Aside from Evanna (couldn't have made a more perfect Luna), the kids give simply average performances, never really reaching the full potential put forth by JK Rowling's writing. We still have all the drama and excitement, but some of the magic just seems to be gone. But in this watered down version of the book, there seems to be something missing. Mungo's, Harry's Quibbler interview, the Quidditch fight, etc.), I realize that yes, not everything could be included in the movie. And while it pains me to ignore some of my favorite scenes from the book being left on the cutting room floor (St. Many scenes that one would think invaluable to the story have been cut, replaced by the hasty filling in of plot holes. However, to the die hard fans of the books, you will undoubtedly be disappointed. As a Hollywood film, it deserves praise, bringing this amazing world to the big screen, telling a compelling tale, and keeping the viewers glued to their seats for the duration of the movie. In this respect, Order of the Phoenix was very similar to the previous two movies.
Pacing has certainly been an issue, leaving fans feeling disjointed, and those new to the series confused as to what exactly is going on. As a result they've felt more like a collage of scenes, a series of puzzle pieces, thrown at the viewers faster than they can piece together, just leading up to a final confrontation. They glossed over many of the little things that made the Harry Potter series so magical in the first place, focusing on a select few plot lines and limiting dialog to only what was necessary to further the story. Though the third and fourth movies were very artistic and dramatic, I couldn't really connect to them in the way i had with the books. The first two movies, I thought, were the best of the series mainly due to Richard Harris' dead-on portrayal of Dumbledore and screenplays that closely followed the original books. When I first walked into the movie, my expectations were not very high.