July 11, 2007 10:54 am

HP Geekery

What could be more fun than going to a small-ish show where people bring their 7-year-olds, babies, and grandmothers to listen to two boys dressed in Hogwarts uniforms sing songs about Harry Potter books? Nearly nothing, save for going to the FIFTH HARRY POTTER MOVIE later that night! Woo!

Yes, I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

WARNING: Movie spoilers ahead! Proceed at your own risk! Run away now if you haven’t seen the movie yet!

Firstly: I thought it was way better than the third movie, but I still don’t think it quite “made it.” It sort of felt like one giant montage of scenes. I understand the book is freakishly long and you can’t very well make a short movie out of it, but it seemed like it just skimmed over the main points and then showed some news articles and… ehh.

Second: Poor Cho. They used her as the scapegoat for snitching on the DA instead of her dipshit friend. They insinuated that she didn’t snitch so much as Umbridge used Veritaserum on her and she was forced to tell, but I don’t feel it was very clear and I felt bad that she bore the brunt of it. They also made no mention of the hex Hermione put on the signup sheet or the fake Galleons she charmed. I liked those and I was sad they were left out. Also, they didn’t show Cho and Harry in Madame Puddifoot’s Tea Shop where she storms out crying.

Third: They glossed over the Weasley twins leaving school. Fred and George make some off-handed remark about how they think their time of formal education is done and then a while later there are fireworks and they fly away and you really don’t hear much from them after that. Nobody mentions their wizarding shop that they purchased with Harry’s Tri-Wizard winnings, and they don’t make the swamp in the hallway. I was looking forward to the swamp.

Fourth: Umbridge was perfect. I hated her. She got the “hem hem” thing down pat and she had creepy cat plates on her office walls and she was wonderfully awful.

Fifth: BELLATRIX LESTRANGE AVADA KEDAVRAS SIRIUS BLACK IN THE MOVIE. How totally inaccurate. I couldn’t believe they had her kill him and made it seem like that’s how he fell into the veil. Sirius falling into the veil was an accident and that’s why it sucked so much – it wasn’t anybody’s fault, and he wasn’t really dead when he fell so nobody knows what happened to him. I thought Helena Bonham Carter did an okay job playing Bellatrix; she was certainly strange enough. I just didn’t like that she danced around like, “I KILLED SIRIUS BLACK!” No mention was made of the two-way mirror that Sirius gave Harry to get in touch with him.

Sixth: You could totally tell that McGonnagall disliked Umbridge, but not many of the other teachers showed their disdain for her. For instance, in the book, when the Weasley twins make the swamp, the other teachers know how to get rid of it but they all pretend that they are incapable because she is so great and powerful and they didn’t want to step on toes. Not much of that was portrayed in the movie.

Seventh: I was glad they kept Kreacher. I worried that they’d eliminate the house elves from this movie like they have before, but Kreacher is so important to the next book that I didn’t think they could gloss over him. He was certainly creepy.

So! Overall, I didn’t dislike the movie. I think that it was very difficult to condense a zillion page novel into a couple-hour movie, so I get why things were cut. What I don’t get are things like Cho being the snitch instead of the friend, or why they had to dramatically break every damn prophecy in the Ministry of Magic, or why they didn’t mention Quidditch hardly at all. I think I’d actually be more irked with it if I had re-read the book just prior to seeing the movie – having not read it in quite some time I think I was more forgiving with the plot departures.

P.S. I loved the scene in the Gryffindor common room when the trio are talking about Harry smooching Cho. Hilarious.

There are a few other things I could bring up but I’ll leave it at that for now. If you’ve seen it, I’d love to hear what you thought!

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4 Comments

  • Sleeper says:

    Yes the “gryffindor common room” scene was my favourite too! I think out of all those 3, Rupert (Ron) can act the best. Or..well I developed a little crush on him during that scene.

    help!

  • Elea says:

    My friend had me watch the fifth movie, and…is it just me or is Daniel Radcliffe actually a rather wussy Harry? I keep thinking, he’s not THAT lame in the book! I really enjoyed the actress who played Umbridge as well though. She portrayed the woman even better than I could’ve imagined.

    While I’m not a big fan of the movies, I’m extremely excited about the last book coming out tonight. I’ll be picking up my copy at midnight! (Wait…how bad is it that I’m admitting that?)

  • Nirthikaa says:

    I agree with Elea and say that I am not a big fan of the Harry Potter movies but I am hyped up for the release of the last book tonight.
    It’s also sad that the movie switched up a few facts; especially with Cho being the snitch and Hermione not charming the fake Galleons. That charm was a good part in the story.

  • Meggan says:

    @Elea: Um, not bad. I went to a Harry Potter block party at Powell’s bookstore and got there at 7pm when, um, it didn’t start until 10. And you don’t get the book until after midnight.

    Also? I was wearing a black cloak and Gryffindor tie.

    /dork.