Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: B+

OK, so much like the movie, I've got a lot to say and not a lot of time to say it.\n I made the mistake of rereading the book last week and therefore was able to point out everything the movie changed or left out, putting a damper on my Harry Potter experience. \nBeing the longest book in the series, "Order" somehow managed to end up the shortest film yet. Um, why? So much happens in "Order" that simply adding 10 minutes would have breathed a lot more into it. Everything in the movie is rushed. The actors hurriedly spit out thousands of words to keep things moving. It's exhaustive and probably a bit incompressible to the average Muggle. The quick pace also downplays the seriousness of certain plot points. Dementors in Little Whinging and Mr. Weasley's attack are played off as everyday occurrences, and the Order itself is barely explained.\nThis time around, the film is directed by BBC vet David Yates (the directors are changing as frequently as Hogwarts' defense against the dark arts teachers), who definitely brings his own style to the film. There are many awkward cuts and bird's-eye-view camera angles that don't work, but Yates succeeds in taking the film in a darker direction. This ain't the magical world of "Sorcerer's Stone" anymore. Things are starting to get grim, which brings us to the film's highlight: the last 20 minutes in the Department of Mysteries. It's fricking terrifying -- like really, really scary (Voldemort at the train station, Bellatrix Lestrange's smirk, the claustrophobic atmosphere -- ahhh, help me!). Apparently I've been downplaying the intensity of Deatheaters and dark magic in my mind while I read the books because I never imagined it to be this extreme and frightening. Any ambition I had to become an auror is now gone; I'm not brave enough for that. I'll stick to charms instead.\nThe story lines of Umbridge taking over Hogwarts and Dumbledore's Army are handled well, and as always, the adult cast of Britain's who's who (Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Richard Griffiths) are fantastic if underused. I loved the Weasley twins' obsession with apparting, and Harry finally got some play in an awkwardly long make-out scene with Cho. (But how dare they change the story so that she gave up the D.A.?)\nThe few days after the initial viewing of a Harry movie are always touchy, so as I've done with the previous films, I'm sure I'll get over my complaints and learn to love this movie. But until then, it gets a B+