Harry Potter Review and Official "did you like it?" Poll.

[WRDup]

Two things... Please understand that David Yates is NOT J.K. Rawling. Please dont watch OotP like youre reading the novel. Do those two things and I think you will find "Order of the Phoenix" enjoyable and quite the accomplishment. The actors must have gone to school. They played with much more emotion (Radcliff especially).

On the way home from the theathre I was cut-off, flipped off and stupified!

[GhostHost2]

I rate it 5/5.

I thought it was absolutely great. The action scenes near the end are the best the series has had so far. The plot is full of intrigue and suspense, and the acting is the best ever in the series. This is what I call a great movie, and it's cool to see a great movie every once in a while that doesn't come from PIXAR.

[sleepyjeff]

Saw it last night(with my beautiful wife/theater manager).

The movie was great and every scene was worthwhile with no slow dragging parts......but, when it was all done and the credits were rolling I had that same feeling you get when you're dining out at a fine restaurant and your waiter is serving your main course before you are even half way done with your salad---rushed.

I am going to see it again in a few weeks and maybe it won't feel so....fast.

[Melonballer]

I'm going to see it tomorrow. Last time I went to a midnight Potter showing I sat in front a bunch of teenage guys who talked about how hot Hermione was throughout the movie. I know you got hormones but SHUT UP!

Sigh. Anyways I 'll wait till a early show tomorrow. No teens there.

[sleepyjeff]

I'm going to see it tomorrow. Last time I went to a midnight Potter showing I sat in front a bunch of teenage guys who talked about how hot Hermione was throughout the movie. I know you got hormones but SHUT UP!

Sigh. Anyways I 'll wait till a early show tomorrow. No teens there.

My wife and I had the whole theater to ourselves....of course there were 5 other screenings going on in the same building and the constant radio chatter between the screeners and the projection floor was a bit of a distraction(but I am not complaining....I saw the movie for free and my wife got paid to watch it )

[Althaea]

It was awesome! I think it was one of the best HP films I've seen yet--definitely worth the watch, even though I had to share the theater with college students who thought they were too cool for magic. I only wish thwey had shown a bit more of young-adult Snape! And of the Pensieve (where did that disappear to?).

And, you're absolutely right, Radcliffe's performance was a delightful surprise!

[SpokkerJones]

It was great. It's my second favorite Potter movie behind Azkaban.

[Sam]

I thought it was great but, there were some story things I thought were meh..... they could have spent more time explaining somethings but it was well done! The music was great as well! There is one mice chatter that I know that hated the move a lot.... I thought it was effective but too rushed....

[prince_david]

Saw it on IMAX, unfortunately I was only there an hour early so we didn't get the best seats, but still had a great view. I really loved the movie! I still think the first movie was the best of the films, but I definitely enjoyed this movie a lot. Cried at the end.

[TraceCub]

Definitely the best Potter yet!

I was really moved with emotion. I was worried there wouldn't be enough time to get attached to Sirius (because we've seen so LITTLE of him in the movies) but I was pleasantly (or not so pleasantly?) surprised and it was still so moving to see poor Harry's reactions.

And it was so awesome to see Dumbledore kick some butt!

I definitely agree that the acting range of the cast has definitely increased amazingly! I have new respect for Emma Watson.

I am glad I didn't get around to re-reading it before seeing it. I think I'd be noticing a lot of inconsistencies. They hit all the major plot points ( except one big one and one small one that I noticed) and it flowed really well.

My husband, who has never read the books, thought it was by far the best we've seen.

5 thumbs, way up!

[cal4iri]

I haven't seen it yet but I was wondering what you all thought of Dumbledore's performance. Did Gambon do a better job at playing him this time?

Sorry Mellonballer,
That was probably me behind you talking about Emma Watson and I was probably 25 then, not a teenager. I can't help it, she's cute.

[Junthor]

As long as it's better than PoA. I hated that movie.


well OK hate is a strong term.... I'll say I liked it least of all.

[aaronpaulcustoms]

It was ok...I liked it. Darker, better, more meaningful. AND! that dang Daniel Radcliffe is a little bit of a looker lol. But i was excited through the whole movie

[SusieP.]

I really liked it, considering the book was so huge. I'm happy that although they changed some things to condense the plot, they were able to put the information back in and make it work. There weren't as many gaping holes as in POA and GOF.

I'm wondering when I can go see it again...

[Twist_of_Fate]

I'm glad they at least made Snape back up to be someone we could...you know...hate instead of laugh at like GoF. Hands down, best portrayal of the movie has to go to Umbridge. Granted, the character has a built in hate-factor (arguably one of the best written HP villains considering she only got one book to work her bad on) but she was portrayed flawlessly, and I just wanted to kill her. There was one thing that sort of wrecked the acting side of things for me and that was when the people in line behind me pointed out that Emma Watson basically only acts with her eyebrows. I watched the movie, noting the scenes she was in, and well, that person was right.

Spoiler

In the end, though, I think I can only part with a 4/5 at best. I was disappointed about how fast the movie progressed. Sure, there's got to be give or take somewhere. The thing that sort of makes me upset, though, is that the longest book gets condensed into the shortest movie, and I don't think it was for the better at all. Quidditch gets completely cut, which, overall is okay. In the book, it was just another layer to the Harry-Ron thing, not to mention the fact that it also inspired more hatred for Umbridge. Granted, this is a minor gripe, but these kids are at school...do they like...go to class? Sure, they showed all of Umbridge's HI scenes, but still.

The thing that actually rubbed me enough of the wrong way to knock the film down a star/rating is the way that the Ministry Climax and Fred/George leaving was handled. I mean, the Ministry scene at the end is arguably one of the most exciting scenes in a Harry Potter book to date, whereas Fred/George capture the spirit of the twins impeccably. Since the movie was only 138 minutes (first=152, second=161, third=141, and fourth=157, so don't tell me the longer movies couldn't be successful) it would have been nice for them to throw another 20 minutes or so on to at least do the Ministry scene justice with the Department of Mysteries. As for the scene itself, I was disappointed with the somewhat random (IMO) portrayal as Death Eaters flying all about. It didn't match up to the scale in the battle scene for me. Finally, I think the Dumbledore/Voldemort showdown was pretty lame. I'm glad that I didn't pay to see it in 3-D just to watch THAT. Fred and George's exit was just woefully short as well, IMO, because they do SO much in the book.

I didn't know whether or not to throw a spoiler tag up, so I will do one for safety.