Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

[eleanor]

[color=dimgray]I just got back from the midnight showing of the movie, and my thoughts are sufficiently jumbled.

But firstly, I'd like to say that I'm pretty much the biggest book-to-movie poetic license supporter (I get pissed off whenever fans complain about Hermione's dress in the fourth movie), and even after that, I thought the movie could've done better in terms of making the movie, you know... coherent, lol. Sometimes the movie had no transition whatsoever, and I thought it was just poor form. I don't know if David Yates was trying to create a sense of disconnection/isolation or something, but it did nothing but make the plot choppy and convoluted.

When the movie first began I immediately had high hopes. [spoiler]The scene of Harry alone at the park watching another family seriously just made me love Harry more (yes, I'm that one person whose favorite character is actually Harry =_ =) and I appreciated the atmosphere Yates was trying. It was different and new, but in the end it didn't really suit me well. Nothing really meshed well together.

I loved how Yates saw the importance of Harry's development through becoming compassionate and closely interacting with characters like Neville and Luna, but none of those scenes really impacted me deeply.

I guess the biggest problem was the fact that Yates had to cram an 896-page book into two hours, but I think it could've been more compact and tight. But some of the cuts were completely understandable: cutting the prefects situation, shortening Snape's worst memory, quidditch, etc.

But MAN, the fight at the Department of Ministries, Sirius's death, and Voldemort's possession of Harry were all amazing. The thing with Death Eater becoming a black cloud-whooshing thing and the Order becoming the white didn't make much sense but it looked awesome anyway. Also, the Dumbledore vs. Voldemort fight=pure win.

It killed me when Sirius called Harry James and when we saw the silent reaction of Harry and Remus after Sirius's falling into the veil, because I love Remus and Harry too much. X0

And Harry's possession. TT_TT That was the part that almost made me cry, when Dumbledore said something along the lines "it's not how you're alike, it's how you're different". I love Harry to bits and pieces and that scene made me teary and weepy.

However, best part of the movie=Snape being interrogated and then smacking Ron with a book. :DDDD[/spoiler][/color]

[jessxemo]

Well I myself love the harry potter series. i havent had the pleasure of going to see it yet. the only part that bugs me from book-to-movie is that they skip important parts from the book, and put other stuff instead. but thats just my opinion

[Darren]

Well, I'm going to have to disagree. I thought the movie was executed perfectly... Or rather, as perfectly as possible considering the length of the fifth book.

I think the problem with the other books being made into movies was that the books were so short that they had problems going about the plot without just jumping into the seemingly pointless action. The 5th book, like you said, was so long that several things were actually better to be cut out.

The majority of people who's read the HP series, has said that the 5th is their least favorite. (Proven by numerous polls) So, in the movie, they were able to cut around all the bull that made Order of the Pheonix so unbearable and get right into the bulk of the story.

In my opinion, this is the only HP movie so far that out-does the book. And it's only downfall is that some of the aspects were changed.

[spoiler]For example, making Cho out to be the one who snitched on "Dumbledore's Army" made me pretty angry. Because, now the future directors (if there are any) will have to take that into account when filiming Cho and Harry's arguments in the 6th book. (should they choose to film them) To be quite honest, by putting the blame on Cho reverses the feelings. Because now I feel bad for Cho being forced to rat out Harry and other using Veratiserum (spelling?) instead of angry that she defended the girl that actually ratted (which was the books version)[/spoiler]

I don't know, maybe it's the differences that made the movie better. Maybe I'm just easily enterained or I just absolutely despise the 5th book. (both statements are true) But the point is that this movie is the one out of the series that strayed the farthest from the book, and that makes me a little nervous as to how it will affect the other two...

[spoiler]I was also dissappointed that they didn't show more rooms of the Department of Mystery like that room with the hummingbird egg... I thought that was really creative and I was sad that they cut all of that out. I think the least they could have done was show the prophecy room a bit, but then have the majority of the chase through the other rooms... Not a major problem, but it was just something I was upset to see. (Or not see)[/spoiler]

And by the way, I just want to say I'm happy with the casting in Order of the Pheonix... I loved Tonks! And even though I alwasy pictured her a little bit more boyish, I'm completely amazed that I hadn't thought of that version.

The other one is Luna Lovegood. Her voice got a little-- okay, a lot-- annoying, but that's how Luna's character is, right? Plus, Luna is one of my all-time favorite characters, next to Ginny and Harry, and she matched my mental description exactly. (except her hair. It was too bright; reminded me of Malfoy. Blonde? Yes. That blonde? No.)

[Goodbye, Face]

[font=arial][size=1]I never read or saw the fourth book/movie, or anything after that, so I don't really know what was cut out. I did enjoy the movie, though. I thought the fights felt like they were cut short for some reason. But I also loved that [i]Marla Singer[/i] had such a prominent role, haha. I swear that woman plays the same kind of character in all of her movies and she was so perfect for it. I hope you know what I'm talking about here.[/font][/size]

[eleanor]

[quote name='Darren']
In my opinion, this is the only HP movie so far that out-does the book. And it's only downfall is that some of the aspects were changed.

I don't know, maybe it's the differences that made the movie better. Maybe I'm just easily enterained or I just absolutely despise the 5th book. (both statements are true) But the point is that this movie is the one out of the series that strayed the farthest from the book, and that makes me a little nervous as to how it will affect the other two...
[/QUOTE]

[color=dimgray] Definitely going to have to disagree there. I think the movie should be seen as extensions of the book, not replacements or equals. Alone, the movies aren't amazing or anything, they mostly play off the popularity of the book series.

I think the content of the movie was great, just the storytelling wasn't. The choppy/sudden transitions between entire scenes were just disorienting to me... I guess some of the emotional moments really touched me, though, and I don't think the movie was a failure.

As for the Cho thing, I was "huh?" but in the end didn't care. I think Cho will play a minor role in the 7th book, if not insignificant.[/color]

[Darren]

[quote name='Lunox'][color=dimgray] Definitely going to have to disagree there. I think the movie should be seen as extensions of the book, not replacements or equals. Alone, the movies aren't amazing or anything, they mostly play off the popularity of the book series.

I think the content of the movie was great, just the storytelling wasn't. The choppy/sudden transitions between entire scenes were just disorienting to me... I guess some of the emotional moments really touched me, though, and I don't think the movie was a failure.[/COLOR][/Quote]
Eh, like I said... I'm just easily entertained, but I definately feel that the movies should be viewed as replacement, (for lack of a better word) not extensions... Because that's like you're always asking for more and it shocks me that you're so leniant with books-to-movies if you want to view them as extensions... That alwasy leads to dissapointment... And I know plenty of people who don't read the books who like the series, and last I heard, the movies are doing pretty well.
Maybe the people are only seeing the movie just because of the hype or perhaps it's because of the good ol' advertisements. (I do admint, the previews make movies look soooo good) But I think Harry Potter would be successful regardless of the books... It's hard to imagine, but I think it's possible.

[quote name='Lunox'][COLOR=DimGray]As for the Cho thing, I was "huh?" but in the end didn't care. I think Cho will play a minor role in the 7th book, if not insignificant.[/color][/QUOTE]
Hey, if we're lucky, she might die... I never liked Cho that much... I'm still itching to find out who the two characters are... :animecry: it will be so sad!

By the way, I didn't think the movie was all that choppy... I enjoyed all the transitions and thought it was perfectly acceptable... Although, nothing compares to an IMAX experience and the run-down theatre I was watching it in wasn't helping my eyes with they did the panoramic effect on the opening scene, among others. I thougth I was going to get a headache. But other than that (which would be better if the theatre's equipment was better) I thought everything about the movie was great... (Which is odd, because 5 is my least favorite book, but the movie is my favorite so far)

[inactive]

I agree with you, Lunox. While I enjoy the movies, they could NEVER replace the books.

[quote name='Darren']The majority of people who's read the HP series, has said that the 5th is their least favorite. (Proven by numerous polls) So, in the movie, they were able to cut around all the bull that made Order of the Pheonix so unbearable and get right into the bulk of the story.[/QUOTE]
While I won't deny that OotP wasn't exactly my favourite book of the series, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "unbearable". I still love the book, and I honestly think that cutting it down to the "bulk of the story" really took a lot away from it's impact.

My sister put it quite eloquently. This movie is good, but it lost a lot of the "heart" that was in the book. Which is because they had to cut so much out. With this movie, I have to say that I was disappointed that so much stuff was cut out, but I guess that's just the way it has to be. I mean, it's 766 pages (UK edition, of course)! It just bothers me that this was the longest book but the [I]shortest film[/I]. Nevertheless, there simply just wasn't time to put in those heart-warming little scenes... It really is a shame. And it really was very choppy, and went along at a very clipping pace. I noticed this with the 4th movie, but it's even more evident in the 5th one.

I thought this movie was great when it came to the dark, psychological aspect of it, though. It really created a mood, and I thought the whole thing with [spoiler]Voldemort controlling Harry, as well as the times Harry is tormented by his link to him earlier in the film[/spoiler], was really well done.

I have to say that I wasn't crazy about the [spoiler]Cho giving away the DA thing either. I mean, if she was forced to do it with Veritaserum, then she and Harry could get back together, right? I think it would have been better if they had just made her do it voluntarily, because then there would be reason for them breaking up...[/spoiler]

Anyway, Tonks wasn't quite like I imagined her, but I thought she was good anyway. I thought Kreacher was EXCELLENT. I loved his design. Umbridge was wonderfully horrible. I also liked Helena Bonham Carter in her role as Bellatrix Lestrange.

Things I would have LOVED to see in the movie:

- [spoiler]Ron becoming a prefect, and Harry's reaction to that[/spoiler]
- Some Quidditch, and [spoiler]Umbridge's related tyranny[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]The line "give her hell from us Peeves" by Fred and George (yes, I know Peeves wasn't put in the movies *cries*)[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]The characters who couldn't see the Thestrals reacting to [I]flying through the air with seemingly nothing supporting them[/I][/spoiler] (WHY didn't they put this in!?! It's so simple...)
- [spoiler]The spinning room in the Department of Mysteries and it's assorted chambers, containing many interesting and strange things... I really would have liked to see more detail put into the Department of Mysteries in general, and their fight there.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Dumbledore bringing the golden statues to life (although I thought the Voldemort vs Dumbledore fight was AWESOME)[/spoiler]

I'm sure if I read the book again I'd find about a hundred more things I would have liked to see put in there, but really--when it comes down to it--this is completely unreasonable, and impossible.

Overall, I really liked the movie. It was well done. You really have to go in seeing it as something completely separate from the books, but that's very difficult for me...

Anyway, the movie's exciting, but it's nowhere near how exciting the 7th book's release is going to be. EEEEEEE!!! *passes out*

[eleanor]

[quote name='Darren']Eh, like I said... I'm just easily entertained, but I definately feel that the movies should be viewed as replacement, (for lack of a better word) not extensions... Because that's like you're always asking for more and it shocks me that you're so leniant with books-to-movies if you want to view them as extensions... That alwasy leads to dissapointment... And I know plenty of people who don't read the books who like the series, and last I heard, the movies are doing pretty well.
[/QUOTE]

[color=dimgray] I guess 'extension' is a bad word. :L I basically view the movies as a fun tidbit to tide fans over while they wait for the next book. I don't think the movies stand well alone, but to each his own. :)[/color]

[quote=medafunk]While I won't deny that OotP wasn't exactly my favourite book of the series, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "unbearable". I still love the book, and I honestly think that cutting it down to the "bulk of the story" really took a lot away from it's impact.

My sister put it quite eloquently. This movie is good, but it lost a lot of the "heart" that was in the book. Which is because they had to cut so much out. With this movie, I have to say that I was disappointed that so much stuff was cut out, but I guess that's just the way it has to be.[/quote]

[color=dimgray] OotP is one of my favorites out of the book series, so I guess I was tough on the movie. I agree with your sister, though. There wasn't a moving sincerity in Harry's friendships (both new and old), and most of the time I felt emotionally unaffected. [/color]

[quote name='medafunk]I have to say that I wasn't crazy about the [spoiler']Cho giving away the DA thing either. I mean, if she was forced to do it with Veritaserum, then she and Harry could get back together, right? I think it would have been better if they had just made her do it voluntarily, because then there would be reason for them breaking up...[/spoiler][/quote]

[color=dimgray] [spoiler]I don't think they wanted to cast Cho as this total *****, to say the least. She isn't in the books, so I think they dealt with it nicely. It provided a reason for them to stop seeing each other, as Harry assumed it was voluntary, but at the same time it didn't cast Cho as a villain. And by the time Cho was redeemed, I think Harry had too much on his mind to think about getting back together, lol.[/spoiler][/color]

[inactive]

[quote name='Lunox'][color=dimgray] OotP is one of my favorites out of the book series, so I guess I was tough on the movie. I agree with your sister, though. There wasn't a moving sincerity in Harry's friendships (both new and old), and most of the time I felt emotionally unaffected. [/color][/quote]
My thoughts exactly. It really just left me longing for more, when it came to the relationships between the characters. It seemed like it was kind of rushed, so there wasn't really any time to slow down and develop those parts of the story.

[quote name='Lunox'][color=dimgray] [spoiler]I don't think they wanted to cast Cho as this total *****, to say the least. She isn't in the books, so I think they dealt with it nicely. It provided a reason for them to stop seeing each other, as Harry assumed it was voluntary, but at the same time it didn't cast Cho as a villain. And by the time Cho was redeemed, I think Harry had too much on his mind to think about getting back together, lol.[/spoiler][/color][/QUOTE]
Yeah...That's true. I certainly understand why they did it, but I still stand by what I said before. I think what I mean to say, is that it wasn't as gracefully done as in the book, if it can be described that way. [spoiler]Although, it wouldn't exactly be convenient to introduce a whole new character (Marietta Edgecombe), just for that small part of the movie, plus if they did that they'd have to introduce that complicated reasoning behind Harry and Cho breaking up. Although, I also would have liked to see Hermione get her little spotlight, as she invented such a clever way to keep the DA hidden, and also punish the traitors (urg, sounds harsh...).[/spoiler] Anyway, yeah, you're right about that, even if it wasn't all that "graceful", I guess there wasn't really a whole lot of options.

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='jessxemo']Well I myself love the harry potter series. i havent had the pleasure of going to see it yet. the only part that bugs me from book-to-movie is that they skip important parts from the book, and put other stuff instead. but thats just my opinion[/QUOTE]

Nah, that's just Prisoner of Azkaban. Hey, Alfonso! How 'bout a little less scenic Hogwarts and a little more telling us who the frick the marauders were!

I look forward to seeing this one, however. I understand that it was executed well for a 2-hour movie based on an 800+ page book, but a friend of mine says she was still disappointed in some cuts ( such as the [spoiler]lack of quidditch in the movie where Ron is supposed to finally make the team[/spoiler] among other things.) I myself am bummed that [spoiler]Sirius still dies,[/spoiler] also.

[Guest jieas]

the books a heavy monster with some slow bits.

i like it the least os the harry potters.

the film whatever it is , has got to be better than the last one. that sucked like a vortex.

half were miscast. cho chang fleur barty crouch.

david tennant was way too sharp and atractive for that role. the only way it could have got worse would be if they cast the lovely john barrowman instead of tennant.

i dont have my hopes very high about it.
im sure it will be good but, not good enough.

[Juu]

[size=1]The Department of Mysteries turned out just the way I imagined it to look as I was reading it. Beautifully done. I'm incredibly jealous of my friends who saw the 3D version.

Luna Lovegood has captured my heart. I adore her.

I think this is the best Harry Potter film by far. I was actually impressed. I walked into this movie expecting to be disappointed, as I have with the others. I have trouble recalling scenes from the others, and each time I watch one, I'm just propelled to go back and read the book rather than admire the film for what it is. The Order of the Phoenix, along with Prisoner of Azkaban, is my favourite Harry Potter book, so the odds of it having my highest respect were low ... but what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be![/size]

[The Spectacular Professor]

Well, I saw it the other day. This movie meets strong approval. Four "Yesh!"'s out of five.

Good bits include:
- DA music montage
- The[spoiler]Dementor attack[/spoiler] at the beginning was well done.
- Dumbledore's [spoiler]phoenix trick[/spoiler] was pure genius.
- [spoiler]Dumbledore VS. Voldemort[/spoiler] was the best fight scene since the dawn of ever.
- [spoiler]Sirius's death[/spoiler] was extremely well done.
- Bellatrix Lestrange and Dolores Umbridge (or rather, loved to hate. The actresses captured the essences of their characters perfectly.)
- Weasley [spoiler]dropout scene[/spoiler]= YESYESYES! BEST SCENE EVAR!

I disliked:
- The absence of Firenze the Centaur (read the book to find out why.)
- Why weren't Ron and Hermione [spoiler]Prefects?[/spoiler]
- The manner in which Umbridge [spoiler]entered the Room of Requirement.[/spoiler] That was utter crap.

Other than that, it was a fantastic movie and looking at book seven, I hope to see even better in the future.

[inactive]

[quote name='Aceburner']- The[spoiler]Dementor attack[/spoiler] at the beginning was well done.[/QUOTE]
I thought this scene was rather crappy. Well, the scene was good, but what's with the Dementors?!? I mean, they looked completely different from the ones in PoA, and Dementors are supposed to always have their hoods up... It says in the book that anybody who sees what a Dementor looks like under their hood would be in no fit state to tell anybody. It just looked ridiculous to me, and it really took away from the impact of the scene, in my opinion. The movie wasn't really that consistent in regards to the previous movies, with the Dementors and also with some other stuff...

Meh, I'm just being overly critical. :animeswea I really did like the movie.

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Darren'][spoiler]For example, making Cho out to be the one who snitched on "Dumbledore's Army" made me pretty angry. Because, now the future directors (if there are any) will have to take that into account when filiming Cho and Harry's arguments in the 6th book. (should they choose to film them) To be quite honest, by putting the blame on Cho reverses the feelings. Because now I feel bad for Cho being forced to rat out Harry and other using Veratiserum (spelling?) instead of angry that she defended the girl that actually ratted (which was the books version)[/spoiler] [/QUOTE]

[spoiler]They never argued in the 6th book. They never even talked to each other.[/spoiler]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='medafunk']I thought this scene was rather crappy. Well, the scene was good, but what's with the Dementors?!? I mean, they looked completely different from the ones in PoA, and Dementors are supposed to always have their hoods up... It says in the book that anybody who sees what a Dementor looks like under their hood would be in no fit state to tell anybody. It just looked ridiculous to me, and it really took away from the impact of the scene, in my opinion. The movie wasn't really that consistent in regards to the previous movies, with the Dementors and also with some other stuff...

Meh, I'm just being overly critical. :animeswea I really did like the movie.[/QUOTE]

Well, in my defense, I kind of disliked PoA (movie), I liked these dementors better, since just making them more skeletal made them even more sinister, and the hole in the hood thing started with PoA, anyway. They're supposed to REMOVE the hood to administer the Kiss.

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE="1"]I really liked it. I always expect the movie to be diffrent than the book. I'm not going to go into detail about my thoughts, because I don't feel like it. :p But I will say that I pictured Doloris Umbrige to be exatly that way. O_O[/SIZE]

[sweetdevil]

I'll say it straight: I didn't like the movie. Everything was just too crammed in, and a lot of stuff was left unexplained. Unless they're going to explain everything in the future movies, I don't see how people understand [B]everything[/B] that was going on. I myself watched it with a friend who hadn't read the book and I had to explain everything to her.

The special effect might have been interesting, but at one point I just felt they were and excuse or a way to drive people's attention from the lack of information. Where was Dobby? Why wasn't Kreacher's role shown completely? Why was the prophecy scene so lamely approached? I guess these questions will go unanswered.

I personally stick to the books. There's just too much to fit in a 2-3 hour movie, and I'd rather not be disappointed by the movies. I gave this movie a chance because I liked the trailers, but I don't know if I'll watch the next 2.

[Udon]

[FONT="Arial"][SIZE="2"][COLOR="YellowGreen"]Yes, I have to agree. I didnt realy lie the movie, but i didnt hate it. It's true that there are parts unexplained and there was only 1 battle scene in the whole movie. The last movie set a high bar for the other movies to come and i dont think they made thier (or my) expectaions.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Guest Sirius Black]

[quote name='medafunk']


Anyway, Tonks wasn't quite like I imagined her, but I thought she was good anyway. I thought Kreacher was EXCELLENT. I loved his design. Umbridge was wonderfully horrible. I also liked Helena Bonham Carter in her role as Bellatrix Lestrange.

Things I would have LOVED to see in the movie:

- [spoiler]Ron becoming a prefect, and Harry's reaction to that[/spoiler]
- Some Quidditch, and [spoiler]Umbridge's related tyranny[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]The line "give her hell from us Peeves" by Fred and George (yes, I know Peeves wasn't put in the movies *cries*)[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]The characters who couldn't see the Thestrals reacting to [I]flying through the air with seemingly nothing supporting them[/I][/spoiler] (WHY didn't they put this in!?! It's so simple...)
- [spoiler]The spinning room in the Department of Mysteries and it's assorted chambers, containing many interesting and strange things... I really would have liked to see more detail put into the Department of Mysteries in general, and their fight there.[/spoiler]
- [spoiler]Dumbledore bringing the golden statues to life (although I thought the Voldemort vs Dumbledore fight was AWESOME)[/spoiler]

I'm sure if I read the book again I'd find about a hundred more things I would have liked to see put in there, but really--when it comes down to it--this is completely unreasonable, and impossible.

Overall, I really liked the movie. It was well done. You really have to go in seeing it as something completely separate from the books, but that's very difficult for me...

Anyway, the movie's exciting, but it's nowhere near how exciting the 7th book's release is going to be. EEEEEEE!!! *passes out*[/QUOTE]


I would have really loved to see all of those things.The thing that bugged me was the fact that the film was 12 and because of that ,they had the slight oppurtunity to do more with Umbridge's quill.It was barely a scrape , yet it was meant to be a proper cut..

[Laborpilot86]

Imelda Stauton was brilliant as Dolores Umbridge, while the actress who played Luna was also very good. Together those two characters carried the movie, which was actually the shortest of all of them despite being the longest book. Sirius's death was mis-handled. It simply didn't have the same impact as Cedric's death in Goblet of Fire, which is bad because Sirius is supposed to be a major character, unlike Cedric.

[Panache]

I watched this movie with my mum. I basically keep watching these because of the hot European girls they keep bringing in(The new Irish girl is my new favorite character...yes indeed). As far as the actual plot went I thought it was ok. I mean it was better than the one before it in my opinion. [spoiler]The persecution of the children actually trying to learn by the government was a pretty cool.[/spoiler] It was a pretty good metaphor for what it's like today. The only thing I didn't like was how long it was. I mean people sorta started to ramble and they had a few scenes that seemed pretty pointless. Overall I got what I wanted. Hot Irish and English chick screentime and half decent storyflow.