6th Floor Blog Goes to the Movies: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: 6^th floor Blog Goes To the Movies: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This post is about the new Harry Potter movie, and since the book has been out for a while, and the movie for two weeks, this post will be a little more detailed then it would for a different movie. We'll refrain from the big spoiler(s) but if you really want to see this and don't know what happens yet, you probably should skip this post.

“That wasn't too bad.”

“I think I still like the third one the best.”

“I haven't seen any of the others.”

“Really? You didn't coming with us to see Goblet of Fire last year?”

“We didn't see Goblet of Fire together. It came out four months before we moved in.”

“Oh. Who'd I see it with then?”

“The third one was the one with the time travel right? I did like that one.”

“This one was so choppy! The plot didn't flow at all.”

“Did it? I thought it was alright.”

“I was annoyed at all the inconsistencies.”

“Well, it's hard to convert a long book to a movie without cutting some stuff.”

“I don't mean cutting stuff, I mean the stuff that was just wrong. The stuff with Cho, the missing trip to the hospital, and the ending was completely butchered.”

“That ending was pretty cool on the IMAX:3D though. I wonder why they didn't let us keep the glasses like they did for Superman Returns.”

“No idea, I didn't really need to keep more junk though. I usually don't get too tied up in consistency as long as the movie flows by itself, but they could've left in easter eggs for the fans. They don't necessarily have to mention that Ron's a prefect, even though him getting the badge and Harry not getting it would've added to his anger at Dumbledore, but they could've at least given him the badge for us to see. Or at least a shot of Hermione rolling her eyes or chastising George and Fred about their business and testing on first years. Of course, they barely mention that they're going into business anyway. It also wouldn't have been too much of an effort to show a knitted sock or shirt or something in one of the common room shots. One of the items of clothing Hermione was knitting to try to trick house elves into being free. Something.”

“I agree. Adding in those little details would really add a depth to the movie that might have made the die hard fans really enjoy it.”

“It kind of felt like a clip show.”

“I know what you mean. It's almost like they chose random scenes, made cool CGI stuff for them, and then just pieced them together. They left out so much of the overall plot it's not even funny.”

“I didn't really get what was going on. They were focused on the school and that teacher, but every once in a while they'd mention Voldemort. Then suddenly they're dispatching the teacher in the forest and run off to fight Voldemort at the ministry. Fred and George dropped out of school then? Or got expelled or what?”

“Yeah. They start selling all those prank candies as a business. Harry actually funds them with the money from the Goblet tournament. Which reminds me, they really glossed over a lot of the Weasley parents' stress. Between them not talking to Percy who is siding with the ministry and worry about what Fred and George are up to with the pranks and their bad O.W.L. scores, they had a lot of depth in the book that was overlooked in the movie.”

“I really liked how they did the Black house though. It looked just like I thought it should, and they even had Kreacher being a pack rat. Of course, they neglect the part about Kreacher being the one that tattles on them later.”

“They left out a lot of the school stuff. Classes, the centaur teacher, how hard they study for O.W.L.s and how overworked Harry is between quidditch, detention, homework and studying.”

“Yeah. I find myself more and more disappointed the more I think about it, and the more I remember from the book. They really should have Rowlings in on the script writing.”

“Well, she's not writing books now, maybe she can help with six and seven. I doubt it though, It's almost like the five movies are barely related, they really gloss over the series-wide plot points.”

“Oh well. 16 months until we can be disappointed with the next one. Are we seeing the Simpsons movie this week?”

“Yeah. I'm in for that. I actually heard it got good reviews and all.”