My Order of the Phoenix Review

First, if you haven't seen the movie and don't enjoy spoilers; Read no further. There will be spoilers here.

I loved the movie. Loved it. I thought it was great. I love the characters. And every two hours I get to spend with Harry, Ron and Hermoine are awesome. So if you're looking for a movie to see this weekend and you're over the age of 13, you probably won't do better than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Here's what I really loved about it:

- The flying scene through London. I know Britons everywhere love that scene. I would if I were from there, or had Harry flown through D.C. or something. I thought that scene was thrilling. I loved the way the group stood on the street and Moody said "If someone gets killed, don't break rank!" and then the brooms show up and off they go. I thought it was magical.

- Harry was the right temperment. He was haughty, snippy, mean spirited. He looked just a tad too old to play a 15 year old, but then again they all did. And we all knew that going into this.

- The ministry of magic. It was very cool. Different from my vision, but cool nonetheless. I liked how at the hearing, Dumbledore stalks off, just as he did in the book. I also liked Mrs. Figg (sometimes) though she also was not exactly as I pictured. And where was Mundugus? His not standing watch is part of what gets the order in trouble later on ... but it was minor I suppose.

- Sirius winking at Harry at the dinner table when he leans back after Harry says "I want to join! I want to fight!" Sirius leans back with a look that says, "See Molly!" and Harry sort of half smiles and Sirius winks at him. Loved it.

- The Thestrals. I was afraid that they would be left out, early on. They didn't look exactly as I pictured them (I thought they'd be more snake or dragon like, with green scales) but they were good.

- I liked Hermoine's face when she accidentally called Luna "loony." But they never really explained that and if you hadn't read the books you probably would have missed it.

- I loved the DA. Everything about it. I loved Ginny. I loved how time elapsed with a montage in the middle. It gave details. I loved how he handled the ministry decrees by posting them all on that one wall, thereby giving a visual to the audience that this woman had passed a lot of laws (even if they weren't done in the correct order!) I liked how the director used the newspaper to advance the story and give detail about Fudge. I thought that was more clever than the previous two directors. (In the 3rd he used the womping willow - I didn't like it so much.)

- I loved the flashbacks / dream sequences too. I thought they were well done.

- Possibly my very favorite scene was when they lead Umbridge into the forbidden forest and she asks Harry to tell the Centaurs she doesn't mean them any harm. To which Harry reply's ... "I'm sorry, But I can not tell lies."

The whole theater erupted in cheers. I also liked Grawp, and find it very telling they included him in this episode. What does that mean for Book 7?

So overall, I really enjoyed the movie. But there's very little about Harry Potter I don't enjoy. Also, going into this film I was set up by my previous 2 disappointments and by the disappointments of some of my family members. So I had low expectations which usually means I leave the theater happy. Overall, I'd give the movie a 3.75 rating as a movie ... and possibly a 1 or 2 as it relates to the book.

You knew this was coming.

They could not fit the entire book in. We knew this. There was never any delusion on my part that every scene would make it in.

But - I did not like how they left out Mundugus in the beginning. Or at least the very mention of his name. They introduced characters that we never heard from again. (Shacklebot anyone?) Why not mention that Mundugus was suppose to be watching over Harry?

Also, why no letter from Dumbledore advising Harry to wait for the Order? That would have taken two minutes. It appeared to me that this director was so set on being shorter than the 4th movie (which was over 3 hours I believe) that he cut things out that could have (should have) been left in.

Why no explanation of Kreacher? Why no explanation on the House of Black? Why the bizarre entrance into Grimmauld Place? Why no explanation of what they are doing at Grimmauld Place for Christmas?

My biggest complaint would be this director choose to stray from the consistency set by previous directors. He may not like it, but the previous director already showed us what talking in a fireplace looked like. He should not have changed that.

What the heck was up with the talking letter in the first place??? Letters that talk are only howlers. Wizards write real letters. And the Dursley's stole the letter out of Harry's hands and read it, they didn't listen to it. And there were several owls that came in and out of the house in those five minutes.

The Dementors were never explained as to be under the control of You-Know-Who, at least I dont remember it if they were.

There's a scene where Harry asks Hermoine if he can sit with them, as if he had not just spoke to them two scene's before. If you didn't know that he was staying away from them from the novels, you may not have caught that.

My biggest problem - RUSHED. It felt oh so very rushed. Kind of like the 4th one did only worse so. The director did use montages to advance things ... which I thought were very classily done ... but it was so, so, so, rushed.

Also - if Umbridge and Filch knew where the door to the room of requirement was from the get go - why didn't she use that wand of hers earlier? I know - it wouldn't have helped the story.

A few complaints I've heard about Cho. I'm really not all that upset about it. It was really not so different from what happened in the book. It was Cho's best friend that ratted them out due to Veritaserum. And introducing her and having her in the movie would have been the 30th person that the director had to explain in a movie he was trying to keep around the 2 hour mark. So eh

- I don't care. I figure unless she has a pivotal role with Harry in the 7th (which I'm doubting) she'll be left out of the 6th movie almost entirely. And it won't affect too much, is my theory.

The other thing that I hated about the 4th movie that rolls over into this one. The prize money from the tri-wizard cup. If Harry didn't give that to the Weasley's, they never would have been able to leave school. So how are they going to explain the joke shop in book 6?

And the fact that Harry and Ron were prefects in this book wasn't discussed. But I guess that's not a big deal. The key fact is that was the book, this was the movie.

There was no mention of Regulus Black - which makes me think his role in the 7th book is less than I envision. But I could be wrong. I find very little chemistry between Hermoine and Ron in the movies, and too much between Hermoine and Harry. I don't like it. There was too little McGonagal fighting with Umbridge (too little McGonagal period) and no talk about Percy and his role in this movie either. No talk about how he and his parents aren't speaking.

Again, it must not be important to our overall, basic plot.

And really - too little Order of the Phoenix. This movie should have been titled Harry Potter and the DA, because they did not discuss the Order hardly at all.

But really, they discussed hardly anything. So much was missing ...

I still loved it. Will probably see it again ... and will own it with pride.

My theories for the book next week ...

Brian says the last line in the book is this:

"Harry, your scar is gone!"

Oh if it were so ...

My father believes that Dumbledore is the one that benefits from a reprieve and that he is an animagus (phoenix).

Brian believes it to be Sirius.

I believe the trio remains intact, and that the infamous epilogue contains Harry as Headmaster at Hogwarts. :) Okay - maybe?

I do not know how I'm going to make it through the next 8 days.

Sorry my review is so choppy! I'm not having very fluid thoughts at the moment!