Tammy's Two Cents: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Book to Movie Review

There is a door at the end of a silent corridor, and it's haunting Harry Potter's dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?

Harry has a lot on his mind for this, his fifth year at Hogwarts: a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey; a big surprise on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; and the looming terror of the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. But all these things pale next to the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named — a threat that neither the magical government nor the authorities at Hogwarts can stop.

As the grasp of darkness tightens, Harry must discover the true depth and strength of his friends, the importance of boundless loyalty, and the shocking price of unbearable sacrifice.

His fate depends on them all. (from Goodreads)

This book annoyed me far more than any in the series, why is that you ask? Dolores Umbridge! I’m convinced that Rowling was receiving hate mail regarding the Dursleys and had to create a character we could loath even more than Vernon; mission accomplished! Even the book sleeve described her as having a "personality like poisoned honey." Aside from that, I loved it. Surely it’s the darkest of the series yet. This book still provides us some unexpected twists and turns. Just another aspect of Rowling’s writing that makes you want to read her books. We are left with an emotionally exhausting ending, on many levels. The surprising yet exciting climax left me in tears, not to mention the biggest secret of any of the books is revealed. So big in fact, after reading the final installments in the series you will realize, this secret molded the events that took place after its discovery.

What I liked most about this book, in particular is that we finally get some answers to all those burning questions that have plagued us thus far. And we are left asking ourselves at what point in someone’s life do they begin to question the balance of good and evil that lies within them?  

My Rating:

I LOVED this move by itself. If you read the book, however, it was extremely disappointing. This is the movie for me that I really started to notice the lack of content from the books moving to the screen. Neville Longbottom is, in my opinion, a main character in the books. He is reduced to a side kick in the movies, especially this one. I don’t think they translated what we experienced while devouring the book onto the screen very well. There were necessary parts of the book noticeably missing from the movie, it was upsetting. Having said that, I have watched this movie dozens of times and I do love it. I am able to separate the book and the movie and make them 2 separate entities, it is still unfortunate.

And let me just say, the word “Ahem” makes my skin crawl; when I hear someone giggle I want to smack them; and this movie will make you hate the color pink! But that’s just my two cents.

My Rating: 

Adaptation of the book 2/5 Quills

The movie in and of itself 5/5 Quills.