I just came home from watching HP4 ... I must say, although it was *extremely* abridged (try making any 700+ page book into a 2.5 hour movie ...), I felt it stayed much truer to the book than that atrocity Alfonso Cuaron put out. It seemed more in the style of Christopher Columbus, except it left out any scene that didn't play a crucial part in the plot or foreshadowing for the future.
Just my opinion though ... my friends, avid HP fans as well, enjoyed HP3 but didn't come out feeling pleased with HP4.
As with any of the movies, however, you've really got to read the book to understand what was going on when it was. There were several slight allusions to things that, if you never read the book, you might not have picked up on.
