Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix(2007)- User Reviews

I've read and enjoyed the books of Harry Potter shortly after seeing the first few films and, up until this atrocity, they've been fairly accurate to the book, giving the original author due credit for stylistic nuances such as foreshadowing, plot, and intense characterization, as well as enrapturing the audience into the Harry Potter Universe. Now I know that this book took me quite some time to get through, so I was expecting it to be a bit longer than 2 hours, so I was wondering to myself before even watching how that was going to be possible. I guess the director's approach was to just dissolve any information connected to the plot and keep the story rolling. This was done at a choppy expense, using short scenes that flipped from one to another so quickly one would think they were watching a series of commercials; got various plot facts not only completely wrong, but butchering what could later be building blocks for Harry's character, his interactions with his friends, and well, just about everything. I felt like I was hoodwinked into an attitude of "well you've watched the other films, you'll pay to watch this rubbish too", and a drunken cliff-notes of the book with admittedly, stunning special effects, was regurgitated into my disappointed lap, grateful that my imagination while reading the book was significantly better than the lack of vision for this film that made the book's emotional connection to the characters about as deep as a made for t.v. special. Dumbledore lost any sentimental value that he may have once had, becoming a gray aristocrat rather than a grand-father figure; (spoiler alert) Black's death was uneventful, forgettable, and washed over; and Umbridge was portrayed more as power hungry rather than diabolically misguided and evil. This movie falls below standards for even entertaining children and is probably only enjoyed by parents who begrudgingly have to sit through a movie they don't want to see with their children (it's over already? that was quick) and rush off to do something else. BAD.