A Movie Review for You!

Ok, it's really for me, but that is ok, too.

Now I have mentioned before that I love all things Harry Potter. I started reading the books because my son was reading them and I wanted to ensure they were appropriate, but then I loved them myself. I eagerly await each new book and I eagerly await each new movie, but I have not been as impressed with the last 3 movies as I wanted to be. I have spoken to people who have not read the books and they didn't seem to understand my upset after "Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Goblet of Fire". I thought there was too much information left out of each movie and that movie-goers would be lost and confused. I was quickly told that this was untrue and people who had not read the books thoroughly enjoyed the movies. So I was lost and confused. "How is that possible?" I thought.

So I went to see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" at the first midnight showing. By 1AM, I wondered why I was not at home in bed asleep. It wasn't that it was a bad movie, not really. The special effects were very nice and the sweeping scenes of London, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade were beautiful. It wasn't that the information that did not make it from the book to the movie was all that important to the story line. Did the fact that Ron recieved the Gryffindor prefect badge instead of Harry or that Ron made Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team make a huge difference in the story line? No. So why was I upset?

Well, I have had several days to think about it and I finally realized... the things that are being left out of the movie are the things that make me LIKE these characters in the book. They are the things in the story line that make them human.

*WARNING* *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

In "Order of the Phoenix" there are no ghosts, there is no Dobby, there is very little Snape. Dolores Umbridge has been watered down so that she is simply annoying not truly hateful. This is the O.W.L. (Outstanding Wizarding Level) year for Harry, Ron and Hermione and that is BARELY addressed. The only exam that was included was Defense Against the Dark Arts and that, technically, wasn't completed due to Fred and George. If Fred and George's "skiving snackboxes" were addressed at all, I missed it. Kreacher was done well, but again, he wasn't around long to enough to get to know. I never truly felt Harry's rage and angst like I did in the book. I never truly felt Siruis' restlessness or resentment of being cooped up. I felt like Hermione's cleverness with the D.A.D.A. coins and the parchment that everyone signed should have been included (I actually read somewhere that Ron was left out more so that Hermione could be included, where?)

The Department of Mysteries battle through the brains, the time turners, and everything else I didn't really miss. I thought the battle was well done. But the "Avada Kedavra" was never used on Sirius in the book. I have seen it hinted by J.K. Rowling that Sirius may return in "Deathly Hallows", how can he return in the movie? We all know that is the killing curse. (And that may or may not be true).

So in case you missed my opinion, I didn't really enjoy this movie. The cinematography was great, the acting was ok, but the storyline was subpar. If I hadn't read the books, I wouldn't care about these people AT ALL.

So, I will wait as patiently as I can for one more week and then I will say Good-bye to Harry, Hermione, Ron and the rest of the wizarding world.

Watch this space for my review of the book!