Thursday, July 12, 2007

Harry Potter: Losing Its Magic?

Possible spoilers ahead:
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Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix (henceforth to be referred to HPOP) was, I hate to say, a disappointment.

I felt like the whole movie had a subdued air to it. Yes, I know the story gets darker here, & the children are no longer children anymore. I miss the magic that was so apparent in the first three installments. During those movies, I didn't want it to end. But in HPOP, that childlike exuberance is gone, replaced by a moody, angst-filled Harry. The unique relationships between the three friends seems so superficial now - the movie didn't seem to dwell enough on it. There was no Quidditch, and the Cho Chang-Harry relationship was barely touched upon (despite the much hyped about first on-screen kiss).

Perhaps it's the fault of the screenplay, which felt so condensed that the editing looked sloppy with such clumsy & glaring cuts during some of the scene changes, that it left us with mouths gaping & asking "Huh?" I know it's hard to translate a book into film, especially one with so many elements in it, but this director (David Yates) & screenwriter (Michael Goldenberg) seem to have done a rush job on this movie, that even the credits at the end of the movie are "cheap" looking!

Bring back Steve Kloves, I say (and according to the IMDB website, he will be doing the screenplays for both the Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows - Yay!) and Chris Columbus too while they're at it, and finish off the series with a Bang!

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