Comparison: 'Phoenix' Book Vs. Movie

The newest Harry Potter movie did not "have me at hello," but "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," did get better after the beginning.

I think most people will agree that the book is always better than the movie, but this movie tried its best.

For a movie lasting only a little longer than two hours, it stays pretty close to the spirit, if not the details, as it can to an 870-page book, the longest in the series so far. The audio book runs approximately 27 hours.

The opening of the book is understandably cut and the movie opens at the playground, where you find "Big D's" gang confronting Harry and Harry finally breaking and pulling his wand on his cousin Dudley, at which time the wind blows and things get eerie. Everyone runs away, but Harry and Dudley run together and find themselves confronted by the dementors in an underpass of some sort.

One dementor picks up Harry by the throat and chokes him while "feeding" on his happiness. Harry gets free by grabbing his wand and punching the dementor -- yes, punching the dementor. Harry Potter readers will see plenty of inconsistencies in this scene, including the fact that you can't punch a dementor, nor is there any reason for it to grab a victim by the neck.

From there, the movie doesn't immediately get much better. Mrs. Figg arrives with a very dry line and sends Harry home. Once home, a single letter arrives, expelling him, and this letter, marked confidential, speaks to him as a howler would, only without the yelling. That's it, no more letters. He's locked in his room for about 30 seconds before members of the Order of the Phoenix come to rescue him.

A standout new character in the book, Nymphadora Tonks, plays a less visible role in the movie. Her hair changes color right before she and the rest of Harry's guard kick off, but for the large part, her character is never explained. Harry and his guard fly low over London and buzz the Houses of Parliament, again something every Harry Potter reader knows is against wizarding law, since muggles would see them, but it does provide some cool pictures.

It gets better from there, with the arrival at Grimmauld Place and then off to the Ministry of Magic with Mr. Arthur Weasley. Actor Mark Williams does a great job showing Weasley's lack of knowledge about, but fascination with muggle transportation as he descends on an escalator and Harry helps him through a ticket reader.

The Ministry of Magic is a masterpiece on the silver screen, with everything from the fireplace arrivals to the elevators, complete with flying interdepartmental memos.

Harry's hearing is the first appearance of Dolores Umbridge, played to perfection by Imelda Staunton. She may not be sporting the signature black velvet bow or cardigan, but her pink attire is no less eyecatching and annoying. Audience hatred for Staunton's character is palpable.

The hearing is also the first glimpse in this movie of Professor Albus Dumbledore. Actor Michael Gambon lets us down as usual in his portrayal of the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He has never been able to capture the character the way Richard Harris did. Gambon's Dumbledore is not the modestly powerful and intelligent yet understanding and whimsical headmaster described in the books. Gambon's Dumbledore leaves you with the feeling of a dottering old wizard who was once great.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who play Harry, Ron and Hermione, are the faces we have come to associate with the main characters, but their acting skills still leave a bit to be desired.

Evanna Lynch is a standout as one of this movie's new character, Luna Lovegood. She nails the flighty character who is comfortable enough with herself not to care about others' reactions to her unusual ways.

As you would expect, many subplots are cut from the movie, such as all quidditch matches, making war on the house at Grimmauld Place, the explanation of why Harry has to stay at his aunt and uncle's house, the Quibbler article, the visit to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Firenze's teaching appointment, Harry and Cho's date in Hogsmeade, Ginny's love life and Harry trying to cope with the death of a loved one.

Many characters are also cut, such as Mundungus Fletcher, Dobby, Rita Skeeter, Marietta Edgecombe, Firenze and the portrait of Sirius' mum. Percy Weasley is there by the minister's side, but he never speaks and is never mentioned, so you don't know who it is.

This movie, unlike the last movie in this series, does not add scenes not in the book unless something is needed to explain a plot point missed because of the elimination of a major subplot. For example, a scene is added where Harry comes across Luna with the thestrals (reptile-like winged horses) in the forest, but it replaces Hagrid's lesson on thestrals and Dolores Umbridge's inspection of his class. The new scene explains thestrals to Harry and to the audience, but it fails to explain them to the rest of the members of Dumbledore's Army, who end up flying to the ministry on their backs later in the film.

In the book, each of the new ministry decrees is posted on the bulletin board, but I would say the movie does a better job, by virtue of pictures, of showing how many decrees have been issued by having Mr. Filch post each and every one on a wall and as more and more are posted, he has to use a ladder that is increasingly tall. Since this movie does not show classes and gives very little to mark the school year progression, these edicts are the marks of time progression in this movie. The wall of decrees also creates a fantastic finale to Fred and George's rebellious flight out of the school.

There are some inconsistencies in the movie. One major one is that when Severus Snape is teaching Harry occlumency and Harry asks if Voldemort can read his mind, Snape answers yes, rather than the scathing talking down Harry gets in the book about understanding fine distinctions when he asks that question.

"Only Muggles talk of 'mind reading.' The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure," Snape tells Harry in the book.

Another, yet more minor, inconsistency is the fact that the students in the D.A. are using the levicorpus spell, which is not introduced until the next book, at which point it is introduced as a thoroughly nonverbal spell, so Harry, not yet knowing the spell or even how to perform nonverbal spells, would be hard-pressed to teach it.

Having read the book that comes after this movie, you can see how the director is foreshadowing plots to come, such as Ron and Hermione's relationship and Ginny and Harry's. I wonder how much say J.K Rowling, the author of the books, had in the screenplays and if we readers should read anything into the fact that Sirius' brother, Regulus, is not mentioned at all in this movie. Since the release of the sixth book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," it has been widely discussed online that Regulus is a good candidate for RAB, a potentially key person in the next and final book in the series, due out July 21.

The movie opening has been pushed up by two days to July 11. Many local theaters scheduled midnight screenings, and Fandango listed some of those sold out hours before the movie opened.

Bottom Line: For any Harry Potter fan, this is a must-see. For any non-Harry Potter fan, you may enjoy it even more, because the inconsistencies will not bother you.