Review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) by Gatsbyj. — 01 Sep 2007

-Love the books; 1st, 2nd, and 4th movies were great. 3rd one was the weakest, and Order the second weakest. This movie did some things very well, and others not so well. I thought the acting was good, the atmosphere was dark and foreboding as it's supposed to be, the special effects were great (I don't know what Charles C.

is complaining about), but they messed up on the story, which is the biggest disappointment. -It was great that a lot of the unneeded parts were cut from the book, which was far too long (even J.K. Rowling admits this), and in terms of plot, the fifth book had the least going on.

BUT, they had only two parts that they needed to truly get right for the movie, which they messed up. [***SPOILER**] 1) The battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort. It could have been a bit longer and more imaginative.

True, they didn't need to follow the fight exactly like in the book because it's just a fight scene and doesn't develop the story, but having Dumbledore bring those statues to life as in the book would've rocked (or they could have expanded the fight in their own way).

2) The prophecy. This is the MOST important part of book 5; it's the climax and moment of revelation. This is one of the few parts of the book where something actually happens and affects the overall stories.

But all we get in the movie is some obscure voice (not knowing it's professor Trelawny makes her character pointless in the movie because her importance in the book was that she made the prophecy.

So why is she in the movie if it's never explained she made the prophecy?) saying a few lines about Harry and Voldemort having to kill each other. Even if you like the movie better than the book, you have to admit that this was the most important moment of the story, and they did in fact ruin it.

The prophecy serves not only to explain what happened in the prior stories, but also sets up what's to come. I.E. We learn that Neville will play a big role in the future (which he does). People who've never read the books thus miss out on a huge chunk of plot, especially why Voldemort chose to kill Harry.

-So overall a good movie, but not spectacular.