Harry Potter

The movie was OK, not great. It was too rushed; it was a movie full of "telling, not showing" (thank you, Mrs. Thompson; that did sink in in freshman English), which is stupid, since the point of a movie is to show. The 3-D at the end was kind of cool, but definitely not integral or necessary, and the glasses gave me a headache. The movie was only 2 hours and 15 minutes long; an extra 15 or 20 minutes would have helped a whole lot and wouldn't have made the movie unbearably long.

*Spoiler alert. Don't read below if you don't want to know what happens.*

-They should have visited Mr. Weasley in St. Mungos for three reasons: 1) To visit him. Duh. Instead he gets attacked, and the next minute, he's home for Christmas. 2) To see Neville visiting his parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom to learn that Bellatrix Lestrange had Cruciatus-ed them into insanity (especially since they foreshadowed it in movie/book #4). Instead, Neville TELLS Harry about what happened to his parents, which is not what Neville would do at all. 3) To introduce a new, fun, magical place to the viewer. We haven't seen St. Mungo's before, and it's supposed to be pretty cool. Wow us with another aspect of the wizarding world when you have the chance!

-Yes, most people who are seeing the movie have read the book, but that's a bad assumption to make. Now you have dialogue such as, "For a moment when I was looking at Dumbledore, I wanted to..." You wanted to WHAT, Harry? Attack him because you were still feeling like the snake? We the viewer only know that because we read the book; I don't think a naive movie-goer would have gotten that message.

-Everything involving the Order was hurried. They could have taken two seconds to ensure that the viewer understood that Snape DID understand Harry's cryptic message and alerted the Order, but again, they're hoping that people who read the book know it and those who didn't don't notice it. In the beginning, they don't explain in any way that Harry is upset that he hasn't heard any news from Ron and Hermione; instead, when he arrives at headquarters, he SAYS that he's pissed that he hadn't gotten any letters. I'm supposed to believe that? You have a whole summer of frustration pent up? I didn't see any evidence of it before now.

-I would have liked a little more Little Whinging (they pronounced it and now I know that it's "win-jing" not "wing-ing") action. They should have had the part where Aunt Petunia receives her howler ("Remember my last, Petunia"). Not just because I'm being an annoying "they left out all the details from the book" kind of viewer, but because it ends up tying into continuity bits later on. Again, the movie was very rushed in the beginning, through the dementor attack, the Order arriving, and the hearing. I got the sense that the director for some reason had this urgent need to get us to Hogwarts, because a Harry Potter movie doesn't really start until you get to Hogwarts. Which isn't true.

-Big plot hole: They left out the scene where Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville are introduced to the thestrals, which if you remember, can only be seen by Harry and Luna. Instead, they show all six kids flying to London, with no sense of the fear and nervousness the other four must be feeling about flying on something they can't see.

-No quidditch. Boo. They left it out completely.

-In every other movie, you get a sense that Hogwarts is awe-inspiring and amazing. I don't know if it was the camera work or the music, but I definitely did not get that in this movie. It was just blah Hogwarts, our boring school.

-They could have expanded on the Hogsmeade trip a little. You know, show all the kids lining up to go to Hogsmeade, the general excitement of a Hogsmeade day. Instead, they just walk into the pub like it's totally normal for people to leave the school grounds.

-I'm OK with the fact that they implicated Cho as the snitch about the D.A., but only because they exonerated her by saying it was due to veritaserum.

So, in conclusion, blah. I'm not excited about the fact that this director is doing the next movie, too. I've never LOVED the movies compared to the books, but I always thought they were good, you know? This one really just wasn't that great. Or maybe it was my wine-with-dinner and 3-D glasses headache that made me grouchy? I'll give it another chance in a few months after it comes out on DVD. Until then, I just have to let the excitement mount for the book! We pre-ordered a copy from Borders; whether we'll be attending the midnight release party remains to be seen.