Good movie, Mediocre Adabtation

Rating: 7/10 (15 March 2010)

Plot: Harry saves his cousin Dudley from two dementors, but by using magic outside of school he needs to go to a trial. After being found not guilty, he spends the rest of the summer at his Godfathers Sirius' house. When he goes back to school, his new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher Miss. Umbridge basically tortures him, Hagrid is missing, Dumbledore won't look at him, and Harry keeps having dreams about a door at the end of a long hallway.
Review: Let me just say this, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a good film, but as an adaptation, it's only OK. In terms of an adaptation it's basically about as good as The Last Airbender, as in, they got enough for the basic story, but there's so much cut out. This is the only Potter film not to be written by Steve Kloves, and the first directed by David Yates. It certainly shows that this film had a different writer, and to be fair I'm not saying the writer Michael Goldenberg (who also did Green Latern) did a bad job, but he could've done much better. For example Quittich is completely gone, Harry saw his dad tormenting Snape in the Penesive, not by memory charm, young Lily doesn't appear, We don't see St. Mungo's and don't see Neville's parents, Rita Skeeter isn't in it, Kreacher barely appears, Aunt Petunia doesn't get a Howler, Hedwig isn't injured, and much more is either left out or changed. One other thing I don't like is the message of friendship is shoved down your throats near the end, I know that was a theme of the book but it wasn't forcing it. Also a minor nitpick, in the first book, it was established that Harry could grow his hair back in one night, so why is his hair so short in this movie?
After all that ranting, let's talk about why I like this film. Once again, the actors do a great job, and this film also also gives us two of the best casting decisions after the three main leads. Imelda Staunton was perfects as Umbridge, I wanted to smack her in the face. And Evanna Lynch was absolutely flawless in her portrayal of Luna. The special effects are great, the last battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore was pulled off well in my opinion, some say that Dumbledore looked scared and was weaker than in the book, but I don't think that was how the book portrayed the battle. The effects in that scene alone make this film worth watching. And the humor works really well, and like I said, it follows the main plot of the show, just like The Last Airbender, but people seemed to hate that film.
So yes, I like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it's fun, a good film, but as an adaptation, it's mediocre. Because of this, it is my least favorite film in the series.