like sitting under a cruciatus curse

Rating: 2/10 (17 July 2007)

OK, I simply cannot understand all the glowing reviews! "Separate the movie from the book..."????? Why in the world should someone have to separate a movie from the very book upon which it was supposedly based???? The reason I went to the movie was to see the things I loved about the book - except I didn't get to see them.
OotP has been my favorite of the books (except for perhaps the first one), and the majority of the stuff that made it so great was left out of the movie - or changed so drastically as to make it unrecognizable. Now, I'm the first one to admit that things must be cut in order to make the switch from book to movie, that's just the nature of things. But to take the very scenes that make the book special is just stupid - Fred & George's swamp, Umbridge supervising Harry's career counseling with McGonagall, Marietta with 'sneak' blistered across her forehead (in fact, they left Marietta out entirely, making Cho the villain), the fabulous chase through rooms in the ministry of magic before the battle scene, etc, etc. They did nothing to show how the 4 houses united with the teachers against Umbridge, nor did they show how fabulously the Room of Requirement was prepared for DA.
And on top of leaving things out, things were changed for no apparent reason at all. Harry & Dudley's confrontation occurs in an alley alone, not in the park with Duddikin's friends. The walk home is through the streets of suburbia - not a field of cheatgrass. Harry's patronus is supposed to be a fully formed stag (which is mentioned in the movie) but we don't see it - instead we see a wisp of cigarette smoke chase off the dementors in the tunnel (again, not an alley...) Why the changes? It wouldn't have made the movie any longer to make it the right way.
The movie was crap - I could have written a better screenplay - and I am *very* disappointed with Rowlings for allowing it.
Not only did I have to suffer through all this, the acting was sub-par in this movie, except perhaps by Helena Bonham-Carter, who was excellent.