Harry Pot

Well, I just got back from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (I don't actually need to link to this do I? Everyone know what I'm talking about). My ticket stub reads "HARRY POT"--heh. I liked it. I think they made a lot of good decisions when it came to cutting and condensing. This of course means that some of my favorite scenes from the book are gone, but many of those are so complex and imaginative that a movie couldn't do them justice anyway. I'd rather them be cut than ruined. Anyway, good movie. Go see it. Don't read any reviews first because they'll just spoil the fun.

Now, if you haven't seen the movie yet and plan to, DO NOT READ ANYMORE. I mean it. I'm going to mention a few things that may spoil your fun. I'll try to be vague enough so nothing is a spoiler per se, but I'm not making any promises. I mean it.

• Delores Umbridge was well played, but Grawp was not scary enough. Evanna Lynch was great as Luna.
• They added three lines that worked really well--all of which, I believe are the last lines spoken by Kingsley, Sirius, and Luna. Luna's line, I think, I hope, foretells something about book 7.
  
• They are really setting up Ginny as the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter in this one--you know, she's really powerful (although I don't think she's actually the 7th of a 7th; I think we're just supposed to think of that tradition because she's a 7th and go ahhhhh). And they're setting up the romantic tension for the next movie too.
  
• The betrayal of the DA is well done. It wraps up two plots in one move, but is also explained away so we don't hate the person.
• Alan Rickman is just grand.
  
• Why has Neville replaced Dobby? I mean, I understand the decision because Neville is more important to the plot of this story, but they did that in the last movie too.
• Gary Oldman-oooohhh. He's a charmer.
• The credits are poorly done. I think they blew their special effects budget by that time.
• They left out a lot, but I think you'll still be able to follow along without reading the books; it's just not going to be as rich an experience. Go read the books.
  
• And they did explain in this one why Neville freaked out about the Cruciatus Curse in the 4th movie--something I though they should have done then. They also explain who Padfoot is, which is left unexplained in the 3rd movie; therefore implying where the Marauders Map in the 3rd movie comes from, but I doubt anyone wondering where the map came from will make the connection.
• Hmmmm. The actors are getting better, but Emma Watson seemed to slip out of the Hermione character a couple of times.
  
• I didn't cry when Sirius, um, you know. I did in the book, just bawled in the middle of the airport, had to stop reading. I welled up, but I think the fact that Harry's reaction is slow-moed and silenced robs the scene of some intensity. I cried when Cedric died in the 4th movie (but not when reading the book) because I could empathize with the grief of the father. Which is why I cried in Book 5; I empathized with Harry and felt his reaction. Not so much in the movie. But then again, this might have something to do with the acting, but I don't think so.
• A few reviews I read by teens were all "the actors are so hot," and I just didn't see it. I mean, the movie (4?) where all of a sudden these are adult bodies, yeah, I said "wow" out loud in the movie theatre. But they haven't exactly gotten hotter. But then again, me thinking these guys are hot isn't exactly legal, now is it? (Ok, I just checked the Wikipedia oracle and Ruprint Grint and Tom Felton are legal. Daniel Radcliffe still has week to go. Emma Watson a yearish. But still. I didn't look up anyone else because I felt silly, and yet I'm not deleting this bullet. Go figure.)
  

What did you think?