My OotP Review

[Eddie]

All of the Harry Potter movies have felt like highlight reels of the
books.  If you haven't read the books you'd have no clue what the heck
is going on.

For OotP:

* I agree that more character development could have occurred without
extending the movie much.

* Either the sound volume was too low or the actors are mumbling or
the British accents seem thicker or my hearing needs to be checked,
but too much of the movie I couldn't hear what was said.  I'm betting
the problem was mumbling Brits because the best actors (the adults)
were always understandable.  Also, the trailers are clearer, so
probably the volume is louder.

* Not one scene at the hospital?  Would that have been so bad or taken
so much time?  3 minutes?  5?

* There were 2 places where Ginny looked up meaningfully, when
something related to Harry and Cho was going on, but they were pressed
into the background so much as to be wasted.  Would 2 more seconds of
closeup Ginny have made any difference?  That's all it would have
taken to establish a firmer basis for the future movies.

It's problems like these that made me wonder if I really wanted to see
the movie at all.  I did see it because I'm a fan and I thought it was
interesting to compare how the movie makers converted the long book to
a short movie, but I can't really say that it was a great movie.

Here's hoping that the DVD extended version will be more fulfilling.

Eddie