Funny yet Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2007)

I could not have been more excited to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I am a die hard Harry Potter fan, and have been waiting about a year for this film. The ads looked awesome, and that just added to the excitement.
Boy was I wrong.
The beginning I think was rushed WAY too much. The actor who played Duddley was awful and they don't even explain how Mrs. Figg is a squib. They act like anyone who hasn't read the book is supposed to already know. There is no cleaning Sirius's house, and no Ron and Hermionie prefects. They skipped the entire train ride. There was very little dialog and characters that we thought were important were seen as extras. They spent half the time on the new headmaster and not enough on anything else. We don't see MR. Weasley in the hospital and I wouldn't have even realized that he'd really been attacked if I hadn't read the book. Snape's worst memory, a vitally important chapter, was by far my favorite part of the book was but a five second scene. There is no Harry being upset about people telling him he's like his father.
When they finally get to the department of mysteries, the whole place collapses. I don't recall that ever happening in the book. Sirius's death is bland. I was expecting to cry, but was actually more likely to laugh than anything. He gets Avada Kedevrad (sp?) and just falls through the veil. After that, they don't say anything about his death at all as if it never happened.
The parts that were good were the DA, detention, Fred and George, and the acting. Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable and very funny at times, but should have been about 30 minutes longer.