I half expected his head to spin around

Rating: 3/10 (14 July 2007)

If you're not going to keep to the plot and spirit of the book, why direct it? JK Rowling has no say over what they do to her books, but in the first 4, the directors and screen writers kept to the feeling and plot of the books. These books are loved and pored over by millions of people. The first movies basically stayed with the plot and ambiance of the book. This one was tricked up to give it a more "horror movie" feeling, to the detriment of the movie. Yes, it needed to be darker; the book was definitely darker on many levels, but the way it was done changed this pivotal book in the series to not much more than a mish-mash of scenes that lent themselves to the machinations of typical Hollywood horror movies. It begins immediately, in Little Whinging. Why change the way Harry and Dudley first encounter each other? Why change the way dementors look? Why minimize the shock Harry feels when he learns Mrs. Figg is a squib? Why totally eliminate the important scene when Harry realizes that Aunt Petunia knows about dementors and understands about the evil of Voldemort? (And why have Aunt Petunia dressed in what looks like a trashy sun-suit type outfit that might have been seen in the 40's? It looked ridiculous.) The point of it in the book was to blur the line between the wizarding world and the Muggle world; it was glossed over for no reason. Obviously this idiot of a director and the screen writer don't truly know the books. I could go on with just the problems with the first 20 minutes, and the movie goes down hill from there. Plot lines were chronologically changed. The person who betrays Dumbledore's Army is changed to Cho-- why? That is a totally ridiculous and unnecessary plot change. Percy Weasley shows up working with Fudge, no explanation of why or the background of the rift in his family, which is key in the next book. Why have Umbridge in muggle clothes throughout the movie? The book sets her apart by having her wear a horrible pink cardigan over her robes, which is much more ridiculous look than having her wear- admittedly horrible- muggle clothes. The wonderful feeling of revenge the students have while harassing Umbridge when she takes over as Headmistress is all condensed into one scene of Fred and George throwing fireworks and flying out of the castle-- no explanation of the background of that, of the coming of their joke shop, of the fact that Fred, George and Harry's broomsticks had been confiscated by the foul Umbridge. When the six rescuers take off on the thestrals to go to the Ministry, the fact that three of them cannot see the thestrals and feel as though they're going to fall while flying on invisible creatures is ignored. The intriguing rooms in the Department of Mystery are eliminated, and the room with the prophesies and the duel with the Death Eaters before the Order arrives is condensed and does not show how well the students were able to fight off the Death Eaters, or the fact that Hermione and Ron are possibly seriously hurt. Even though Bellatrix Lestrange calls Harry a filthy mudblood, they left out the crucial fact that Harry informs the Death Eaters that Voldemort himself is a mudblood, that his father was a muggle-- more clear evidence that the director does not really know these books or the point of all of it. Bellatrix Lestrange, who in the book oozes evil and is obviously devoted to Voldemort, is shown more as a madwoman, and disapparates without talking to Voldemort. The worst scene of all is when Voldemort possesses Harry-- he suddenly turns into a modern version of Linda Blair's possessed character in The Excorcist, red eyes and all. I half expected his head to spin around. The crucial scene, where Harry talks with Dumbledore about what it all means, the point of the whole reason for Harry's fate being connected to Voldemort's, is glossed over into about 4 lines of dialogue between them. The only reason I gave this film even 3 stars is because there were a few good scenes, where they actually kept to the spirit and the plot of the book-- Harry and Cho's kiss; Harry's anger both because of adolescence and because his emotions are tied with Voldemort's; and Luna Lovegood; -- were all very well done. Also, cinematography was good. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have become fine actors. It's been fun seeing them not only grow up, but grow in their profession. In the past, we've gone to see each of the HP movies at least three times while they were in theaters, to experience them on the big screen, and bought the DVD when it was released. We won't be doing that this time. Of course, the director and the movie studio can count on huge audiences for these movies, because of the books, and it's obvious in this one that because of a guaranteed huge profit, they saw no reason to give this book the spirit of Rowling's book that it deserved. I'm sure many people will bring up the point that these books are so long that of course they have to be cut, shortened, manipulated to fit time constraints, and of course that's true-- but the first four managed to do that and still stick to plot lines and the point of each book. This one is such a disappointment. If the next movie is directed and written by the same people as this one, I won't be seeing it. Not that the cost of my one ticket will make the slightest dent in Warner Brother's pockets, but at least I'll have the satisfaction of not contributing to their profit.