Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix SPOILERS!!!

[RigaMortus2]

One thing that I was pondering... They mention that Voldemort skilled Cedric Diggory, but techncially it was Wormtail... Is it Voldemort who skills Cedric in the book maybe?

 

[kingpaul]

I'm pretty sure that Wormtail is the one that killed Cedric in the book.

I saw the movie last night with my sister-in-law (my wife and her boyfriend have no interest in the series). We both enjoyed it, but I could definitely tell that there were pieces missing from the book. However, I think they did an incredible job keeping the story line as tight to the book as they did with the omissions that they performed.

The actress they got for Luna was spot-on.

 

[sckeener]

I liked it. This was my favorite book, so I am glad it turned out so well. Having said that, of the film versions, I think this is my 2nd favorite with #3 PoA being my favorite.

I liked the scene with Neville and Luna holding hands or them protecting each other. Since JKR said that they will never be a couple despite fans liking the idea, I was glad the film gave some nods that direction.

I can't remember from the books if Luna's Patronus Charm was a rabbit...if it was just in the movie, I think that was a great addition!

One aspect I disliked was the films version having Cho Chang betray Dumbledore's Army. In the book it was her best friend who had reluctantly joined the DA. The reason I dislike the film version is because it made it sound like Snape actually gave Veritaserum (truth serum) to Dolores Umbridge causing Cho to betray the group and Harry. Thus it either makes Snape or Cho a betrayer....neither seem like that.

Not in any paticular order:

Creature's part in Sirius Black's death was left out.
No scene with Rita Skeeter and Harry's true story in the Quibbler.
I missed seeing Petunia's reaction to the rise of the dark lord again. In the book she actually responds to Harry's explanations about what is happening and gets a Howler from Dumbledore.
Dobby is cut from the films again.
Peeves' actually taking a command from a student is cut from the film
The trip to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was cut and thus the scene with the Longbottom's.
Harry didn't get to see Snape as a kid.
The info that thestrals can find any location was cut.
Lupin didn't get to talk about what he was up to for the order...i.e. infiltrating werewolves..
Lupin and Sirius didn't get to defend James' actions against Snape.
Harry didn't get to see Lily's disgust at James.
Minerva McGonagall didn't take several stuners when Hagrid was dismissed by the Ministry.
Draco's and friends' dads weren't in the paper going to Azkaban.
Since Quidditch was cut completely, Ron making the team didn't appear....thus the Weasley is our King song wasn't sung.
Ron and Hermione's becoming prefects wasn't mentioned in the movie.
The fact that Sirius as an Animagus was leaked to Daily Prophet didn't make the movie.
The DA coins inspired by the Death Eater's arm markings didn't make it into the movie.
Harry confronting Nearly Headless Nick about Sirius' death was left out.


I'm sure I am forgetting several scenes....however, a lot of these deletions I find a bit strange since they would build for the next movie. I could understand one director not caring about building for the next, but in this case the next director for movie 6 is the same one that did 5.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

They did show the Snape as a kid scene (Occlumency flashback). However, there is a continuity error.

Harry is teaching the DA the Levicorpus spell when they first meet in the training montage, but the first time he sees the spell is in the Snape flashbback, and he doesn't actually learn the spell until Book 6.

In general, though, all the cuts from the book did a good job of keeping the movie focused without sacrificing plot-essential stuff.

 

[dravot]

I was quite pleased with the fight at the Ministry of Magic. It was the best magic-combat I've ever seen in a movie.

The rest of the movie was quite good too. It's too bad that they had to cut stuff out, but the movie was 2:10 as it was.

 

[sckeener]

They did show the Snape as a kid scene (Occlumency flashback).

I was referring to Snape as a little kid, not a teen-ager, when Harry got to see him as more human. That was when Harry did Protego and not during the scene with Snape as teenager. We missed out on Snape using the Pensieve to put memories he didn't want Harry to discover.

 

[kingpaul]

Harry is teaching the DA the Levicorpus spell when they first meet in the training montage, but the first time he sees the spell is in the Snape flashbback, and he doesn't actually learn the spell until Book 6.

I noticed that as well. Leads me to believe that they're going to cut that piece of Snape's book out in HBP when it comes to the big screen.

 

[Jeysie]

I was referring to Snape as a little kid, not a teen-ager, when Harry got to see him as more human. That was when Harry did Protego and not during the scene with Snape as teenager.

We did see that actually, IIRC. Just before the scene with Snape being bullied, we briefly see him sitting in a dank room with his knees drawn up to his chest. I think we also saw a shadowy glimpse of someone yelling at him (or yelling at someone else in his presence).

Anyhoo. Overall I thought the movie felt a little too much like the Cliffs Notes version of the book. Not in the sense that certain things were cut out (I don't really have a problem with that), but the sense that I thought they often jumped too abruptly between the scenes that were left in. We seldom had enough of a segue to explain why we were going from one place to the next (although the quite creative Daily Prophet montages helped a bit).

Then again, my friend who has never read the books said he had few problems following the plot and it's now his second favorite movie right after Chamber of Secrets, so maybe I'm thinking about it too much.

There were also a few spots where I couldn't help but think, "You know, that somehow seemed a lot cooler in my head than here in the film." Snape's memories seemed like more of a brief afterthought than a key bit between Snape and Harry. I found

Spoiler

the first half of the Department of Mysteries sequence with the kids and Death Eaters kind of disappointing (although the latter bit with Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Harry was awesome)

. And Sirius

Spoiler

dying was *way* disappointing. The bit with Harry being held back by Lupin with just the music playing and no dialogue was well-done, but the death itself seemed to lack any real dramatic weight.

My friend agreed with me on that one.

Considering that the HP movies usually come up with something *better* than what I was imagining (the Boggart scene in Prisoner of Azkaban comes to mind, for starters), this was kind of disappointing.

There were several things I liked, though. Neville shines as usual, and Luna was her serenely loony self. Umbridge is a delightfully nasty piece of work (and the wall of kittens *was* freakier than what I had imagined). Grawp was less annoying than I would have thought (although I was rolling my eyes like mad when he got all sweet over Hermione. Whatever happened to book-Hermione as opposed to Mary Sue-Hermione?). I thought the "family tree room" with all the names and portraits was cooler and more wizardly than the tapestry in the book, actually. And Bellatrix was *awesomely creepy*... I just wish there'd been more of her!

I guess I give it an overall "It was fun." I'll enjoy seeing it on DVD when it comes out, but I have no itch to see it again in the theater.

Peace & Luv, Liz

 

[Mark Chance]

I think they did it this way in the movie so that they wouldn't have to do all the exposition on "Is Sirius dead or not? What's the nature of the curtain," which would have slowed things down. As it stands, I think it was good.

I have to agree. The movie was slow enough to begin with. It wasn't as boring as the last one. (Evidence: I stayed awake through the new one.) Nevertheless, I have yet to get the fascination. The movies are predictable (and I've not read but part of the first book, which bored me to tears, and I read Augustine's Confessions a second time for fun, which seems to indicate I've got a pretty high tolerance for dull text), either poorly acted (when considering the lead children) or talent wasting (when considering stellar talent like Maggie Smith slumming presumably to pay her bills), uninteresting to mind-numbingly dull, and can't even claim the saving grace of having really cool special effects.

The best I can say about Order of the Phoenix is that at least now I don't have to listen to my children ask to go see it anymore.

 

[Krug]

I didn't find it too bad. The duel at the end was great, and Imedla Staunton was fantastic. I think the filmmakers know the three main stars can't quite carry the movie. They should really try to finish the last two movies soon, before the kids get even older.