Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
directed by David Yates

This weekend, after much prodding and cajoling by Absent and others who were aghast that I did not race to see this movie at the witching hour (if not sooner, because I could have seen it as early as 7:30 if I wanted to pay $25 for my ticket), I finally saw the film adaptation of Order of the Phoenix. Let's cut the suspense and just say that, as per usual, I was unimpressed with the movie, though I will not deny that it is better than the adaptation of Goblet (of course it's better than Stone or Chamber because, well, like that would require any work to be better than those monstrosities) but not quite as good as Azkaban. I had higher hopes for this film, considering that I'm not overly fond of this particular book because they decided to pretend that editors don't exist, making it far too large a tome, and I had hoped that this would mean they could actually whittle the story down to its appropriate size. But, alas, they followed suit and pretended that there was no such thing as an editor for the movie either, as clearly evidenced by the utter lack of transitions.

The high points:

• The casting for Tonks and Luna Lovegood was brilliant and spot on.
  
• The movie was only two and a half hours long.
  
• They cut out a good portion of Harry's foul temper and obnoxious whininess.
  
• Sirius had very little screentime. (The like-to-look-at-pretty-boys part of me was clearly sad, but seeing as how my dislike of the character is stronger than my love of the face playing the character, this weighs in as a high point.)

The low points:

• Need I actually say anything about the Escape from Privet Drive Via the Thames scene? I mean, really, people. I understand that this is clearly a more scenic route than the stay-above-the-clouds version of the book, but Harry has a hearing for performing magic in front of a muggle. I would think that a squadron of low-flying brooms would be worse.
  
• The color palette was really dull and boring. Granted, this enabled Umbridge's pink to stand out all the more, but still . . .
  
• The Ministry of Magic was grossly disappointing.
  
• I would like to say that the child actors' acting is improving, which I guess technically it is, but it was still rather painful at times. Especially Watson's.
  
• I've already commented on the horrendous thing they've called editing, but it must be mentioned again. Holy choppiness, Batman.

So, in the end, the movie turned out about as I expected, though a little on the disappointing side.

Fortunately, the seventh book comes out in 3 days, 3 hours, and 9 minutes. This will be a joyous way to atone for the wrongs Hollywood unleashed upon us last week.

Speaking of the happiness that is 3 days, 3 hours, and 8 minutes, Absent and I will be having a Harry Potter Sleepover. She has been feverishly slaving away at perfecting her butterbeer recipe and has been making chocolate frogs and other tasties. (Personally, I'm hoping for pumpkin pasties, but I will not press, seeing as how I have not volunteered to help with any of the food preparations, unless you take into consideration the sacrifices I'm going to make to make sure I'm at the bookstore when it opens Friday morning so I can pay for our books and get a bracelet with a sickeningly low number so that we can begin reading immediately at the stroke of midnight.) Anyway, if anyone would like to join us in sequestering ourselves from the world so as to not discover too early the fate of the world, please let me know. There are plenty of beds and reading lights.