HP OotP: oh Harry you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind (not really, just a new haircut)
omg Luna. Luna Luna Luna Luna Luna. I loved the book Luna, and I was so so worried that they were going to ruin her character but no, she was amazing, quite possibly the best character in all of the HP movies as of yet. she was adorable and waiflike and just strange enough to make you sit up and pay attention but not offputting at all. and oh, the characters that they cared about in this movie, they did so well, like Umbridge, oh my god, Umbridge is such a scary grotesque character I cannot even believe. she was definitely a lot scarier than Voldemort, and like, all of the Death Eaters combined. I think it was the pink. and the cats. and the voice. but, what other characters did I love? oh, Grawp! Grawp's role, like his in the book, came off as a sort of random deus ex machina, but that scene with Hermione and the bicycle bell was amazingly touching, like a wizarding Beauty and the Beast. some characters got mad shafted though. Tonks? there are like two semi-memorable scenes of her, and neither her ability nor her relation to Sirius are explained. and Kreacher who should be one of the most important characters in the story makes what can only be classified as a cameo appearance. actually, basically all of Grimmauld Place got looked over, which I think I probably okay since it was there mostly to show how angry Sirius, and then Harry, is. and I also loved Neville, but I've always kind of loved Neville, and the twins, even though they weren't quite so attractive in this movie as in the last. I think various characters that were introduced in this book to be v. important in the final war might have also been excluded, and Ginny's sudden promiscuity certainly so.
I think what puts this movie above all of the rest, except for three which cannot be topped, is the sheer beauty of how magic is portrayed. the first instance we see of it is upon first arriving at Grimmauld Place and seeing the bricks shift. these scenes take up a lot of time and are not necessary, per se, but without them the movie would probably fall flat. the opening scene at the Ministry of Magic is also wonderful. I think the producers deserve a lot of credit for their creativity in bringing alive the essence of the books, if not necessarily the plot.
okay, but at certain places the movie completely fell apart, and everyone in the theatres knew it and cringed. the most obvious has to be the Harry-Cho thread, which, I mean...bitch, please. I didn't have that big of an issue with Cho in the fourth movie, though everyone was all, she's so ugly! and omg Asian w/ a Scottish accent wtfbbq. it was just so awkward, though. except for the kiss, that was not awkward at all, but it was also not a first kiss kiss but more of a I want to make out with you and have your babies in Vegas sort of kiss. omg the kiss. I'll admit it, I giggled. it's a kiss that deserves to be giggled at.
I also had some issues with the ending. I mean, okay, so I hated the ending of the fifth book and silently cheered when Sirius died then, and in the movie, his slow-mo death is actually a lot more moving. I didn't cry, but it was enough to. but I can't believe that they cut out the majority of the Department of Mysteries, like the Time Turners exploding (crucial to the book plot, btw, b/c now they can't go back and fix the past) and the face sucking brains o' doom and just, it all wasn't mysterious enough. it all played out very differently from the book, too, in which Harry was angry at the end rather than just really sad. but he wasn't sad enough, even, dammit, Sirius just died! I dunno. it wasn't lacking, but it didn't feel like enough. or it might have been too much and too shallow, I'm not sure. to its benefit, I think Bellatix was well done, and liked the newpaper headlining a lot. and again, Luna was perfect.
in conclusion,
go see the movie if you haven't already.