Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
With a daughter who has read each book in the Harry Potter at least five times each and has versions in both Latin and Greek, it is remarkable that it took more than two weeks for me to get to the latest movie in the series. I read book 5 when it came out, and it was my least favorite of the series. My recollection of the book was that there were several hundred pages of Harry being harrassed at school while all the action took place elsewhere, followed by a rousing battle in the last hundred pages or so. I liked the movie significantly more than the book. The pace was fast, and I found the smear campaign of the Ministry of Magic against Harry more convincing in the movie than in the book. This was the only Harry Potter movie thus far that I actually wish had been longer, and it was indeed the shortest one so far. Harry’s romance with Cho is left hanging when a short scene would have resolved things and brought the movie’s treatment into line with that in the book. In addition, Snape’s role as a member of the Order of the Phoenix is not developed or explained to the point that it is in the book, where again a simple scene or even a few lines of dialog would have made things clearer. All in all, though I found the movie entertaining and engaging, and it got me interested in reviewing the series to date.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:50 am
You spell “dialogue” the American way….. it’s weird. Anyway, I’m glad you liked it, and sorry I can’t take you for free anymore.