My OotP Review

[Phyllis]

I was quite pleased with OotP - I thought it stayed as true to the 
book as one could hope for in a 2 hour movie that was attempting to 
condense 766 pages of text.  
 
I liked the touches they added for the obsessed fans - the goat in 
the Hog's Head, Mrs Figg's carpet slippers at the Ministry hearing, 
the boxed fire-breathing chicken in the Ministry of Magic elevator, 
Neville holding the Mimbulus Mimbletonia.  However, my husband (who 
hasn't read any of the books) was quite curious about what exactly 
the odd object was that Neville was holding.
 
I do have a few quibbles, though.  It took my husband and kids awhile 
to figure out that Dudley was the person Harry was talking to in the 
play park in the beginning.  I suppose they should have referred to 
him as something other than "Big D" for the non-book readers.
 
Mrs Figg seemed to come out of nowhere, since they haven't included 
in her in previous movies, and they never said she was a squib, which 
would have explained why she saw the Dementors when Fudge said 
Muggles can't see them.  She also seemed to lack a sense of urgency 
when she approached the boys after the Dementor attack.  Otherwise, I 
thought the Ministry hearing was really well done, and I especially 
loved the shot from above, which is the view Harry would have seen 
when he first looked into the Pensieve in GoF.
 
It doesn't make sense that Harry should be tried before the 
Wizengamot for breaking the International Statute of Secrecy for 
producing a Patronus charm in a deserted tunnel when broom-riding 
wizards pass within inches of tour boats on the Thames!
 
Arthur Weasley has no sense of urgency in getting Harry to his 
hearing on time when he finds out the time has been changed and 
they're already late.  And while he and Harry are late, Fudge is 
still lolling in the corridor talking to Lucius.
 
I loved how the extendable ears were in the shape of an ear, and 
howled when Crookshanks first played with, then ate the ear!
 
I think they should have either left out Tonks and Shacklebolt, or 
taken a few seconds to explain that they're Aurors working from 
inside the Ministry to help out the Order.  Also, it was confusing to 
have Tonks change her facial appearance while neglecting to explain 
that she's a Metamorphmagus.  And I was dying to hear Tonks say "Both 
buttocks still on?"
 
They never said the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was 
located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, yet Dumbledore orders Phineas' 
portrait to Grimmauld Place after Arthur Weasley is attacked.  My 
husband was quite confused by all of this - he wasn't clear on 
how/why Arthur was attacked and how he was saved.  I don't think they 
did enough to explain that Voldemort was possessing the snake at the 
time of the attack, that the Order was standing guard in front of the 
door to the Department of Mysteries (which is why Arthur was there in 
the first place), and that the Hogwarts headmasters have portraits in 
more than one location that they can move between (which is how they 
were able to find Arthur and save him).  I also don't think it was 
clear why Voldemort was so obsessed with retrieving the prophecy in 
the first place, since they never explained that he attacked Harry on 
the basis of hearing only the first half of the prophecy.  They also 
never explained that only the people to whom the prophecy refer can 
left the record from the shelves, which explains why Harry had to be 
lured to the Hall of Prophecy to retrieve it.
 
Umbridge was wonderful.  When they first showed her office, my eight 
year old daughter asked me (incredulously) "Is that her office?"  The 
doilies, kitten plates, ugly ring and fluffy pink cardigan were 
great.  But they never explained that Umbridge was the one who sent 
the Dementors to Little Winging, which I thought was a huge oversight.
 
I loved the wall full of educational decrees, and how Filch had to 
get increasingly taller ladders to post them. I especially loved when 
they all came tumbling down during Fred and George's fireworks 
display.
 
I don't feel that using the Hogwarts shots as transition points is 
particularly effective, and I think it's starting to get a bit old.
 
I didn't miss the lack of Quidditch, Lockhart or Skeeter, or leaving 
out Ron and Hermione becoming prefects.  However, I would have liked 
to see the Careers Advice scene, which they replaced with the 
McGonagall-Umbridge altercation on the stairs, which I didn't think 
was as effective (even though it was a hoot to see Umbridge working 
her way up the stairs in an attempt to become as tall as McGonagall).
 
The room of requirement and how one gets into it wasn't explained 
well.  And why do they always give Dobby's lines/actions to Neville?
 
They don't explain the Percy estrangement, but yet Percy shows up in 
the scene with Fudge after the DA is discovered.
 
I didn't like that they turned Cho into the one who betrayed the DA.  
If they're going to make up new characters such as Nigel, why not 
instead include real characters such as Marietta?  It makes much more 
sense for Marietta, with her Ministry mother and lack of desire to be 
part of the DA in the first place, to be the sneak.
 
I didn't think the Occlumency scenes were handled well.  Having Harry 
seated and wandless made him look as if he was just taking whatever 
was being thrown at him without attempting to fight it.  And while it 
would have been fine to show the memory of Harry's father tormenting 
Snape via Harry breaking through Snape's mind rather than by entering 
the Pensieve, it didn't make sense for Harry to be a part of the 
memory.  And I thought that part went by too fast, and didn't explain 
how Harry was distraught after seeing how his father treated Snape.  
I also think they lost another opportunity to build on Snape and 
Harry's hatred of one another, and how Harry is convinced Snape 
hasn't really changed sides.
 
Grawp.  I don't get why he's in the books in the first place, and he 
seemed just as out of place in the movie.  Is it just to reinforce 
the significance of being true to and loving one's family?  Someone 
at Phoenix Rising said that Rowling insisted on the moviemakers 
including Grawp, so there must be something significant about him.
 
I didn't like that Hermione said she was "improvising" when she took 
Umbridge into the forest.  In addition to deviating from the book, it 
was not at all in keeping with her ultra-organised character.
 
I liked how Ginny's powerful reductor curse brought down the prophecy 
shelves, and how they first showed her reducing something to dust in 
the DA meetings.  I think her magical ability is going to be 
important in the seventh book.  I also loved Ginny's look of 
disappointment every time Harry's attraction to Cho was mentioned.
 
I didn't like Lucius Malfoy smashing the prophecy rather than 
Neville.  I think there's a significance to Harry and Neville being 
the only two to hold the prophecy, and that it relates to the fact 
that the prophecy could have initially referred to either one of 
them.  But the movie left that part out as well.
 
Sirius referring to Harry as "James" in the archway scene was 
interesting - I suppose that was in lieu of Molly telling Sirius that 
he confuses Harry with James.  I thought it was effective to show 
Harry's reaction to Sirius' death in soundless slow motion, but then 
they replaced Harry's destruction of Dumbledore's office with his 
packing his trunk, which was far less effective in demonstrating how 
devastated Harry was by Sirius' death.
 
I was surprised that they left out the circular room with the 
rotating floor and the many doors from which to choose, as I think 
that would have made good theatre.  Although it would also take up 
time, which is presumably why it got dropped.  As a result, though, 
when Harry and the gang get dropped into the archway room on their 
way out, it doesn't make sense (even though they try to explain it 
away by saying that this is the Department of Mysteries).
 
My daughter asked how Fudge knew to show up at the end, which was a 
good question, since they omitted having the goblin and house-elf 
statutes come to life and Floo out to get him.  
 
I thought Dan Radcliffe did a good job.  He's come a long way as an 
actor.  I thought Evanna Lynch was good, too.  I like how she 
skipped, rather than walked, everywhere she went.  Emma Watson needs 
to slow down her dialogue.  When she was explaining the complexities 
of Cho's feelings after the kiss, I couldn't understand a word of 
what she was saying.  
 
Just my two knuts.

Cheers,
Phyllis