HP and the Order of the Phoenix
I must say I'm a bit surprised to discover that this is the best film. I'm not saying it's my favorite, but as a movie, and even though it feels a bit like the middle film in a trilogy, it very much holds its own. I might even be willing to go as far as to say the movie is better than the book.
Really the only fault I can find with the movie is that after it's explained that only the person about whom a prophecy is made can remove it from the shelf, that several prophecies are knocked off the shelves by spells.
As I recall, the book has all this misdirection about the mcguffin being some sort of weapon; whereas in the film, Harry makes that speculation early on, but no one really agrees with him. In the film, Snape warns Harry that the Dark Lord might trick him, whereas, I don't think the importance of the occulumency (sic) lessons are really explained to Harry. There are other examples of additional information in the book that really just gets in the way of story.
The film does a good job of stripping down the story to its essence. The ministry is trying to deny that Voldemort has returned. They are discrediting Harry and Dumbledore. Dumbledore recognizes the connection between Voldemort and Harry and tries to distance himself from Harry. As part of the ministry shake down, they send dementors after Harry and take over Hogwarts through Umbridge. The students come together to form an army, although only a small subset go the ministry (and somehow ride creatures they can't see). They find it's a rouse at the ministry, Harry learns of the prophecy, Sirius dies protecting them, and the minister sees Voldemort.
Now, the prophecy is interesting in that it explains why Voldemort went after Harry all those years ago, but if "it's something he didn't have before", then I'm not sure that made sense. It also sets the stage for the remaining films with the "Neither can live while the other survives" although it seems a misinterpretation that either has to kill the other.
Really the only fault I can find with the movie is that after it's explained that only the person about whom a prophecy is made can remove it from the shelf, that several prophecies are knocked off the shelves by spells.
As I recall, the book has all this misdirection about the mcguffin being some sort of weapon; whereas in the film, Harry makes that speculation early on, but no one really agrees with him. In the film, Snape warns Harry that the Dark Lord might trick him, whereas, I don't think the importance of the occulumency (sic) lessons are really explained to Harry. There are other examples of additional information in the book that really just gets in the way of story.
The film does a good job of stripping down the story to its essence. The ministry is trying to deny that Voldemort has returned. They are discrediting Harry and Dumbledore. Dumbledore recognizes the connection between Voldemort and Harry and tries to distance himself from Harry. As part of the ministry shake down, they send dementors after Harry and take over Hogwarts through Umbridge. The students come together to form an army, although only a small subset go the ministry (and somehow ride creatures they can't see). They find it's a rouse at the ministry, Harry learns of the prophecy, Sirius dies protecting them, and the minister sees Voldemort.
Now, the prophecy is interesting in that it explains why Voldemort went after Harry all those years ago, but if "it's something he didn't have before", then I'm not sure that made sense. It also sets the stage for the remaining films with the "Neither can live while the other survives" although it seems a misinterpretation that either has to kill the other.