More HP fans who were lucky enough to get a chance to preview
Order of the Phoenix have written up reviews.
*SPOILER WARNING*
HarryPotterFanZone has a wonderfully detailed interview with a reader who saw the film, discussing how she got in to see the preview, critiques of the new (and old) actors’ performances and comments about the special effects.
Below is a quick excerpt, but you can read the entire interview
here.
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The movie started off with Harry sitting on a swing in a park. Dudley's gang comes along, taunts Harry, Harry pulls his wand on Dudley and the sky goes dark. Dudley's gang runs away, and then a few minutes later Harry and Dudley run away, too, as it starts to pour with rain.
They come to an underground alley. The lights are flickering, the walls are filled with graffiti. There's a change in the air, and then the dementor's come on screen. I thought that the dementor attack was really well done and very entertaining to watch.
This movie actually followed the books better than the other ones did. There weren't really any major differences. There were just left out scenes that fans of the books would have liked to have seen. There were small differences, however. Cho was the snitch, but that is explainable since they would of had to bring an entirely new character into the movie.
Harry starts his Occlumency lessons right after he sees the vision of Mr. Weasley being attacked. Umbridge doesn't try to grab Sirius' head out of the fire. They didn't meet Luna on the train, they met her on the carriage ride to the castle. They didn't show Ron and Hermione being made prefects.
There are three reviews over at Mugglenet. The first one, which you can read
here, gives a good critique of the actors’ performances.
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The flight through London is awe-inspiring, although the effects were not complete. Moody on his specialised broom is something not to be missed.
Sirius (played to perfection by Gary Oldman) is great in this movie and I'm so pleased more screen time is given to his growing relationship with Harry.
Evanna Lynch's Luna is just the most perfect casting one could hope for. Her interaction with Harry and the others is straight out of the pages of the novel.
Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge is simply one of the most evil creations you will ever wish to see. Staunton has the mannerisms and the voice down to a "T" and I found myself feeling exactly how I felt whilst reading the book: a sense of sickening sweetness.
The D.A. scenes are handled superbly as is Harry's kiss with Cho. But it's the scenes before and after that made the audience howl laughing: Rupert Grint again delivering comic timing to perfection.
The major death in this film is handled well too. Although not having quite the impact it does in the books, Dan Radcliffe's expression as he realises exactly what has happened is devastating (he's come a long way, believe me).
Michael Gambon has calmed Dumbledore right down and it works; I'd go so far as to say it's remincsent of Richard Harris.
The second MN review has some interesting points (see below). You can read it in its entirety
here.
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Mrs. Figg is the CUTEST old lady!
The Ministry of Magic looks nothing short of AMAZING... It was beautiful.
You barely see Draco in the movie. He does do the whole Umbridge thing and he talks like once.
No hospital scene, so you never meet the Longbottom parents... Neville just tells Harry what happened.
The Trelawney kick-out scene was really sad. Emma Thompson did a great job being sad and hurt... Oh it was good.
THE KISS - it wasn't just a kiss; it was a full-fledged MAKE-OUT session... and even though in the movie they said she was crying, you didn't see her crying.
They never mention that Firenze became the new Divination teacher.
The end scene of the battle left something to be desired... people who haven't read the book might get confused why Sirius fell through the Veil and Harry was sad... It was hard to understand why he died. Also, the other kids really didn't fight that much and no one got hurt.
All the kids heard the prophecy before it crashed (and it crashed out of Lucius's hand). It also didn't have the "whole born in July, thrice defied" thing.
The third MN review, which you can read
here, had one interesting note:
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I did expect the House of Black to be much bigger than it was and missed not seeing Sirius' mother's portrait screaming.
There’s some more informative details added to TLC’s preview that we
told you about yesterday. Here's a few of the highlights:
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- There isn't an obviously positioned locket in the film; the dialog makes no mention of one either.
- Voldemort is in the movie toward the end, though Harry has a vision of him as he's about to board the train to Hogwarts (he sees him in a very sharp suit).
- Mrs. Weasley's boggart is not in the film.
- The Harry-and-Luna scene at the end of the movie is different from the one in the book. She does not tell them about her mother, or about the voices beyond the veil. She is posting up things about getting her stuff back.
- Dumbledore does not cry at the end, but he does look misty. He tells Harry that the reason he didn't tell him was that he feared it would tempt Voldemort too much and he didn't want to put him in that predicament.
- We do not see the Death Eaters arrested after the Ministry battle.
- The Azkaban breakout is in the film; it features a good chunk of the prison blown out, with Bellatrix looking out from her cell to the open sky.
- The veil is "creepy." The gang "just looks at it like, 'what is it?'" and Harry looks at it different from everyone else. Luna doesn't comment on the voices.
- The prophecy breaks with others in the room, but it appears only Harry hears it.
- This cut didn't feature McGonagall attacked, but it might be in the finished version
- Filch puts up every one of Umbridge's decrees by getting taller and taller ladders on which to do it.
- Hermione does make up the "great weapon of Dumbledore's story" but does not pull Harry out of the fire as she does in the book. It's "made clear that it was a mistake" to go into the forest.
- The centaurs do carry Umbridge off.
- James, in the flashback, has ruddy/sandy blonde/brownish hair. Not dark like Harry.
- Harry does not receive the mirror from Sirius.
- There is no puking in the movie.
You can read TLC's entire second update
here.
Finally, HPANA has a
review from a reader as well, who tends to stress several ways the film falls short.
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… the good elements were the acting, especially as Dan Radcliffe has suddenly jumped being a really great actor; the overall feel of the film kept with the past two films so the look and feel of the film was nice; overall it was a good movie she said, but it was abundant with disappointments (and this is coming from a mild fan of the series, so even she was sorry to see the choppiness of the story).
• Fred and George's escape is not that great; they do not have a swamp and the fireworks are okay and it's all rather short.
• The Dementor attack is really pretty good but the whole beginning is really rushed and the Order is not as big as it should be - Tonks, Mad-Eye, Lupin, and Shacklebolt are there and that's it.
• The editing needs to be improved and she thought many of the scenes at the end need to be re-shot altogether because they're just not good - ex. Dumbledore and Harry after Sirius' death includes a watered-down version of the prophecy with limited explanation as to what it means and no explanation as to why Dumbledore avoided Harry all year.
• She said the whole story for Cho is completely nuts in that it's nothing like the book.