Order of the Phoenix Movie Review

[marie_j_granger]

Having seen it twice now, I feel prepared to write a proper review.  I used ladyaeryn's first review as a starting point. 

The Good:
-- Evana WAS Luna.  I loved it every time she was onscreen. 
-- They did manage to include a lot of little details from the book, like the fire-breathing chicken. 
-- Umbridge was perfect, down to her wardrobe and office.  She seemed to get almost sexual pleasure over so many students using the blood quills, which was disturbing. 
-- Helena was a brilliantly disturbing Bellatrix, despite having very few lines. 
-- Gary Oldman was very good and very moving as Sirius.  It was heart-breaking when he called Harry 'James'. 
-- Kreacher was included, but he should've been used more. 
-- The Extendable Ears scene was cute, and Crookshanks actually added to it. 
-- The DA scenes were well done; they included more of it than I expected. 
-- The Floo conversation was much better here than GoF.
-- I was sorry they cut the hospital scenes (I wanted to see St. Mungo's) but I was glad they included the bits about Neville's parents and him wanting to make them proud.  In general, I loved Neville and thought Matt played him brilliangly. 
-- Harry's "I Must Not Tell Lies" line when the centaurs were taking Umbridge away was brilliant. 
-- Grawp and his crush on Hermione were adorable, especially the bit with the bicycle bell. 
-- Trelawney's sacking was done brilliantly, although I was sorry we never got to see Firenze. 
-- The thestrals scene was brilliant.  It almost made me into an H/L shipper.  (It's already my secondary Harry ship.) 
-- The N/G side of me was pleased to hear of Neville's capture "helping that Weasley girl."
-- Ginny's crush on Harry got very little screen-time. 
-- The Occlumency scenes were cool for the memories Snape drags up.  (Several H/H bits here!)
-- ETA: Hermione was the only one who noticed Harry's vision of Sirius in the DOM.  Emma went from incredibly happy/amused at the twins' exit to worried out of her mind at Harry's condition.  (Thanks Nic)

The Quibbles:
-- The Dementors looked different than in POA.  Less like Ringwraith's cousins, which was good, but it screws up continuity within the films. 
-- There is no reason to make the shortest film out of the longest book. 
-- Harry would never have pulled his wand with anyone but Dudley around. 
-- No howler from Dumbledore to Petunia.
-- There's no way the Order would have flown beneath the clouds, let alone right along the Thames.  People would have seen them, getting Harry into even more trouble for violating the Statute of Secrecy.  This filming time and effects shots could've been better used in the Ministry.
-- Also, they didn't show Moody showing Harry the slip of paper from Dumbledore about #12, which meant they left the Fidelius charm out all together. 
--No mention of Neville being able to see thestrals. It was ambiguous, but I wish he had been able to see them.  Also, there were no thestrals pulling any of the carriages but Harry's. 
-- No Lily in Snape's memory and no follow-up to the "Snape's Worst Memory" scene.
-- The Black family tree being painted on the walls rather than a tapestry was odd.  I could see why they did it for cinematic effect, though. 
-- We didn't see the locket they couldn't open at #12. 
-- No mention of the mirror Sirius gave Harry in the book.
-- No interview with the Quibbler and no awful Valentine's Date with Cho.  In fact, their relationship wasn't tied up well at all.  She wasn't jealous of Hermione at all, either. 
-- The 'teaspoon' line was there, but it was played off as a joke, which I never got from the book.  Also, we didn't have Hermione acting brusque/distracted/jealous in the post-kiss scene. 
-- Ron being along on the Grawp trip was silly, and Harry not seeming fussed at all when Grawp had a hold of Hermione made me crazy.
-- The twins escape was entertaining, but there's no way they'd have done it during the OWLs.  They didn't even want to interrupt their fellow students <i>studying</i> for their OWLs.  Also, I missed Peeves and McGonagall telling him about the chandeliere. 
-- What we saw of McGonagall vs. Umbridge was good, but I really wanted to see the career advice encounter. 
-- I didn't like them turning Cho into the DA's snitch, unwilling as she was. 
-- No revelation that Umbridge was behind the Dementor attack.
-- No fight with Hermione about whether or not the ministry was a trap that Voldemort was setting. 
-- Harry hearing the prophecy in the prophecy room was all wrong.  It was unclear whether only he heard it or whether everyone did.  They didn't do the whole prophecy.  And even if Harry's the only one who heard it, he did so before Voldemort possessed him, so presumably Voldemort could know it now too. 
-- Ginny!Sue preview with the outstanding "Reducto" at the ministry had hubby and I both rolling our eyes. 
-- Hermione's near death was cut out, which I knew ahead of time, but it still upset me. 
-- We also lost Neville being the only one left standing with Harry and him being Crucioed by Bellatrix. 
-- Sirius' death was surprisingly lacking emotion, and we didn't even get to see Harry grieve afterwards.  Also, I didn't like that Bellatrix used an AK on him.
-- Voldemort and Dumbledore's battle felt very derivitive from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings (Gandalf/Sarumon). 
-- We missed Harry trashing Dumbledore's office.  In fact, other than Harry saying he was angry to Sirius, we didn't see him being much angrier than normal. 

Comments

[genealogygirl.livejournal.com]

Wow ----- *great* review! You covered so much of what I loved and hated about the film. Thanks! :D

I doubt I will get around to writing a review of my own anytime soon, so I'll just direct people here perhaps.

I loved Oldman as Sirius in this one, though he had not done much for me in the other films and was definitely not choice in the pre-casting days. I do wish though that there had been more of grieving!Harry (especially raging!Harry in Dumbledore's office). I thought the film rather downplayed the profound grief that Harry feels, which was disappointing. They played up the bonding and emotional connection earlier in the film, which had built my hopes up perhaps.

Anyway, thanks for sharing such detailed thoughts!

[marie-j-granger.livejournal.com]

I'm flattered that you liked it so much. I've taken it off Friends Lock so you can direct people here if you want and so I could share it with people at harryhermione.

I agree that they did a good job with the Harry/Sirius bond early on and in some ways that made Harry's lack of reaction to his death harder to swallow.