Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix - Film vs. Book

When The Goblet of Fire ended, readers were horrified to witness the return of Lord Voldermort. But in The Order of the Phoenix, we learn that not everyone is convinced Harry Potter does not tell lies. The Minister of Magic is convinced that it is all a fabricated plot by Dumbledore to take over the Ministry and Harry Potter is his pawn. But there is a prophecy about the boy who lived and Harry wants answers. But Voldermort is after the same thing and it's a race to see who will get there first.


Harry's cousin Dudley this time falls foul of a couple of rogue dementors as the two of them are near the house and Harry is forced to break the underage wizarding law and use magic to get rid of them to save not just himself but also his cousin (who in this book has turned into a bit of a rude boy and started picking on ten year olds bless). Harry's patronus does not go unnoticed of course and he is called up for his illegal act by the ministry who are convinced that this was not a self defence act but an act in support of Dumbledore.


In an attempt to keep a watchful eye over Hogwarts, the Ministry have sent over Dolores Umbridge to teach the Defence Against the Dark Arts class. But when it comes to lesson plans, Umbridge believes in the theory, not the practice of dark magic and has the class writing passage after passage. Though this of course does not sit well with those students who believe Voldemort has returned, it seems to always be Harry who has something to say and is punished for his disobedience using a nasty spell by the eerily polite yet totally evil teacher. Clearly she doesn't mind using dark magic, it's just teaching it she has issues with.


The most fun happens when Hermione takes charge (as Hermione always does) and organises an elite group of classmates who want to learn the practical side of defence under the tutelage of Harry himself. And then suddenly Neville shines, Cho and Harry get closer to their infamous first kiss and the group really start to form their own little private army ready to face Voldermort and the deatheaters. There's real fun and humour thanks to the new lesson and seeing Hermione realise that sometimes it's worth going against the rules is just delightfully naughty.


The Order of the Phoenix has one of my favourite endings (surpassed only by the ultimate Deathly Hallows ending) as the mini army of Harry and his friends face the deatheaters. The Order itself, comprised of the Weasleys, Lupin, Sirius, Snape and more new faces join in and a massive fight ensues.


This was the first book I have ever read where I was so shocked, so totally stunned by an event, that I actually turned the page back for fear I had misread it. Sadly, I had read it correctly.

In the film version, Imelda Staunton was beautifully cast as Dolores Umbridge. She has such a cute and cuddly persona and encapsulates the cat loving, pink cardigan wearing Umbridge beautifully while managing to show real menace behind her perfect smile. The film also saw the deatheaters start having things to say. So far we have only really seen Lucius Malfoy as a character but suddenly we are learning more about some of the others. Helena Bonham Carter was born to play Bellatrix Lestrange. Nobody else could possibly be that manic and silly and still scare you to your very core! Voldermort finally gets some real screen time himself and shines as Ralph Fiennes takes on the role of he-who-shall-not-be-named so creepily.


The real downside to the film is that massive amounts of the book got lost in the conversion. The big build up to the finale and the fight itself was trimmed down to its bare essentials, losing the suspense needed to make the end so jaw-dropping. It all just came off a bit rushed and panicked.

Favourite Quote:

Ron: Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I have ever met. If I'm ever rude to you...

Hermione: I'll know you've gone back to normal.

The effects are cool, though, and there's more spells and wizadry to enjoy throughout. The three main actors have really come into their own now and have both the comic timing and serious drama down. More importantly though, they are able to lead the ever-growing ensemble cast. It's really become a team effort in Order of the Phoenix and everyone is holding their own.


All in all, nobody was ever going to get all the subtleties and character development of such a chunky and intricate book into a 2 hour film but they gave it a pretty good bash.

Harry Potter 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire: Book vs Film

The Goblet of Fire opens with the Quidditch World Cup - a magically protected event where no muggles are permitted. Harry attends with the Weasley family, meeting fellow schoolmate Cedric Diggory on his travels, and discovers yet more wonders of the magical world from microphone spells to giant TARDIS-like tents. But the fun everyone is having at this event is short lived as the dark mark appears above them and deatheaters start running riot amongst the spectators.

With this dark cloud hanging over the wizarding world, the book sees a change in tradition at Hogwarts. There will be no Quidditch, no clubs - just the Tri-Wizard Tournament and some extra students staying all year. The beautiful French girls from the Beauxbatons Academy arrive along with the boys from Durmstrang. Ron is massively impressed to discover his Quidditch idol Victor Krum is still in school and now attending his and all the boys are impressed with the new girls from France.

The rules are explained that there are challenges which will take place throughout the year and the goblet of fire will select one student from each school to take part. As there is an age restriction, Harry and his friends are relieved to learn that they will not be able to take part and Harry actually believes he might get a year off from the spotlight of being 'the boy who lived'. Wrong! After the three are chosen from each school, a fourth name appears... Harry Potter. He claims not to have done it but nobody believes him, not even Ron who has grown tired of living in his shadow and the two start to bicker. But the goblet has spoken and believe him or not, Harry must take part in the tournament.

The new year at Hogwarts also sees the introduction of yet another new teacher for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class - Mad Eye Moody. One roving eye can see through invisibility cloaks and through spells and works independently of the other but the man knows his stuff. Within days of his arrival at Hogwarts he has turned Draco into a rodent and taught the class the three unforgivable curses.

As the children are now 14 years old, there are a lot of hormones thrown into the mix here. There is a formal dance and the boys have to find a date. Hermione finds her girly side and everyone must learn to dance.

Ron: Oi, Hermione... you're a girl.
Hermione: Very well spotted.
Ron: Come with one of us! It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone, but for a girl it's just sad.
Hermione: I won't be going alone, because believe it or not, someone's asked me! And I said yes!
Ron: Bloody hell. She's lying, right?
Harry: If you say so.

The challenges continue throughout the book as the teen angst, bickering and relationships continue to develop and they get ever more cryptic and dangerous, culminating in one of the most shocking Harry Potter finales. On first release, this book was in massively high demand as JK Rowling had revealed that one of the characters was going to die.... but who?

The film version saw the rise of another young star. Before he was Edward Cullen, Robert Pattinson was cast as the hot young stud Cedric Diggory. Cedric is chosen to be the Hogwarts student in the Tri-wizard cup (alongside Harry in this case!) and the boy who gets the girl of Harry's dreams - Cho Chang. He is the stud of the school and Pattinson does the role well. Brendan Gleeson is suitably wacky as Mad Eye Moody and even former Dr Who David Tennant joined the cast as Barty Crouch, a deatheater and son of the respectable Barty Crouch Snr, played by Roger Lloyd-Pack of Only Fools and Horses fame.

The effects continue to amaze from the Quidditch tournament at the start and throughout the Tri-Wizard Cup tournament (which includes dragon battles, flying and underwater sequences and the final maze and dramatic finale).

This is the first Harry Potter film that made me really emotional but I realised the second time around that I had seen it dubbed in Spanish the first time and wasn't as moved when I watched it in English. Make of that what you will...

All in all, the conversion from book to film was actually very good. There are little changes throughout but nothing so major that it angered me. An excellent job!

Enjoy x

Book 5: The Order of the Phoenix book to film review