As a potter fan, I enjoyed watching this movie the least. I'm with you there, and for many of the same reasons. Of course, I'm not sure it was possible to do justice to this book. There's simply too much to the story to do it any real justice.

I would say the hogsmeade permission slip was important, as it setup the marauder's map, which was important to the story. And it's not like they spent forever dealing with it, just a quick moment with the dursley's and then the scene with Minerva.

At this point, I figure any future this story has in movies will not be "the movie of the book" but simply "a movie loosely based on some book we once read."

Yeah but with Black on the loose, they don't need to bandy about with some slip for an excuse for Harry not to go. The only lasting import the slip has is who eventually *does* sign it. The worst thing this movie did was to do away with the James Potter & co storyline, which I feel was vitally important.

Also, if you say they couldn't possibly fit it in one movie, they still should hav made it more than 2.1 hours long. I can't see them being afraid of having as much success as Lord of the Rings, 3 hour theatrical, 4 hour Extended Edition approach.

I feel that Lucas definately should not make Star Joke Episode see 3 PU, and maybe this lot shouldn't bother putting together Goblet of Fire either.