Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Movie

While the movie was good to see, keep with the core foundation of what the book was about, there were elements of the book missing from the movie.  The Order of the Phoenix centered around a single prophecy, an orb you-know-who desperately wants.  The book explained the prophecy: who said it, what was said, who it was about, the choice of Harry over Neville.  The movie however left that out.  It didn’t go into the entire prophecy only mentioning “either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.”  What about the rest of it?

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...”

As a viewer of the movies, hopefully you read the books, but what about those people who haven’t?  What about those people who have only seen the movies and not read the book?  How are they supposed to understand why Trelawney is a professor at Hogwarts if they don’t know that she’s the one who foretold the prophecy in front of Dumbledore and that’s why he hired her?  How are they supposed to know that Voldemort sought Harry out and that it could have easily been Neville who was “marked as his equal” for both Harry and Neville were born at the end of July to parents who have defied Voldemort three times and the reason Voldemort chose Harry is because Harry is a half blood like himself?  Of all the things removed, this should not have been one of them.  The prophecy is the bases for the book and it helps in explaining certain questions.

Other scenes left out:
-Ron and Hermione as Prefects

-The trip to the hospital where you see Neville’s parents and understand how he ended up with his grandmother: They took this part out, but did mention what happened in a different scene. So it wasn’t a big loss.

-Part of Snape's Memory: the movie shows James Potter tormenting Snape, but it ends at that.  It doesn’t show Lily defending Snape, Lily arguing with James, or Lupin watching it from the sidelines.  Then it takes out Harry confronting Lupin about this memory.  This piece isn’t as important as the prophecy, but it gives you more insight into Harry’s parents.  It’s bad enough the books rarely get into the history of his parents, especially James who all we know was pure-blood and a seeker, but to then take out the rare moments where we get to learn more about them seems like an injustice.  This information is essential to Harry’s understanding of where he comes from and the development of who he will become.

For Harry Potter fans and movie goes alike, the movie has some great features especially the battle scene at the end.  Just be forewarned, as with most adaptations, the book is better.