Harry Potter movie review--beware of spoilers

Rena and I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night—at 3D IMAX viewing, that is. The experience of seeing it not only larger than life, but practically wrapped around my head and larger than life...and in 3D no less...it made for a very fun viewing experience. That’s definitely for the best, too, because, I’m sad to report, the movie was a bit of a bust.

First the good: many of the characters are cast with such perfection that I cannot imagine anyone else playing them. Outstanding are both Alan Rickman and Jason Isaacs who imbue each line with such scorn/menace/hatred, etc. that even the most mundane of lines hit home. Love them. And I was pleased with Imelda Staunton’s take on Umbridge. I didn’t hate her as much as I hated her in the book, but I thought Staunton channeled her evil obsession with power and order well. Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Gary Oldman—all wonderful. The problem is that I didn’t get enough of any of them. Tom Felton, who I idiosyncratically LOVE as Draco Malfoy (no on else seems to think this kid is as absolutely perfect for this part as I do, but I stand by my appreciation of him) didn’t even get a single scene of his own! The one big exception to this fine cast is Michael Gambon. I loved the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore; he was another example of casting perfection in my eyes. So, it would have been hard for anyone to fill his shoes without a bit of resistance on my part. But Gambon plays Dumbledore and a mean old man, which is not who he is in the books at all. It’s an absolutely awful portrayal of an integral character and really disappoints me.

Casting issues aside, there were other problems with the movie. I know it must be hard to compress 800 or so pages into the length of a feature film, but it must be possible to do better than this. There was no sense of fun to this movie, no character development, and, most problematically, a seriously misguided sense of urgency; I felt no urgency about He Who Must Not Be Named coming back, but I did sense director David Yates’s determination to race through the necessary plot points. The intensity I want to feel in these movies has nothing to do with adaptation challenges and directorial pacing problems and everything to do with the story itself.

I think the actors all did a fine job, but something was seriously lost in this adaptation. Even when good scenes from the book were included, they were extracted from their context in such a way as to make no sense. Take the Weasley twins’ fun but ultimately useless fireworks display during the O.W.L.’s: in the book, their departure caused a much needed distraction. Here, they simply got sick of Umbridge and school and decided to go out with fanfare. So much of what takes place in the Department of Mysteries felt similarly disjointed. This should be the climax of the movie, but, like the rest of the film, it felt like we were just being taken through the paces. Even Sirius's death makes no sense! Why have that archway if Bellatrix is going to use the Avada Kadavra curse? It's not like we then see Luna comforting Harry as she did in the book, telling him they could hear the voices just beyond the veil, blah, blah, blah. It's like Yates knew he had to include certain things but couldn't make any of them actually fit together.

My dream is that Alfonso Cuarón (director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the best of the HP movies by far) will return for movies six and seven. Unfortunately, loser director David Yates has already been announced for the sixth movie. Still, a girl can dream.

And PS: What the fuck is up with this kid? Is he Yates’s son or something? Why did he get more screen time than Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, and Maggie Smith combined? He’s all over the D.A. scenes, and it’s annoying.


Despite my negative review of the movie, I remain very excited about this Friday’s book release. To keep up Harry Potter spirits everywhere, I encourage you all to play the Harry Potter book name game that Anne taught me oh-so-many years ago. As always, the title of the book starts with “Harry Potter and...” but the subtitle now has to be another book title. A few of my favorites:

Harry Potter and the Time Traveler’s Wife (for the new, Equus-lovin’, naked-Harry Potter fans who might like a little adultery with their magic)
Harry Potter and the 100 Years of Solitude
Harry Potter and the Year of Magical Thinking
Harry Potter and the Witches of Eastwick
Harry Potter and the Human Stain