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patentdragon"Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix" Reviewlet... Right, let's see...
Conspicuous by their absence... The real end to Harry and Cho (watch her fade away in the next movie)... the brains and the Time Turners at the Department of Mysteries (again, a key sequence that feels empty due to FX cutbacks, just like the maze in "Gob Of Ire")... more screen time and characterisation for Kreacher (more FX cuts?)... Ron's finest hour at the Quidditch (give the guy a break)... the shock-reveal of Neville's parents, and the whole of the St Mungo's Hospital material... the screaming portrait at 12 Grimmauld Place...
Need I go on?
Justified sacrifices... The over-extended intro (most of that was introspective Harry anyway; this intro was quite satisfactory)... Dobby, the Hogwarts house-elves and SPEW (barely any Kreacher, so that story-line gets pruned out as a result)... Rita Skeeter (amputated in the last movie, so no point trying to crowbar this in now)... Firenze as the new Divination teacher... Mundungus Fletcher (almost none of the new characters got much to say or do apart from Tonks)... Buckbeak (FX trimming again, but not truly essential)...
In general... I was less of a fan of this book than I was of "Goblet of Fire", so I had the opportunity to be less critical this time around. Again, there's quite a bit of "colour" been sucked out of the story, and a climax/climax build-up that feels... a bit bare. About the only thing lost from "Lord Of The Rings", in three whole movies, was Tom Bombadil, and that would probably go in the "Justified" column - BUT the longer books are going to have to give up something to make a movie with a sensible running time. Overall, the parts excised DON'T detract too seriously from the movie, but their absence is, at times, almost tangible.
Final Verdict... In general, satisfying. Some "trimming" makes good sense, and some of the rest just feels like cost-cutting - I get the feeling Fenrir Greyback won't even make it into "HP6" - 7.5/10
Elsewhat... (the short versions) - The HP7 "leak" appears to have been averted.
- Project development semi-postponed. Try me again tomorrow.
- Back to working through Season One of Torchwood; just finished watching "Greeks Bearing Gifts", aka "Tosh's Big Gay Boatride" ;-)
Conspicuous by their absence... The real end to Harry and Cho (watch her fade away in the next movie)... the brains and the Time Turners at the Department of Mysteries (again, a key sequence that feels empty due to FX cutbacks, just like the maze in "Gob Of Ire")... more screen time and characterisation for Kreacher (more FX cuts?)... Ron's finest hour at the Quidditch (give the guy a break)... the shock-reveal of Neville's parents, and the whole of the St Mungo's Hospital material... the screaming portrait at 12 Grimmauld Place...
Need I go on?
Justified sacrifices... The over-extended intro (most of that was introspective Harry anyway; this intro was quite satisfactory)... Dobby, the Hogwarts house-elves and SPEW (barely any Kreacher, so that story-line gets pruned out as a result)... Rita Skeeter (amputated in the last movie, so no point trying to crowbar this in now)... Firenze as the new Divination teacher... Mundungus Fletcher (almost none of the new characters got much to say or do apart from Tonks)... Buckbeak (FX trimming again, but not truly essential)...
In general... I was less of a fan of this book than I was of "Goblet of Fire", so I had the opportunity to be less critical this time around. Again, there's quite a bit of "colour" been sucked out of the story, and a climax/climax build-up that feels... a bit bare. About the only thing lost from "Lord Of The Rings", in three whole movies, was Tom Bombadil, and that would probably go in the "Justified" column - BUT the longer books are going to have to give up something to make a movie with a sensible running time. Overall, the parts excised DON'T detract too seriously from the movie, but their absence is, at times, almost tangible.
Final Verdict... In general, satisfying. Some "trimming" makes good sense, and some of the rest just feels like cost-cutting - I get the feeling Fenrir Greyback won't even make it into "HP6" - 7.5/10
Elsewhat... (the short versions) - The HP7 "leak" appears to have been averted.
- Project development semi-postponed. Try me again tomorrow.
- Back to working through Season One of Torchwood; just finished watching "Greeks Bearing Gifts", aka "Tosh's Big Gay Boatride" ;-)
