Recap of OotP
Because I'm sure you've heard it all or will by the time the hype calms down, I'll make this as relatively short as possible.
The Good:
-- Luna. Luna, Luna, Luna. I was never overly fond of her as a character in the books, surprisingly, but this movie made me want to leap out and hug her.
-- Umbridge. She had the "hem, hem" down perfectly.
-- The twins' departure was done really well, aside from having no Peeves.
-- I personally liked the Advanced Guard sequence from Privet Drive to Grimmauld Place, because if I remember correctly, there was some sort of invisibility charm placed around the lot of them. Therefore, the flying by the boat thing can totally be justified in my mind, however reckless.
-- Dudley as a gangster. Of course he's supposed to look ridiculous! This is the boy that we've watched grow up in varying shades of sweater vests.
-- Mrs. Figg still had her slippers on in the Hearing, just as she did in the book.
-- Uncle Vernon looking more walrus like than ever.
-- They kept a lot of the lines that I was silently waiting for, and would have otherwise been throw out by some of the other writers.
-- Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. I really do think he captures the darker side of the character that the films progressively need.
-- Wizard Rock in the Common Room.
The Bad:
-- Too freaking short.
-- Very choppy camera work in some areas, along with transition sequences.
-- Movie!Bellatrix was not nearly as awesome as the one in the books.
-- No spinning room! No tank of brains! No Lily! No "remember my last, Petunia!" NO WEASLEY IS OUR KING!
-- Not enough Draco for me.
-- And I wish Harry had freaked out more during his conversation with Sirius, when he's thinking he's turning into someone like Voldemort. I don't know, but not enough emotion for me.
-- And did anyone else think that Hogwarts seemed super cramped for some reason? Like everything was grayer than usual, and just, I don't know, didn't have enough breathing room.
-- I've just checked my copy of OotP, and technically we never learn exactly what spell it is that Bellatrix uses to kill Sirius. The first jet of light is described as red, so we can safely assume from that information that the second one would be red as well, and therefore a stunning charm of some kind. And not Avada Kedavra. And he falls through a veil (who would have guessed I would care so much, after always saying he was killed by a curtain?) and did not fall through some portal thing in the archway.
-- Voldemort/ Dumbledore battle was a tad lame. But only a tad.
All in all, though, it was a great movie and totally worth my time going to see it. Especially at midnight. That was awesome (even though we had to evacuate the building and such).
The Good:
-- Luna. Luna, Luna, Luna. I was never overly fond of her as a character in the books, surprisingly, but this movie made me want to leap out and hug her.
-- Umbridge. She had the "hem, hem" down perfectly.
-- The twins' departure was done really well, aside from having no Peeves.
-- I personally liked the Advanced Guard sequence from Privet Drive to Grimmauld Place, because if I remember correctly, there was some sort of invisibility charm placed around the lot of them. Therefore, the flying by the boat thing can totally be justified in my mind, however reckless.
-- Dudley as a gangster. Of course he's supposed to look ridiculous! This is the boy that we've watched grow up in varying shades of sweater vests.
-- Mrs. Figg still had her slippers on in the Hearing, just as she did in the book.
-- Uncle Vernon looking more walrus like than ever.
-- They kept a lot of the lines that I was silently waiting for, and would have otherwise been throw out by some of the other writers.
-- Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. I really do think he captures the darker side of the character that the films progressively need.
-- Wizard Rock in the Common Room.
The Bad:
-- Too freaking short.
-- Very choppy camera work in some areas, along with transition sequences.
-- Movie!Bellatrix was not nearly as awesome as the one in the books.
-- No spinning room! No tank of brains! No Lily! No "remember my last, Petunia!" NO WEASLEY IS OUR KING!
-- Not enough Draco for me.
-- And I wish Harry had freaked out more during his conversation with Sirius, when he's thinking he's turning into someone like Voldemort. I don't know, but not enough emotion for me.
-- And did anyone else think that Hogwarts seemed super cramped for some reason? Like everything was grayer than usual, and just, I don't know, didn't have enough breathing room.
-- I've just checked my copy of OotP, and technically we never learn exactly what spell it is that Bellatrix uses to kill Sirius. The first jet of light is described as red, so we can safely assume from that information that the second one would be red as well, and therefore a stunning charm of some kind. And not Avada Kedavra. And he falls through a veil (who would have guessed I would care so much, after always saying he was killed by a curtain?) and did not fall through some portal thing in the archway.
-- Voldemort/ Dumbledore battle was a tad lame. But only a tad.
All in all, though, it was a great movie and totally worth my time going to see it. Especially at midnight. That was awesome (even though we had to evacuate the building and such).