HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

It's funny, but even after reading all 7 Harry Potter Books, I still look forward to each new movie when it comes out, seeing it as soon as possible and then buying the DVDs as soon as they're available so I can watch them again and again. It's like going over to an old friends' place and seeing new things about them you didn't notice the last time you visited, catching up with any changes, seeing them in a new and different light than what you remember sometimes, but hopefully having a fun, fond visit.

The first 4 movies were excellent adaptations in my opinion, managing to reduce the huge tomes down to very watchable, entertaining 2-3 hour movies that were true to the spirit and characters of the stories. So I had high hopes for HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, getting a chance to revisit a story I hadn't read for a while. (I try not to reread the book that goes with the movie right before seeing it, trying to let the movie stand on its own merits first, then going back to refresh my memory.)

Unfortunately, somewhere between the screenwriter, the editor and the director, (or maybe even the studio), it was decided that the people watching HARRY POTTER movies were looking for shorter and shorter movies, as if we don't have the attention span needed to sit and watch a movie that would do justice to J. K. Rowling's book, so this one got compressed and chopped up and speeded up so much that quite a bit of the storyline is lost and so is much of the message of this volume. It feels like they felt that substituting dark and brooding lighting and quick-cut flashbacky type scenes would be enough for audiences to 'get' the story, thus cutting out an extra, but much needed, 20-30 minutes from the film to make it fit what they felt was a more 'commercial' amount of time for a movie.

It's too bad because this book becomes a lynch pin in the story line, setting up the impending battle for the last two books, putting people into place, setting up sides for the final outcome. For anyone who hasn't read the books and only knows the stories from the movies, this one skips over too much or doesn't give enough screen time to important plot points for viewers to appreciate the intricacies. There's great cinematography and amazing sets, but no scene ever seems to last long enough to really establish the story - like quick dark sketches stitched together, almost more like a music video than a movie...

The actors, as always, are wonderful, though. The casting of these movies has always been spot on and make them worth watching in and of themselves, even with the odd editing. By using all Brits, the movies retain the very English look, feel and sensibilities of the books, something I appreciate.

Now if only the Powers That Be could figure out that Harry Potter fans would sit for 3 hours or even longer for a movie if it was done right, especially with such great actors, people I can't get enough of most times. Maybe they'll do a better job with movie 6, HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. However, it's supposed to be by the same director as ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, but with the writer of the earlier ones doing the screenplay, so I'm hopeful they can work together this time to create the best HARRY POTTER movie yet...

In the meantime, off to go buy a copy of HPATOTP - while not my favorite of the series, still very watchable overall, and something to keep me in the Harryverse until the next one is released. (That and rereading the books, of course...) Plus I want to see the deleted scenes and other neat material included with the 2 DVD set. Probably a lot of what I missed in the movie hit the cutting room floor and this may finally be my chance to see what it was. (Or if I find a really good deal, I'd rather get the 3-disc set. Off bargain hunting on eBay and Amazon I go...)

(2007) Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman (and Many Many More!)

On Sale at eBay
On Sale at Amazon