Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

Some co-workers and I attended the opening night of Harry Potter on July 10, despite a 9AM meeting the next morning. It was an interesting experience...but I'm glad I did it no matter how I feel about the movie. I've had a week now to think about how I feel on the movie, and I'm still disgruntled.

OK, so the book dragged on a bit, I understand that. I also understand that things get cut for movies. But that's no excuse to try to re-write the entire story when making the movie. I have no problem with changes that enhance the story or adapt it to the movie format, as many things that happen in books are ill-suited to film. But why was every scene very different? Why were characters changed? Why was there such a focus on Umbridge to the point that Ron and Hermione don't even seem like main characters? Why were all of my favorite scenes ruined?

And the biggest question of all: why did someone decide that the movie didn't need to flow, and that cutting from scene to scene with no explanation was a good idea?

I have 2 main issues that stem from these questions. The first issue is that many changes from the book were less creative and interesting than how Rowling did it. The second issue is that much of the movie would have been impossible to understand or follow if I hadn't read the book, which I can say because people with me who had not read the book were lost by the end.

On the positive side, I think the acting was superb, the shooting was excellent, and the scenes were well laid out. It's just a shame they couldn't find a way to make those scenes flow better. Although I think there were many excellent shots, it did feel a bit like one giant montage.