fire. I spent more time clocking new actors, such as David Tennant and Shirley Henderson (she probably was Moaning Myrtle in the other films but I was too captivated by their stories to notice). So bored was I, that I even noticed how different the Wheatley twins look.

Emma Watson has suddenly become all breathy, either from suffering glandular fever or by trying to be a sexy screen star (it was difficult to tell). Rather than punching people, she’s now gone all doe-eyed and a bit sickly. One of the more interesting thinga about this film is that they manage to get even more icky and sticky creatures on screen than before. I actually spent a lot of the time in the cinema attempting to look nonchalantly at the other viewers around me and entertained by our neighbour making his friend jump out of his seat a lot.

To give the film due credit, it portrays a difficult plot with lots of lovely effects and is funny at times. However, I was disappointed following the other films and I hope they don’t make the same mistake with the next one and do a three hour version of Half Blood Prince. Frodo Baggins can get away with it, but Harry Potter is for the kids!

Goblet of Fire movie website