Corey and I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. I thought it was a good adaptation of the book. They did a good job of extracting the important parts of an almost 900-page book and showing those parts in a movie. However, there were a few things I didn’t like how they were portrayed in the movie.

First, the dementors in the movie grabbed and choked Harry as they tried to “kiss” him. In the books, dementors don’t grab people. (The only time they actually touch someone is when they’re “carrying” you to prison as a policeman would an assailant.) Once the dementors come close enough to you, you feel “as though all happiness [has] gone from the world … and [you remember] … dreadful things” as stated by Arabella Figg in the book. The dementors don’t need to grab or choke you before they “kiss” you.

Second, I wished the movie would’ve explained that Umbridge ordered the dementors to attack Harry and Dudley because she wanted to discredit him more than he already was. It shows how power hungry she is and how much she hates Harry. In the movie, I felt like she was only there because Fudge (Minister of Magic) sent her there when, in fact, she helped set the events in motion that made him send her there.

Third, because there have been different directors for the movies, there have been some continuity issues with the movies. The dementors, in this movie, looked like burnt logs.  Whereas, in the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, they were cloaked as described in the books.

Even though I was disappointed with the above things, I still enjoyed seeing the movie. I enjoyed seeing things come to life and experiencing the book in a visual manner. I loved the scene with Fred and George’s fireworks. It was really neat, especially with Professor Flitwick’s “yes” as they left the school.