Saturday, July 14, 2007

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix

It's the fifth time round, and already some are beginning to suspect something lagging. It might be that the movie wasn't well made or (perhaps?) the source material wasn't that great. But then again, I did enjoy the fifth Harry Potter book rather much (as much as the previous ones) and so I don't think it would've been any problem there.

So why do I think that this is one of the lesser Harry Potter movies? Well, a few reasons. One would be its puzzling run time. At around 130 minutes, it is considerably shorter than, say, Chamber of Secrets (which clocked in at 160 minutes). Taking into account the fact that this had been the thickest Harry Potter book to date when it was released, it does tell you about how much had to go.

And a lot goes. Character development takes a backseat (or at least, only Harry and a few others get their proper treatment). Much of the story (and side stories) that gave the book much of its delight has been left out, unfortunately.

But I wasn't really all that disappointed. It still was adapted remarkably well, and certainly it did entertain. At least we got to see some proper duels, of which I wished there were more.

For the next show, I sure hope they don't make such short a movie. Then again, considering how slow Half-Blood Prince was, maybe it would be wise to prune out a few bits here and there and make something that's really interesting all the way.

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