Disappointed

Rating: 6/10 (14 July 2007)

I realize that most of what I'm going to say has already been said in other comments, but I feel strongly enough about this that I wanted to put in my two cents worth.
I am one of the die-hard Harry Potter fans, and yes, I did like the Order of the Phoenix book. I probably shouldn't have read it a couple of times this year prior to seeing the movie, though. That way I wouldn't have been so disappointed. I do understand that an 800+ page book has to be condensed to get to a reasonable length movie, but this was ridiculous. I'm hoping that a lot of this was the fault of the screenwriter and that the change for the Half Blood Prince will rectify this particular problem.
Things I have major problems with: 1) Change in the time line of the movie. I knew that this was going to be an issue when they took Harry from the Dursley's house the same night as the dementor attack rather than several days later. Then the time spent in the house with the Order of the Phoenix ends up being non-existent. OK - they didn't have to show them cleaning the doxies out of the drapes, but showing Sirius' mother's portrait screaming would have made more of a point than just a couple of random shots of Kreacher mumbling. Another major time line issue was having Harry get his first Occlumency lesson from Snape the night that Arthur Weasley was attacked. What was up with that?? Then to have the Weasley twins make their exit during an OWL test? In the book they were gone before the testing took place and even made sure that their disruptions didn't conflict with the preparations for the test. These aren't the only time line problems, just ones that I had a major problem with.
2) Major changes in the storyline. Hermione, Ron (and Draco Malfoy) were all made Prefects. Not even mentioned in the movie. And what was up with no Quidditch? The fact that Ron and then Ginny both made the team were important in the book (especially that Ron had such little self-confidence that he was quite inconsistent in playing). And that Harry, Fred and George were all banned from playing. Was there anyone besides me who was looking forward to seeing Luna in a lion head hat when Gryffindor played Slytherin?? And even though I like Neville I fail to see what it added to the story to have him just happen across the Room of Requirement. I do love the fact that Neville started to believe more in his abilities in this book, but finding the room wasn't part of it. Other changes/omissions include making the Harry/Cho first kiss almost anti-climactic because the awkwardness between the two of them prior to that wasn't illustrated very well. And no date on Valentine's Day, with the subsequent falling out that same day. No interview with Rita Skeeter. And a big thing was just glossing over the schoolwork part of this. The OWLs are a huge thing, and it was just mentioned in passing. They were working harder than ever on their schoolwork and the pressure involved with that added to the burden they all felt. No Firenze teaching Divination (that would have been cool seeing the students' reaction to the classroom the first time they went in there). I've already gone on too long with this part even though I could write pages and pages of the things that were changed with the story.
Things that I did like (thus the 6 out of 10 stars): 1) The additions to the cast couldn't have been better. I had mentally pictured Delores Umbridge as dumpier and plainer, but now I will see her as played here. She was excellent - I hated her in the movie almost as much as I hated her in the book. Luna was also excellent. I read an article on her that said she beat out 15,000 others at the casting call and deservedly so. She WAS Luna! I wish Tonks had more screen time because my impression of the actress playing her was very favorable. Overall I have no complaints with the casting of the characters. Like many others I miss Richard Harris' portrayal as Dumbledore because his replacement just doesn't quite do the character justice. I do love the fact that the same people have played the students through all of the movies so far, because we've been able to see them grow and develop through the years.
2) Music and special affects were well done. I didn't like the changes they made to the appearance of the dementors (they were so much spookier looking in Prizoner of Azkaban), but most of the rest was quite well done. I wish the battle in the Ministry of Magic had been closer to the book, but I'm trying to separate the two. If I hadn't known what the battle was supposed to include then I think I would have been happy with what I saw.
Even being this disappointed in the movie will not keep me from eventually buying it when it comes out on DVD, if only so I can see the things that were cut out of the movie shown in the theaters. I'm hoping that some of the problems with the movie will be fixed with a better editing job.
I'm not giving up - I'm really hoping that a better screenplay on HBP will make for a better movie, even though the director is supposed to be the same as on OOTP.